Keir Starmer broadcasts police crackdown after Southport riots

Sir Keir Starmer today announced plans to treat rioters like football hooligans in the wake of violence on Britain’s streets following the Southport knife attack.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister condemned the ‘mindless minority’ who have delivered nights of chaos since Monday’s tragedy.

He hit out at a ‘gang of thugs’ who travelled by train and buses to Southport and attacked police.

There has also been mayhem in London, Hartlepool and Manchester leading to scores of arrests.

As part of a crackdown on organised riots and the ‘far right’, the PM said a new ‘national capability’ across police forces would tackle violent disorder.

This will see forces share intelligence and deploy facial recognition technology. 

Police chiefs will also restrict the movement of known agitators in a similar way to how football banning orders are used to stop hooligans attending games.

Sir Keir, who earlier held crisis talks with senior officers in No10, also issued a stern warning to social media bosses about violence that was ‘clearly whipped up online’.

‘That is also a crime, it’s happening on your premises and the law must be upheld everywhere,’ he said.

‘We will take all necessary action to keep our streets safe.’

The PM said that fear was ‘an understandable reaction’ following the ‘inexplicably vile attack’ on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

But he blasted those who had not allowed the local community in the Merseyside town the ‘the time and space to grieve’.

He said they had been forced to ‘suffer twice’ after the horror killing of three girls was followed by a night of rioting on Tuesday. 

‘Make no mistake, whether it’s in Southport, London or Hartlepool these people are showing our country exactly who they are,’ the PM added.

‘Mosques targeted because they’re mosques, flares thrown at the statue of Winston Churchill, a Nazi salute at the Cenotaph.’

He continued: ‘It’s not protest. It’s not legitimate. It’s crime. Violent disorder. An assault on the rule of law and the execution of justice.

‘And so on behalf of the British people who expect their values and their security to be upheld. We will put a stop to it.’

Sir Keir said ‘nobody but nobody’ involved in rioting should ‘pretend they are speaking’ for the grieving families.

Asked what his message was to Muslims who may be concerned after a mosque was targeted in the disorder in Southport, he said: ‘In relation to the Muslim community, let me be very clear: I will take every step that’s necessary to keep you safe.

‘Mosques being attacked because they’re mosques – the far right are showing who they are. We have to show who we are in response to that.’

Sir Keir spoke at the Downing Street press conference after earlier telling senior officers ‘action will be taken’ in crisis talks with police.

After summoning police chiefs to No10, the PM told them that ‘marauding mobs’ must not be allowed to cause chaos following the outbreak of rioting after the Southport knife attack.

The PM condemned those involved in violent disorder as ‘thugs who have no interest whatsoever in the raw pain’ of the community. 

Ugly scenes spread to London, Hartlepool and Manchester overnight.

Sir Keir said: ‘I wanted to send a message to each of you and through you, your officers, to say that this Government supports the police, supports what you are doing and to be absolutely clear: This is not protest, this is violent disorder and action will be taken. 

‘So, this Government will make sure you have got the powers you need and will back you in using those powers.’ 

In the capital, more than 100 people were arrested after crowds in Whitehall launched beer cans and glass bottles at police and threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.

People wearing England flags and waving banners saying ‘enough is enough’ and ‘stop the boats’ congregated outside Downing Street.

Violence flared after social media posts wrongly claimed the killing of three young girls in a knife attack in Southport was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat.

Scotland Yard’s Deputy Commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, National Crime Agency chief Robert Jones and chief constables from Merseyside and West Yorkshire Police all attended the No 10 meeting.

Sir Keir, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson spoke with the officers.

There were 19 attendees in total, including director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, HM Chief Inspector Andy Cooke and police chiefs Serena Kennedy and John Robins from the Merseyside and West Yorkshire forces. 

Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside Police, spoke to the meeting via video link. 

She told the assembled ministers and police chiefs that the force was ‘determined to get justice’ for the attack on Monday and to identify all those who took part in rioting on Tuesday in Southport. 

The angry scenes in London last night included loud chants of: ‘We want our country back’ and: ‘Oh Tommy Robinson’, referring to the right-wing activist.

One man wore a shirt with the slogan: ‘Nigel Farage for Prime Minister, Tommy Robinson for Home Secretary’.

Confrontations continued late into the night in Hartlepool, where demonstrators set fire to a police car and pelted officers with missiles, including glass bottles.

Cleveland Police have so far made eight arrests, with more expected.

Police in Manchester confronted another demonstration outside the Holiday Inn on Oldham Road before dispersing the crowd after protesters started throwing beer bottles at officers and members of the public.

According to the Manchester Evening News, this incident also saw chants of: ‘We want our country back’, while a group of men were seen jumping in the path of a bus, smashing its wing mirror and assaulting a passenger.

Aldershot appears to have escaped the violence seen in other parts of the country, but a demonstration there was still met by riot police.

The string of violent incidents follows similar scenes in Southport on Tuesday, where demonstrators attacked police and set cars on fire.

Lord Walney, the Government’s independent adviser on political violence, said he hoped the meeting would examine powers to ‘refuse and prevent further so-called ‘protests’ that are being used by far right activists as a vehicle for serious disorder and violence’.

He said: ‘There is a right to protest in the UK but that is not a right to riot.’

The meeting came after a 17-year-old was charged with the murder of three girls in the knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class appeared at Liverpool Crown Court and was named as Axel Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire.

He is charged with the murder of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in Southport on Monday.

He is also charged with the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as with possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.

He was remanded to youth detention accommodation and will next appear in court in October.