Citizen violence – Yucatan Journal

LONDON (AP) — Police have warned that efforts to deal with the violence that has erupted in cities and towns in recent days following a knife attack at a dance class that left three girls dead and several others injured mean other crimes may not be properly investigated.

The warning came a day after dozens of people were arrested following clashes between far-right activists and anti-racism protesters across Britain. Violence was reported across the UK, from the Northern Irish capital Belfast to Liverpool in north-west England and Bristol in the west. More arrests were expected as police reviewed CCTV footage, social media and body cameras worn by officers.

In one such altercation on Saturday, Merseyside Police said about 300 people took part in violent rioting in Liverpool, where a community building was set alight. The Spellow Lane Library Hub, opened last year to serve one of the country’s most deprived populations, suffered severe damage to the ground floor. Police said rioters tried to prevent firefighters from reaching the blaze, throwing a missile at the fire truck, smashing the vehicle’s rear window.

Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotherdam said the attack was not just on the building but “on our very community” and “an insult to those families still grieving and survivors trying to come to terms with Monday’s attack”.

More gatherings were planned for Sunday and police will maintain a significant security deployment, with thousands more officers on the streets, many in riot gear. Police have also made more prison cells available and are using surveillance and facial recognition technology.

“We are seeing officers being removed from everyday policing,” Tiffany Lynch of the Police Federation of England and Wales told the BBC. “But while this is happening, the populations out there are having incidents against them, (they are) victims of crimes, unfortunately those crimes are not being investigated.”

Violence broke out this week, ostensibly in protest against Monday’s attack in Southport. A 17-year-old boy has been arrested.

False rumours that the young man was Muslim and an immigrant spread online, fuelling outrage among far-right supporters. Although suspects under 18 are not usually identified in Britain, Judge Andrew Menary ordered Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Wales to Rwandan parents, to be identified in part to stem the spread of misinformation.

Police said many of the gatherings were being organised online by secretive far-right groups who were mobilising support with slogans such as “enough is enough”, “save our children” and “stop the boats”. Counter-demonstrations by the organisation Stand Up To Racism were also expected.

Calls for protests have come from a loose group of social media accounts, but a key person in amplifying them has been Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a veteran far-right agitator who goes by the name Tommy Robinson. He led the English Defence League, which Merseyside police have linked to the violent protest in Southport on Tuesday, the day after the dance class attack. The group emerged around 2009, when it led a series of protests against what it described as militant Islam that often descended into violence.

The group’s membership and impact declined after a few years and Yaxley-Lennon, 41, has faced successive legal problems. He has been jailed for assault, contempt of court and mortgage fraud, and now faces an arrest warrant after leaving the country last week ahead of a hearing on a contempt case against him.

Many have also singled out Nigel Farage, who was elected to parliament in July for the first time as leader of Reform Britain, for indirectly fuelling the anti-immigrant sentiment that has been evident in recent days. While he has condemned the violence, he criticised the government for blaming it on “a few far-right scoundrels” and said that “the far right is a reaction to fear … shared by tens of millions of people”.

Far-right protesters have been involved in several violent riots since the stabbing. On Tuesday they clashed with police outside a mosque in Southport, close to the scene of the gruesome attack, and the next day they threw beer cans, bottles and flares near the prime minister’s office in London. Many Southport residents have expressed outrage at the organised acts of violence in the wake of the tragedy.

Monday’s attack on children taking part in a Taylor Swift-themed summer dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and persistent problem, though mass stabbings are rare.

Rudakubana has been charged with murder for the attack that killed Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6. He is also charged with 10 counts of attempted murder for the eight children and two adults who were injured.

The country’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, has blamed the violence on “far-right hatred” and vowed to end the chaos. He added that police across the UK would be given more resources to end “a breakdown of law and order on our streets.”

Police minister Diana Johnson told the BBC there was “no need” to mobilise the army to assist police in their efforts to control the violence.

“Police have made it very clear that they have all the resources they need at this time,” he said.

Condemns an attack

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned yesterday’s attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers, describing it as “far-right violence.”

In a statement from his Downing Street offices, the Prime Minister promised that authorities would “do whatever it takes to bring criminals to justice”.

“I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, either directly or through those who incited this action online and then ran away,” he said. “This is not a protest, this is organised and violent violence and it has no place on our streets or online.”

Starmer spoke after another day of far-right violence, which was particularly acute in Rotherham, where police struggled to contain hundreds of rioters.

More demonstrations are taking place across the UK, but mainly in England.

Far-right activists clashed with anti-racism protesters across the UK on Saturday, with violent scenes erupting in locations from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, to Liverpool in north-west England and Bristol in the west. Hundreds of people have been arrested, but more are likely as police review CCTV, social media and body camera footage.

Police have warned that widespread security measures, with thousands of officers deployed, mean other crimes may not be fully investigated.

“We are seeing officers being removed from day-to-day policing,” Tiffany Lynch of the Police Federation of England and Wales told the BBC. “But while that is happening, the communities that are experiencing incidents against them – the victims of crime – are woefully not having their crimes investigated.”

The violence broke out earlier this week, apparently in protest at Monday’s knife attack in Southport. Axel Rudakubana, 17, was arrested.

False rumours spread online that the young man was Muslim and an immigrant, fuelling anger among far-right supporters. Suspects under 18 are not usually identified in the UK, but Judge Andrew Menary ordered Rudakubana, who was born in Wales to Rwandan parents, to be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation. He is charged with three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder.

Police said many of the actions are being organised online by underground far-right groups, who are mobilising support online with slogans such as “enough is enough”, “save our children” and “stop the boats”. They are capitalising on concerns about the scale of immigration into the country, particularly the tens of thousands of people arriving in small boats from France across the English Channel.

Nigel Farage, who was elected to Parliament in July for the first time as leader of Reform UK, has also been blamed by many for indirectly fuelling the anti-immigrant sentiment that has been evident in recent days. While he condemned the violence, he criticised the government for blaming “a few far-right thugs” and said “the far right is a reaction to fear… shared by tens of millions of people”.