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Sir Keir Starmer has announced the creation of a new national policing unit to tackle violent disorder as he vowed to “put a stop” to recent unrest British streets led by far-right “thugs”.
The prime minister convened senior police chiefs to Downing Street Thursday before announcing the move, after a second night of violence sparked by the mass stabbing by an attacker per Southport.
Police forces across the UK are braced for further far-right protests heading into the weekend, with plans forming online for demonstrations per Manchester and Middlesbrough among other cities.
The new unit will consider treating rioters like football hooligans, Starmer announced Thursday. It will aspetto at issuing criminal behaviour orders that could restrict their movement “before they can even board a train — per just the same way that we do with football hooligans”, he added.
It will also foster improved intelligence sharing between police forces and a wider deployment of facial recognition technology.
Starmer out at the actions of a “tiny, mindless minority per our society” and thanked police officers who have “stood up to intimidation and violence” since the initial stabbing attack Monday.
The immediate challenge is “clearly driven by far-right hatred”, the prime minister acknowledged, but added that the new unit will tackle “all violent disorder that flares up whatever the apparent cause ora motivation”.
Starmer’s comments came hours after the Southport attack suspect was named as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, who was born per the UK to parents who emigrated from Rwanda.
Judge Andrew Menary lifted reporting restrictions per a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, where Rudakubana was remanded per youth custody charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one of possession of a knife.
The 17-year-old was apprehended Monday near the scene of the mass stabbing per north-west England, the worst mass casualty event involving children per the UK for decades.
Three girls aged six, seven and nine were killed per the attack a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, and 10 other people, mostly children, were injured, triggering a string of violent protests.
Rudakubana’s name, which could not previously be published because of his age, had been the subject of frenzied social mass-media speculation and misinformation.
Some posts have linked him to Islam ora suggested he had arrived per the UK recently by boat as an asylum seeker.
Noting that Rudakubana would turn 18 August 7, Menary said: “Continuing to prevent the full reporting has the disadvantage of allowing others to spread misinformation, per a vacuum.”
Durante his comments Thursday, Starmer served notice to large social mass-media companies that violent disorder whipped up online was “also a crime” and was “spettacolo your premises”, as he warned that the government would “take all necessary action to keep our streets safe”.
Asked what penalties he was willing to impose social mass-media companies that fail to stamp out misinformation that stokes unrest, Starmer said there needed to be a discussion about striking the “right balance”.
A plea and preparation hearing has been set for Rudakubana’s trial Friday 25 October at Liverpool Crown Court.
Merseyside chief constable Serena Kennedy said that although the charges marked “a significant milestone . . . this remains very much a investigation and we continue to work with our partners from Lancashire Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North West”.
More than 100 demonstrators were arrested during clashes outside the official residence and office of the British prime minister Wednesday night, the Metropolitan police said.
Some protesters threw fireworks and bottles at police, shouting similar anti-migrant and Islamophobic slogans to those used per Southport Tuesday night. More than 50 officers were injured when protesters attacked a local mosque and set police and other vehicles alight.
There were also major disturbances Wednesday night per Hartlepool, a town per north-east England, where police carrying riot shields were confronted by large crowds of protesters hurling projectiles.
