British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has vowed that police have his full support in taking on “extremists” as anti-mass migration protests and riots have broken out across the United Kingdom following the mass stabbing at a children’s dance party in Southport earlier this week.
Facing a full-blown crisis less than one month into office, recently elected leftist Prime Minister Starmer gathered top cabinet ministers on Saturday as unrest erupted in dozens of towns and cities throughout the UK, in many cases in typical Labour Party strongholds in the north of England, in response to the slaying of three young girls and the stabbing of eight others, including children, allegedly by a 17-year-old Rwandan-heritage second-generation immigrant on Monday.
The Guardian, citing the far-left Hope Not Hate organisation, reported that an estimated 35 locations had been scheduled to see protests on Saturday, some of which saw violent clashes between participants and the police, as well as attacks on businesses, particularly in Belfast, Hull, Liverpool, and Manchester. According to The Telegraph, at least 90 arrests were made throughout the country on Sunday.
A Downing Street spokesman told the paper: “The prime minister set out that the police have our full support to take action against extremists on our streets who are attacking police officers, disrupting local businesses and attempting to sow hate by intimidating communities.
“The prime minister ended by saying the right to freedom of expression and the violent disorder we have seen are two very different things. He said there is no excuse for violence of any kind and reiterated that the government backs the police to take all necessary action to keep our streets safe.”
The hardline rhetoric from the left-wing PM, who has characterised the protests and riots as “far-right,” on the outpouring of rage and violence has been contrasted to his response during the deadly and deeply destructive Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, when he infamously took the knee in solidarity with the Marxist movement and described those involved as “people rightly demanding justice”.
The government has also faced criticism for refusing to discuss footage posted on social media appearing to show violent responses from large groups of Muslim or leftist counter protesters.
The prime minister’s response to his first crisis of his expected five-year term has been heavily criticised by the Reform UK party of Nigel Farage, who accused Starmer of failing to address the root cause of the anger, which is mass migration.
On Friday, Farage’s deputy, Boston and Skegness MP Richard Tice, said: “Many millions of concerned British citizens are furious at lawless Britain. Children being slaughtered. Machete mobs abound. Soldiers being stabbed. Police violently attacked in airport.
“Instead of empathy, Keir Starmer labelled folk as “far-right”. Out of touch, clueless.”
However, others have demanded that the government go farther, including Tory leadership candidate and former Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has called on Starmer to recall Parliament to hold an emergency session on the unrest.
One of the more extreme takes on the crisis came from former Labour MP and current government advisor on political violence, Baron Walney, John Woodcock, who argued that the government should consider a coronavirus-style lockdown to stamp out the uprising if it continues to persist.
“I think the government and new ministers will understand the British public will back them in whatever measures they feel is necessary to get this situation under control,” Lord Walney told the Times Radio.
“Back in Covid, they were prepared to back measures that were needed in that situation and I think they would take a similar approach to keeping rioters off the streets now given the scale of damage that has been done to communities.”
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