Anti-immigration protesters broke hotel windows and set bins on fire in northern England on Sunday in the latest wave of unrest that has presented a major test to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new government.
Violent protests involving hundreds of anti-immigration protesters have erupted in towns and cities across Britain after three girls were killed in a knife attack at a children’s dance class in Southport, in northwest England, on Monday.
The girls’ deaths were seized on by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups as misinformation spread that the suspected attacker was an immigrant and a radical Islamist. Police have said the suspect was born in Britain. Media reports have said his family is Christian.
Violent disorder broke out in cities across England on Saturday, including Liverpool, Bristol and Manchester, resulting in dozens of arrests as shops and businesses were vandalized and looted and several police officers were injured, police statements said. The government has promised tough action against people taking part in the violence.
On Sunday, hundreds of anti-immigration protesters gathered by a hotel that has been used to house asylum seekers in Rotherham, in northern England.
The protesters threw bricks at police and broke several hotel windows, a Reuters witness said, before setting bins on fire. Dozens of other protesters gathered by another such hotel in Aldershot, in southern England.
In both Rotherham and the northwest town of Lancaster, there were anti-racist counter-protesters, with police keeping the two groups apart.
As protests began in Bolton, near Manchester, police said that a dispersal notice had been authorized to give officers extra powers to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Chief Insp. Natasha Evans of Greater Manchester Police said police there would continue to mount an increased presence to deal with any incidents.
The weekend’s protests followed several days of disorder.
Starmer, a former chief prosecutor who took office as prime minister a month ago after his Labour Party won the general election over the long-ruling Conservatives, has said the unrest is the result of deliberate actions by the far-right, co-ordinated by a “group of individuals who are absolutely bent on violence,” rather than legitimate protest.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Saturday that “those who engage in criminal disorder face the strongest possible penalties.”
The last time violent protests erupted across Britain was in 2011, when thousands of people took to the streets after police shot dead a Black man in London.