Police in the northern English city of Rotherham struggled to hold back a group of far-right activists on Sunday, who broke into a hotel believed to be housing asylum-seekers.
The disturbance is the latest in a series of violent protests by anti-immigration groups in British towns and cities this week after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport in northwest England on Monday.
What happened in Rotherham?
Footage aired on British TV showed officers with shields targeted by a barrage of projectiles outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham, near Sheffield.
A few minutes later, the protesters can be seen storming the building and removing chairs from inside to use as weapons.
A small fire was also visible while windows in the hotel were smashed.
At least one officer was injured in the confrontation.
Late Sunday, Staffordshire police said another hotel known to have sheltered asylum-seekers was targeted near Birmingham.
“A large group of individuals” have been “throwing projectiles, smashing windows, starting fires and targeting police” at the hotel in the town of Tamworth, with one officer injured, said the statement.
There were more anti-immigration protests and counter-demonstrations elsewhere, including the northeastern city of Middlesborough, where officers used police dogs to control the crowd.
In the cities of Liverpool, Bolton and Southport — where the mass stabbing took place — the police were granted the right to issue dispersal orders, allowing them to stop protests from taking place on Sunday.
UK PM says far-right rioters will ‘regret’ actions
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack on hotels housing asylum-seekers and described it as “far-right thuggery.”
“We will do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice,” said Starmer.
“These thugs are mobile, they move from community to community, and we must have a police response that can do the same.”
“Mosques being attacked because they’re mosques — the far-right are showing who they are. We have to show who we are in response to that.”
Britain’s Home Secretary (or interior minister) Yvette Cooper called the “criminal, violent attack” on the hotel “utterly appalling: Deliberately setting fire to a building with people known to be inside.”
She said police had “full Government support for the strongest action against those responsible.”
Dozens arrested during Saturday’s riots
Close to 100 people were arrested after skirmishes broke out at far-right rallies in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Blackpool and Hull, as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland on Saturday.
In Liverpool, in the northwest, protesters threw chairs, flares and bricks at police officers. Manchester also saw clashes between officers and rioters.
In the city of Hull, protesters broke windows of a hotel that was housing migrants, the BBC reported.
In Belfast, fireworks were thrown due to a clash between an anti-Islam group and anti-racism protesters.
Opposing groups also faced off in the cities of Nottingham and Bristol.
In Leeds, anti-immigration protesters carrying British flags chanted, “You’re not English anymore.” They were met with counter-protesters shouting, “Nazi scum off our streets.”
On Friday, Sunderland saw violence erupt as a police station and an overturned car were set on fire.
In London, a pro-Palestinian demonstration was carried out as usual despite counterprotesting nearby.
Why did the riots break out?
The riots began last week due to misinformation over a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party at a studio in Southport, a seaside town in northwest England.
Three children were killed in the knife attack, and 10 other people — eight of whom were children — were injured.
A 17-year-old boy, Axel Rudakubana, has been charged with several offences, including the girls’ murder, which happened during a Taylor Swift-themed workshop.
Rudakubana is accused of killing Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, and injuring another 10 people.
Since the Southport attack, far-right social media channels have been awash with false claims that the suspect was an asylum-seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.
Police have emphasised that Rudakubana was born in Britain.
He was remanded to a youth detention centre and will next appear in court in October.
The unrest is seen as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s first major test after joining office less than a month ago. He has condemned the violence and said thugs were “hijacking” the nation’s grief.
Police believe the English Defence League, an anti-Islam organisation, is behind the violence. Anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate says it has identified 30 more such events set to take place over the weekend.
This article was originally published on DW.
