LONDON (AP) \u2014 British authorities said Thursday they were preparing for the possibility of further unrest, even as they applauded the efforts of anti-racism campaigners and police officers who largely stifled a threatened wave of\u00a0far-right demonstrations overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister\u00a0Keir Starmer\u00a0sounded the note of caution after a week of anti-immigrant violence that has scarred communities from Northern Ireland to the south coast of England. Starmer spoke to reporters at a mosque in Solihull, near Birmingham, where demonstrators shut down a shopping center on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that we don\u2019t let up here,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At an emergency meeting with law enforcement officers at his office, Starmer said on Thursday evening that police need to remain on \u201chigh alert,\u201d Britain\u2019s Press Association reported. He credited strategic police staffing and swift justice for rioters in the courts for creating a deterrent that kept trouble at a minimum the night before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police across the United Kingdom had braced for widespread disorder on Wednesday, after far-right activists circulated a list of more than 100 sites they planned to target, including the offices of immigration lawyers and others offering services to migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police across the United Kingdom had braced for widespread disorder on Wednesday, after far-right activists circulated a list of more than 100 sites they planned to target, including the offices of immigration lawyers and others offering services to migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But tensions remain high after right-wing agitators\u00a0fueled the violence by circulating misinformation\u00a0about the identity of the suspect in a knife attack that killed three young girls in the English seaside town of Southport last week. The last child hospitalized in the July 29 stabbing has been released, police said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly 500 people have been arrested around the country after anti-immigrant mobs clashed with police, attacked mosques and overran two hotels housing asylum-seekers. Among them was a man in his 50s, arrested on suspicion of \u201cencouraging murder.\u201d The arrest came after a local Labour councilor allegedly called for far-right protesters\u2019 throats to be \u201ccut.\u2019’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Labour Party suspended Ricky Jones, who is alleged to have made the remark at a London demonstration Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0government has pledged to track down\u00a0and prosecute those responsible for the disorder,\u00a0including people who incite violence online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an effort to dissuade people from taking part in future unrest by showing that rioters will face swift justice, TV cameras were allowed into Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday as Judge Andrew Menary sentenced two men to 32 months in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the hearing, prosecutors played video of rioters pelting police with bricks and setting garbage cans on fire. One of the suspects was in the middle of a group that ripped the bumper off a police vehicle and threw it at officers as onlookers cheered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt seems to me there were hundreds of people observing, as if this was some sort of Tuesday night entertainment,\u201d Menary said. \u201cAll of them should be frankly ashamed of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Northern Ireland\u2019s regional legislative assembly convened Thursday to respond to the unrest. Minister for Justice Naomi Long said the violence and racist attacks in recent days were \u201cnot reflective\u201d of the people of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to call it for what it is. It is racism, it is Islamophobia, it is xenophobia,\u2033 she said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to deal with it, we need to name it for what it is, and we need to challenge it.\u2033<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government is also considering imposing sanctions other than jail time, including banning rioters from soccer matches. Home Office minister Diana Johnson told LBC Radio that there should be consequences for those implicated in disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think all options are being looked at, to be honest, and I am pretty clear that most football clubs do not want to be seen to have football hooligans and people carrying out criminal acts on the streets of the local communities in their stands on a Saturday,\u2033 she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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