Latest news with #riots
The Independent
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
We're ready for riots, minister declares amid growing fears of summer unrest
Ministers are ready to respond if fresh riots erupt this summer as tensions simmer over migrant hotels in communities across the UK. The business secretary has said government agencies, the police and emergency services are prepared for potential disorder after violent demonstrations outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping, Essex. Local Conservative MP Dr Neil Hudson has warned the riots in Essex are a ' crisis that has reached boiling point '. And deputy prime minister Angela Rayner this week issued a stark warning to her fellow cabinet ministers, warning them the UK faces a repeat of last year's summer riots unless 'the government shows it can address people's concerns'. Asked if the UK was prepared to handle another summer of disorder, Jonathan Reynolds said: 'All the government, all the key agencies, the police, they prepare for all situations. "So I wouldn't want you to be talking this up or speculating in a way which is unhelpful. Of course, the state prepares for all situations. "But I think what we've got to talk about is: why are people unhappy with, say, the asylum system? Are they reasonable? Are they upset for legitimate reasons? Yes, we share those as a government. That is why we are sorting it out. "And I understand the frustrations people have, but ultimately, you solve those frustrations and solve the problem by fixing and getting a grip of the core issue, which is what we're doing." He said the government was getting a grip on the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, with the number across the country having come down from around 400 hotels to "just over 200". Police have already warned that violent demonstrations are taking a 'massive toll' on forces across the UK. Unrest in Epping outside the Bell Hotel housing asylum seekers has already cost £100,000, with Essex Police forced to draft in support from neighbouring forces after the protests turned ugly with bottles and flares thrown at police, injuring eight officers. Last July and August, 40,000 officer shifts were worked by public order officers over 10 days to tackle the riots sparked by misinformation online after three girls were stabbed to death in Southport. With concerns mounting that the UK could be facing another summer of unrest, the police union has warned that forces are close to breaking point. Brian Booth, deputy chair of the Police Federation, said the UK's national mobilisation plan, which sees officers redeployed to assist other forces when needed, means staff miss rest days and additional hours at a time when resignation rates are 'off the scale' due to low morale and pay. He added: 'The demand has got too high, the service is stretched to the maximum. It's like an elastic band, and all of a sudden, we'll have a snap. There's only so much pressure that can be placed on them.' Demonstrations threatened to spread to London this week after false rumours claimed migrants were being moved from the Bell Hotel to the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf.
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
A summer of anti-migrant riots would suit our elites down to the ground
For our elites, peaceful protests would present a far thornier problem than riots, because it would be so much harder to dismiss all the participants as hate-crazed, bloodthirsty white supremacists. And so, for once, they might actually have to listen to the public – and, even worse, do what the public wants. Still, there's no denying that unrest is possible. The question is: who or what might bring it about? On Tuesday, Nigel Farage accused Essex police of trying to 'force a confrontation' by escorting Left-wing counter-protesters to the demonstration in Epping. Assistant chief constable Stuart Hooper, however, insisted they only offered assistance because 'the police have a duty to facilitate free assembly'. Do they? That's interesting, because last year an officer from the Met threatened a Jewish man with arrest if he remained in the vicinity of an anti-Israel march in London. 'I'm not accusing you of anything,' said the officer, 'but I'm worried about the reaction to your presence.' A curiously different approach. But perhaps one's right to free assembly is dependent on where one is. Or who. All we can say for sure is this. Anyone who resorts to violence at these protests will not be helping to upend the status quo.
