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Sir Keir Starmer has announced the creation of a new national policing unit to tackle violent disorder as he vowed to “put a stop” to recent unrest on British streets led by far-right “thugs”.
The prime minister convened senior police chiefs at Downing Street on Thursday before announcing the move, after a second night of violence sparked by the mass stabbing by an attacker in Southport.
Police forces across the UK are braced for further far-right protests heading into the weekend, with plans forming online for demonstrations in Manchester and Middlesbrough among other cities.
The new unit will consider treating rioters like football hooligans, Starmer announced on Thursday. It will look at issuing criminal behaviour orders that could restrict their movement “before they can even board a train — in just the same way that we do with football hooligans”, he added.
It will also foster improved intelligence sharing between police forces and a wider deployment of facial recognition technology.
Starmer hit out at the actions of a “tiny, mindless minority in our society” and thanked police officers who have “stood up to intimidation and violence” since the initial stabbing attack on Monday.
The immediate challenge is “clearly driven by far-right hatred”, the prime minister acknowledged, but added that the new unit will tackle “all violent disorder that flares up whatever the apparent cause or motivation”.
Starmer’s comments came hours after the Southport attack suspect was named as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, who was born in the UK to parents who emigrated from Rwanda.
Judge Andrew Menary lifted reporting restrictions in a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, where Rudakubana was remanded in youth custody charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one of possession of a knife.
The 17-year-old was apprehended on Monday near the scene of the mass stabbing in north-west England, the worst mass casualty event involving children in the UK for decades.
Three girls aged six, seven and nine were killed in the attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, and 10 other people, mostly children, were injured, triggering a string of violent protests.
Rudakubana’s name, which could not previously be published because of his age, had been the subject of frenzied social media speculation and misinformation.
Some posts have linked him to Islam or suggested he had arrived in the UK recently by boat as an asylum seeker.
Noting that Rudakubana would turn 18 on August 7, Menary said: “Continuing to prevent the full reporting has the disadvantage of allowing others to spread misinformation, in a vacuum.”
In his comments on Thursday, Starmer served notice to large social media companies that violent disorder whipped up online was “also a crime” and was “happening on your premises”, as he warned that the government would “take all necessary action to keep our streets safe”.
Asked what penalties he was willing to impose on social media companies that fail to stamp out misinformation that stokes unrest, Starmer said there needed to be a discussion about striking the “right balance”.
A plea and preparation hearing has been set for Rudakubana’s trial on Friday 25 October at Liverpool Crown Court.
Merseyside chief constable Serena Kennedy said that although the charges marked “a significant milestone . . . this remains very much a live investigation and we continue to work with our partners from Lancashire Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North West”.
More than 100 demonstrators were arrested during clashes outside the official residence and office of the British prime minister on Wednesday night, the Metropolitan police said.
Some protesters threw fireworks and bottles at police, shouting similar anti-migrant and Islamophobic slogans to those used in Southport on Tuesday night. More than 50 officers were injured when protesters attacked a local mosque and set police and other vehicles alight.
There were also major disturbances on Wednesday night in Hartlepool, a town in north-east England, where police carrying riot shields were confronted by large crowds of protesters hurling projectiles.
