"It's important that we don't let up here," Starmer told media outlets as he visited a mosque and met community leaders in Solihull, western England.Starmer credited "police deployed in numbers in the right places, giving reassurance to communities" with helping to ease the unrest overnight.Wednesday evening turned out to be largely peaceful.Instead of the far-right gatherings at dozens of sites linked to immigrant support services for which police had been preparing, thousands of anti-racism and anti-fascism protesters staged peaceful demonstrations.They massed in cities including London , Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle. "Whose streets? Our streets!" "They're thugs and criminals," he noted, adding most had previous convictions for weapon possession, violence, drugs and other serious offences.After courts began handing down jail terms Wednesday for offenders tied to the unrest, more people charged appeared in the dock for a second day nationwide.The riots flared after three girls -- aged nine, seven and six -- were killed and five more children critically injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England.False online reports had suggested that the suspect was an illegal immigrant and a Muslim.The suspect was later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales. UK media report that his parents are from Rwanda, which is overwhelmingly Christian.The unrest, Britain's worst since the 2011 London riots, has led several countries to issue travel warnings for the UK.

Source: The Times August 09, 2024 07:20 UTC