Rioters as young as 14 years old appeared in court in the UK on Monday, as the government promised that those involved in recent violent unrest will face “swift justice”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called for perpetrators to be named and shamed as soon as possible, as he vowed to “ramp up criminal justice” and said a “standing army” of specialist police officers was being assembled to curb disorder.
The Cobra emergency response group of senior ministers and police and prison leaders met earlier in a bid to halt violence that has spread to more than a dozen towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland and led to hundreds of arrests.
Authorities were braced for more violence on Monday evening, while further protests are expected later in the week.
On Monday, Lord Alex Carlile, a former independent reviewer of the UK’s terrorism legislation, said prosecutors should consider charging riot ringleaders with terrorism offences.
“Fundamentally what they’re doing is being done for a political reason — trying to undermine the polity of the nation,” Carlile told the Financial Times, adding that any organisations involved in orchestrating violent demonstrations could also be proscribed by the state as terrorist groups.
The police have not requested that the army be called in, while Downing Street insisted the police have the powers and resources they need.
No 10 is also resisting demands from opposition MPs for parliament to be recalled over the crisis.
Several countries — including the UAE, Nigeria and Indonesia — have nonetheless issued alerts urging their citizens to avoid travel to the UK or attend gatherings while in the country due to the anti-immigration demonstrations and disorder.
Communities across northern England in particular started the week with efforts to clear up the aftermath of the weekend’s disorder, while the first people appeared in court charged in connection with it.
They included a 14-year-old accused of setting off fireworks in the direction of a police van in Liverpool, who pleaded guilty. The first sentencing hearings have been scheduled for later this month.
Suspects also appeared before magistrates in Sheffield, South Tyneside and Belfast. The ages of those appearing in court ranged from teenagers to pensioners, with a 69-year-old in the dock.
Since violence broke out in the wake of the Southport mass stabbing last week there have been 378 arrests, with the tally expected to rise.
Starmer drew attention to the suspected participants appearing in court on Monday, adding: “I have asked for early consideration of the earliest naming and identification of those involved in the process who will feel the full force of the law.”
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, also told the BBC: “We do expect swift justice to take place. We do expect those cases to be reaching court this week.”
However, some suspects will not appear in front of a judge for weeks as the stretched legal system deals with a backlog. Avon and Somerset police said people accused of taking part in criminal unrest in Bristol are likely to attend court in September.
Meanwhile, Downing Street warned that foreign state actors could be involved in amplifying online misinformation fuelling disorder on UK streets.
In some parts of the country police stressed that people from a range of backgrounds had taken part in disorder.
Greater Manchester Police chief constable Stephen Watson said that “it was clear that across all events, there were people of all political and cultural backgrounds who attended with the intent of causing trouble and breaking the law”.
He added: “Justice will be forthwith.” The force tackled violent disorder in both Manchester city centre and Bolton last weekend and said it had made 23 arrests.
Following the Cobra meeting in London, Sir Mark Rowley, the most senior police officer in the country, appeared to grab a reporter’s microphone and cast it to the ground when he was asked about “two-tier policing” — the slogan accusing forces of dealing with some protests and activists more harshly than others.
The Met commissioner had been “in a hurry” when the incident occurred, the force said later.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed over the weekend that the “impression of two-tier policing” had “become widespread” in the UK.
The government also faced criticism from the left over its handling of the disorder.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, and four other independent MPs who campaigned heavily on a pro-Palestinian platform in the election, accused ministers of “pandering to those who have helped foment the ugly racism behind these protests”, as they hit out at “racist terror”.
In a joint letter to Cooper published on Monday — the latest sign of co-ordination between Corbyn, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed and Shockat Adam — the quintet welcomed the home secretary’s condemnation of “far-right thuggery”, but said she had not gone “nearly far enough” in identifying hatred against migrants and Muslims that was “driving this violence”.
“When people are under attack for the colour of their skin and their faith, government references to ‘understandable fears’ send mixed messages and only give succour to those seeking to sow hatred and division,” the five MPs said.