United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer will hold an emergency response meeting on Monday after further far-right riots broke out across England over the weekend.
The prime minister will chair a Cobra meeting, which will bring together ministers and the police to discuss how to quell the violence.
Starmer on Sunday warned far-right protesters that they would “regret” participating in England’s worst rioting in 13 years, saying: “I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder. Whether directly or those whipping up this action online, and then running away themselves.”
His interior minister Yvette Cooper told the BBC on Monday that “there will be a reckoning”.
Cooper also said that social media put a “rocket booster” under the violence, and announced that the government was offering new emergency security to Islamic places of worship.
The violence is a major challenge for Starmer, elected only a month ago. He promised to bring the perpetrators “to justice”, saying: “There was no justification for what I called far-right thuggery”.
Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in Liverpool issued a joint appeal for calm, while anti-fascist demonstrators have held counter-rallies in many cities. Not all the gatherings have turned violent, with a peaceful one in Aldershot, southern England, on Sunday seeing participants hold placards that read “Stop the invasion” and “We’re not far right, we’re just right”.