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: a film about the Southport attack and the riots that followed
9pm, Channel 4It's been a year since a 17-year-old attacked a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport and murdered three young girls. It sparked riots across the nation, fuelled by extreme-right rhetoric and online misinformation. This documentary tells the experience of a family whose daughter survived the stabbing, who condemn the nature of the rioting. It also examines the bigger societal problems the riots exposed. Hollie Richardson 9pm, BBC TwoJimmy McGovern's feature-length drama about what happens when a man who sexually abused a young boy in his own family leaves prison is almost unbearably painful to watch at times. Anna Maxwell Martin, Anna Friel and David Threlfall star. HR 9pm, Sky MaxDanny Dyer won a TV Bafta for his comedy chops in this sibling sitcom – and within the first five minutes of the second series, he proves why, while wrapped in a dressing gown. He's in good company with Ryan Sampson (Brassic) and Harriet Webb (Big Boys), as the story of chalk-and-cheese estranged brothers reuniting continues. HR 9pm, U&DramaIt's the final episode of this Mitford drama and the battle of Cable Street coincides with the sale of the family pile. When the sisters gather for a last photo together, will Nancy be able to forgive Diana for marrying Mosley? As they leave the house as grownup women about to enter a war, a second season is hinted at. HR 9pm, Channel 5This series explores notable historical events through the prism of class; this time Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman are reconsidering the blitz. It's frequently presented as a horror that affected rich and poor alike; but was that really the case? What they find is an elite, insulated by wealth even, with the country on its knees. Phil Harrison 10pm, Sky MaxWe know the streets of zombified New York are ruled by Mad Max-style feudal gangs, but what's the deal in Central Park? Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and the rattled remnants of the New Babylon raiding party are about to find out, although the fact that none of their enemies seem keen to pursue them into the greenery does not bode well. Graeme Virtue
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Angela Rayner's critique of Labour's performance is short on solutions
Angela Rayner has a reputation for being forthright – and, according to the 'readout' of the last cabinet meeting before the summer recess, she has had some punchy things to say to her colleagues about the state of the nation. Reflecting on the riots that swept the country after the Southport tragedy almost a year ago, Ms Rayner is blunt about the government's collective performance. The official summary, itself a bowlderised version of her remarks, records her comprehensive critique about the causes of the civil unrest: 'Economic insecurity, the rapid pace of de-industrialisation, immigration and the impacts on local communities and public services, technological change and the amount of time people were spending alone online, and declining trust in institutions was having a profound impact on society.' Those factors were certainly at play in the riots last July, and are still in evidence now, notably in Epping, the Essex market town where an asylum seeker has been charged with sexual assault. There have since been signs of trouble at another hotel requisitioned by the Home Office for migrant accommodation, in Diss in Norfolk. As has been noted, these are the kind of 'tinderbox' conditions that the authorities need to treat with great care, and which have already resulted, in the case of Epping, in agitators turning up, and in unjustified attacks on the police. Ms Rayner is right to confront her colleagues, and indeed her own department, responsible as it is for 'communities', about the frustrations felt by the public and the widespread disaffection that will continue to build unless the government 'delivers' some tangible evidence of the 'change' in their lives promised by Labour at the last general election. This is most obviously so over immigration, though not confined to it, and the slow progress in 'smashing the gangs', ending the use of hotels to house migrants, and clearing the backlog of claims the government inherited. Where Ms Rayner may be faulted is in making such concerns so public at such a sensitive time – in the context of a palpable sense of unrest and the threat of another round of summer rioting. That is the context of her words. Obviously, she has no intention of having her implicit warnings about more riots be in any way a self-fulfilling prophecy, let alone inciting non-peaceful protest, but that may well be their practical effect. The timing of what she said is unfortunate and clumsy. At a moment when Nigel Farage – who is shameless about exploiting grievances – is stirring things up with overheated claims that 'we're actually facing, in many parts of the country, nothing short of societal collapse ' – this is no time to be adding to the sense of unease. With no sense of irony, given the tacit encouragement Mr Farage offers to the protesters, the Reform UK leader talks about 'lawless Britain' where 'criminals don't particularly respect the police and they're acting in many cases with total impunity'. The Essex police, faced as they are with an impossible job of controlling a mob and in enforcing the law impartially as it stands, will not have thanked Mr Farage for his words. Still less will they welcome Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who intends to descend on Epping in the coming days, with all that entails. Ms Rayner ought not to be adding her voice to these sorts of tensions. The other, wider criticism of Ms Rayner's reported assessment is that she is long on analysis but short on solutions. She rightly says that Britain is a 'successful, multi-ethnic, multi-faith country', and that 'the government had to show it had a plan to