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U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has changed his holiday plans to closely monitor his government’s response to the far-right unrest that has targeted hotels hosting migrants and mosques in several British cities over the past two weeks, leading to more than 700 arrests.
Starmer was supposed to spend time with his family on the Continent, but he decided to give up his summer break and work from No. 10 Downing Street and the PM’s official country house, the Independent and Reuters reported.
The anti-migrant outbreaks of violence kicked off after a 17-year-old who stabbed three young girls in Southport was wrongly identified as an asylum seeker on social media. The violent protests spread across England, driven by far-right and supremacist groups.
The U.K. government put forward harsh measures to halt the riots, and to speed up the judicial procedures to convict or jail the rioters, while counter-demonstrators took to the streets to oppose the far-right violence.
U.K. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood warned in an op-ed in the Observer that “the impact of these days of disorder will be felt for months and years to come” by the national justice system, reiterating at the same time that “if you break the law, you will feel the full force of it.”
At least 6,000 police officers are on duty in potential hotspots, according to the Independent.
Starmer, who took office at the beginning of July, warned on Friday that authorities must stay on “high alert,” hinting that the disorders could flair again. “We absolutely have to make sure that our communities are safe and secure and feel safe and secure,” he said.
Labour lawmaker Bill Esterson celebrated his chief’s choice on X: “Boris Johnson went on holiday when he was mayor of London in 2011 during the London riots. Keir Starmer chose not to go on holiday to deal with the riots across the country this week,” Esterson said.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously accused Starmer of not understanding the roots of the U.K. people’s discontent over migration in a column in the Daily Mail.
On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered in Southport to attend the funeral of one of the three victims of the stabbing attack, nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.
