The British government could set up 24-hour courts to try rioters and stop the violence of recent days. More than a dozen demonstrations organized in the wake of a knife attack on children on Monday, July 29, have degenerated. In Middlesbrough, at least a dozen arrests have been made. Report from the procession.
5 min
“ I guarantee you will regret having participated in this disorder. ” whether directly or “ by causing these online actions “, said the leader of the Labour government, Keir Starmer, who came to power just a month ago, in a short statement filmed from Downing Street. He promised that his government would ” whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice as quickly as possible “.
Keir Starmer was speaking after further rallies took place on Sunday 4 August under the slogan “ Enough is enough ” (Enough is enough, in French), in reference to the arrival in the United Kingdom of migrants crossing the Channel on inflatable boats. The police said they had made nearly 150 arrests since Saturday, reports AFP.
In Rotherham, hundreds of people gathered outside a hotel housing asylum seekers and clashes broke out with police. Some participants smashed windows of the establishment, started a fire, threw projectiles at the police, while others shouted slogans such as “ Put them outside “Some managed to get into the hotel, although it is not clear whether any asylum seekers were inside that day. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the violence on X as ” absolutely terrible “. ” This was a deliberate fire in a building in which people were present. “, did she say.
Fourth day of violence
Riots began after three girls were killed in a knife attack on Monday July 29 in Southport, in the northwest of England, a tragedy which gave rise to multiple rumors and misinformation on social networks about the religion and origin of the alleged attacker.
In Middlesbrough, in the north-east of England, this Sunday, August 4, there were several hundred people for a tribute to the three little girls killed Monday in a knife attack. But quickly, we hear: ” We want our country back ! » (« Give us back our country », in French), chant the demonstrators, some wrapped in English flags, others with their faces masked, reports our special correspondent in Middlesbrough., Emeline Vin.
This participant dissociates himself from the violence, but he sees it as a general anger: ” I’ve seen reports: you see Pakistani gangs, Muslims, call them what you want, with knives and machetes, and the police just stand there. But on the other hand, white people, they’re arrested. But it’s not an us versus them story: we invite everyone to form their own opinion. »
Bricks and stones are flying. The targets are the police, cars, houses. On the way, all the shops have lowered their iron curtains. Faisal and Zaf are disgusted by this explosion of violence. It’s a very calm city, very multicultural! Usually people are so tolerant “, laments Faisal. ” They are opportunists, go-with-the-flow, thugs, drunks, who only seek to create problems. “, Zaf laments.
“The far right is highly fragmented”
” The English extra-parliamentary far right is highly fragmented. There is no group that can be identified very clearly at present. Within these riots, there are several individuals and some groups that have emerged from the mobilisation of the English Defence League, which was the most active racist anti-Islam group in the early 2000s, particularly under the influence of Tommy Robinson. “, notes Pietro Castelli Gattinara, professor at the Free University of Brussels, contacted by Anastasia Becchiofrom RFI’s International service.
We are talking about far-right groups with very few financial resources, but also human resources. They use social networks as relays to amplify their message.
Pietro Castelli Gattinara, professor at the Free University of Brussels
This Sunday, another hotel known for housing asylum seekers was the target of violence, in Tamworth, near Birmingham, in central England.
Demonstrations took place across the country, in Aldershot (south-west), Bolton (north) and Weymouth (south), in a generally tense climate.
Read alsoUK: Clashes between police and far-right protesters in several cities
This is the fourth day of violence in the United Kingdom since the murder of the three girls. Riots and clashes between police, demonstrators, and sometimes anti-racist counter-demonstrators, have taken place in a dozen cities, including Liverpool (north-west), Hull (north-east), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Leeds (north), Sunderland (north-east) and in Southport on Tuesday, where a mosque was targeted.
The suspect in the three murders, a 17-year-old boy, has been charged and taken into custody.
On Sunday, Liverpool church leaders representing different denominations issued a statement calling for unity. The country had not seen such an outbreak since 2011, after the death of a young mixed-race man, Mark Duggankilled by police in north London.
For a long time, the Conservatives played the immigration card, to stop small boats that would come from France with illegal migrants. They played the fear card. Labour tried to have a position with a little more cooperation with Europe. But without really addressing the question of what we do after Brexit and: “How are we going to regain control of our borders?” Labour put more emphasis on the economic aspect than on border protection. And it’s a bit of a backlash.
Alma Pierre Bonnet, lecturer at Sciences Po Lyon
” An opportunity to push the far-right agenda through the streets »
The far right will try to take advantage of these violent protest movements, believes Tim Squirrell, an expert at the London-based think tank Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
” They see the next five years as a period in which the Labour Party is in charge, a party that they see as weak on immigration, and so they think it’s unlikely that they’re going to be able to advance their agenda through democratic means. So they see this as an opportunity to try to push their agenda through street mobilisation. But what we also saw in the last election was a lot of support for the Reform UK party, which is seen as tough on immigration and is anti-migrant, generally. I think the government has a tough road ahead of it. They’re going to, I suspect, crack down on these protests quite harshly. And the rioters are complaining about double standards in the police: they feel that they’re being policed and cracked down on much more harshly than people who’ve protested, for example, over Gaza or Palestine. And so what they’re trying to do is put forward a narrative that they’re being unfairly demonised. »