address people's concerns and provide opportunities for everyone to flourish'. For her part, she is going to produce her own Plan for Neighbourhoods, but she must also take her share of the blame – there is no better word – for the government's collective failure to create a sense that it has a cohesive plan or programme for government to solve the various challenges she identifies. One year on, there is still a sense that the government lacks a 'narrative' of what it is doing and why. People wish to see progress and understand how the sacrifices they make in paying higher taxes will prove worth it. The tangled web of 'missions', 'tasks' and 'priorities' that Sir Keir Starmer weaved as he entered government last year has not so much unravelled as been forgotten. Irregular migration, stagnant living standards, the public finances and the NHS, again facing renewed and deeply damaging industrial action, are intractable challenges that successive governments have been defeated by, and they will inevitably take time and resources to improve. The public needs to be reassured about that. As Ms Rayner indicates: 'It is incumbent on the government to acknowledge the real concerns people have and to deliver improvements to people's lives and their communities.' The good news for Sir Keir, Ms Rayner and their colleagues is that, riots or not, they still have three to four years to show that this Labour government works. If not, then they know how disastrous the consequences could be, because they were inflicted on the Conservatives not so long ago.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Police fears over summer riots as forces already ‘stretched to the maximum'
Protests and demonstrations that have turned violent are taking a 'massive toll' on police forces across the UK, it has been warned, as fears rise over the prospect of another summer of riots. Recent scenes of unrest in Epping outside a hotel believed to house asylum seekers have already cost £100,000, with Essex Police forced to draft in support from neighbouring forces after the protests turned ugly with bottles and flares thrown at police, injuring eight officers. Last July and August, 40,000 officer shifts were worked by public order officers over 10 days to tackle the riots sparked by misinformation online after three girls were stabbed to death in Southport. With concerns mounting that the UK could be facing another summer of unrest, the police union has warned that forces are close to breaking point. Brian Booth, deputy chair of the Police Federation, said the UK's national mobilisation plan, which sees officers redeployed to assist other forces when needed, means staff miss rest days and additional hours at a time when resignation rates are 'off the scale' due to low morale and pay. 'What we've seen throughout this year is sporadic incidents that need dealing with. 'It's a good idea, we're not knocking it, but it means officers are pulled from frontline duties and puts an extra demand on forces. It comes from frontline policing and you then have traffic officers missing from duties, those in the community pulled out and they then have to cancel their rest days and extend their working patterns.' He added: 'The demand has got too high, the service is stretched to the maximum. It's like an elastic band, and all of a sudden, we'll have a snap. There's only so much pressure that can be placed on them.' He stressed that while police chiefs had a designated budget to assist lawful protests, that budget is stretched when demonstrations turn violent and require a larger police response. 'The budgets are cut so slim now that there's no fat left,' he said. A new report from the Police Federation, published on Tuesday, found 17,700 police officers have been signed off for mental health reasons – an 182 per cent increase in the past 12 years – with many citing burnout, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. It comes as anger mounts among police forces, with average annual pay falling by a fifth in real terms since 2010. 'The morale is terrible,' Mr Booth said. 'A lot of my colleagues are really angry. People are leaving, we have the highest rate of mid-service leavers, and the resignation scales are off the scale.' 'I know over the next few weeks that the anger will be rising among the ranks now that the government has broken for recess, and we're the only public service that hasn't had the pay award. We've got an unhappy workforce and I think the government needs to realise that.' It comes as 1,500 officers will be redeployed from frontline duties to Scotland on Friday to support President Donald Trump's private visit to his golf courses. 'We were notified over the Trump visit in a short period, we were told they needed 1,5000 officers only last week. That's one per cent of the population of policing. Chief constables are now trying to scramble around trying to find the numbers to detract from other duties,' he said. On Tuesday, Angela Rayner addressed the Epping protests and warned the UK faces another summer of riots unless 'the government shows it can address people's concerns'. In a dramatic intervention, the deputy prime minister said economic insecurity, immigration, the increasing time people spend online, and declining trust in institutions were having a 'profound impact on society'. On Wednesday, Essex Police said they had arrested 10 people after a series of protests outside the Bell Hotel, in Epping, which began after a 38-year-old, believed to be an asylum seeker being housed there, was charged with sexual assault. Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch played down the notion of further riots this summer, but said 'we need to be very, very vigilant'. The leader of the Conservatives also blamed Labour for the strains on social cohesion, adding: 'Yvette Cooper is waving things through. Rachel Reeves is not providing the money. I'm not surprised. Angela Rayner is saying the social fabric is fraying, but she needs to do something about it.'
