Starmer to chair Cobra as police brace for further violence

The Prime Minister will chair another Cobra meeting on Tuesday evening as police across the country brace for an eighth night of violence.

The meeting of the Government’s emergency response committee is the second in two days as officers anticipate further disorder across Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Concerns have also been raised that immigration law specialists could be at risk after a list of solicitors’ firms and advice agencies was shared in chat groups as targets for gatherings in the coming days.

One of the locations listed told the PA news agency they had been offered extra police support which they said they would accept.

Another centre, Asylum Link Merseyside, said it had closed its offices temporarily following “threats of far-right violence” made against it.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said around 100 people had already been charged in connection with the disorder of the past week, with some making court appearances on Tuesday.

Some of those involved in incidents across the country have pleaded guilty at initial court appearances and are due to be sentenced in the coming weeks.

They include a 28-year-old man from Leeds, Jordan Parlour, who indicated a plea of guilty to a charge of using threatening words or behaviour intending to stir up racial hatred.

The charge relates to a series of Facebook posts made by Parlour in connection with the disorder, and he has been remanded in custody until a sentencing hearing on Friday.

Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson told the BBC he was “absolutely” seeking to prosecute people for online offences related to the rioting.

The CPS chief hit out at those who had used the internet for the “purposes of incitement and planning”, adding: “If you’re engaged in that activity, then you can be prosecuted for the substantive offence that you have caused (due) to what you’ve been doing using the internet.”

In a warning to those acting outside the UK, Mr Parkinson said: “Some people are abroad. That doesn’t mean they’re safe.

“We have liaison prosecutors spread around the globe who’ve got local links with the local judiciary and law enforcement, but also the police are also stationed abroad.”

He added that more than 400 people had already been arrested, while ministers continued to stress that those taking part in disorder would face the full force of the law.

Sir Keir Starmer told his senior ministers at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that “99.9% of people across the country want their streets to be safe and to feel safe in their communities”.

He added the Government “will take all necessary action to bring the disorder to an end”.

Justice minister Heidi Alexander told broadcasters on Tuesday morning that courts “could possibly” begin sitting “through the evening, the night, at weekends” in order to prosecute rioters swiftly.

The additional courts protocol, which was created in the aftermath of the 2011 riots, could be invoked in areas where police and prosecuting chiefs feel it is needed, the minister also told LBC.

Ms Alexander said some 567 additional prison spaces would soon come into use to deal with rioters.

Approximately 6,000 specialist officers will be at the ready by the end of the week for the so-called “standing army” of police announced by Sir Keir on Monday to deal with disorder.

But shadow home secretary James Cleverly has criticised the plans, and posed a series of questions to the Government.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “Police forces across the UK have officers who are public order trained, but when not dealing with disorder they have other police duties.

“Will this ‘standing army’ of officers have no other duties? If so, what will they do when there are no riots? Or is Starmer expecting permanent riots?”

The widespread disorder across the country followed the fatal stabbings of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport last week.

Hundreds of people attended a peaceful vigil in the Merseyside town on Monday evening a week on from the murders of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar.

Incorrect rumours – that the suspect in the stabbings was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat – which spread on social media appear to have fuelled the unrest.

Published: 06/08/2024 by Radio NewsHub