They have also pelted mosques with rocks, unverified videos online have shown some ethnic minorities being beaten up and one man photographed at a protest in Sunderland on Friday had a swastika tattooed on his back…reports Asian Lite News
The British government has increased its prison capacity to help tackle violent, week-long anti-Muslim riots that have prompted a growing number of countries to warn their citizens about the dangers of traveling in Britain.
Riots across a number of towns and cities have erupted following the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed event in Southport, a seaside town in northern England, after false messaging on social media wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant.
Unrest has spread, with rioters targeting mosques and smashing windows of hotels housing asylum-seekers from Africa and the Middle East, chanting “get them out,” in the first widespread outbreak of violence in Britain for 13 years.
They have also pelted mosques with rocks, unverified videos online have shown some ethnic minorities being beaten up and one man photographed at a protest in Sunderland on Friday had a swastika tattooed on his back.
“My message to anyone who chooses to take part in this violence and thuggery is simple: the police, courts and prisons stand ready and you will face the consequences of your appalling acts,” Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.
The justice department, which is due to release some prisoners early as it battles a jail overcrowding crisis, said nearly 600 prison places had been secured to accommodate those engaged in violence. About 400 people have been arrested so far.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed a reckoning to those who have engaged in rioting, hurling bricks at the police and counter protesters, and looting shops and burning cars.
Police on Tuesday charged a 28-year-old man with stirring up racial hatred over Facebook posts linked to the disorder. A 14-year-old pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
On Monday night trouble flared in Plymouth, southern England, and again in Belfast in Northern Ireland, where hundreds of rioters threw petrol bombs and heavy masonry at officers and set a police Land Rover on fire.
Messages online say immigration centers and law firms aiding migrants would be targeted on Wednesday, prompting anti-fascist groups to say they will counter any demonstration. Police have blamed online disinformation, amplified by high-profile figures, for driving the violence.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson and previously the leader of the defunct anti-Islam English Defense League, has long attacked Britain’s policy of housing asylum seekers who arrive in the country.