Amid ongoing far-right riots and demonstrations fueled by misinformation online, England and Wales’ Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said his teams would consider seeking extradition for social media influencers who are accused of stoking the violence from abroad and charging some suspects with terrorism offences, CBS News partner network BBC News reported.
Offenders “must know that they are not safe and there is nowhere to hide,” Parkinson said.
Around 400 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, and police chiefs in the U.K. said an extra 2,200 riot-trained officers would be deployed across the country, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported.
One man was seriously injured after an assault Monday night in the Northern Ireland city of Belfast, which police are treating as a racially motivated hate crime. Witnesses reported seeing attackers stamp on the man’s head, according to the BBC.
U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer called another emergency response meeting on Tuesday and said those behind the disorder would “face the full force of the law.”
The violence “is not protest — it is violent disorder and needs to be treated as such, as criminal activity,” Starmer told members of his cabinet Tuesday.
Violence erupted in a number of cities and towns across the U.K. last week after the murder of three young girls in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the northern England town of Southport. The attacker was falsely characterized as Muslim and a migrant. The actual suspect, who is facing multiple charges of murder and attempted murder, was born in the U.K.
Rioters have attacked mosques and hotels that house asylum-seekers, looting shops and burning cars. On Tuesday, lawyers in the U.K. called on lawmakers to address their safety concerns after a list of dozens of immigration advice centers was circulated on social media with a message suggesting they be targets of unrest on Wednesday, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported.
The violence has prompted countries including India, Nigeria and Australia to warn their citizens in the U.K. to stay vigilant, according to the Reuters news agency.
London’s Metropolitan Police will “use every power, tactic and tool” to protect London against “one of the worst spates of violent disorder in the last decade,” Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine said in a statement.
“I’m so scared, even when I’m walking now,” Saminata Bangura, a 52-year-old care worker from Liverpool, told Reuters. She said she had initially felt welcomed when she moved to the U.K. from Sierra Leone, but now she is mainly staying at home.