Britain reverses course after week of unrest
2024-08-10
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China News Service, London, August 9 (Reporter Ouyang Kaiyu) The situation in the UK has reversed after a week of riots, and the expected new round of violent activities initiated by far-right groups did not occur.
Gavin Stephens, chairman of the UK National Police Chiefs' Council, said on the 8th that this is a critical moment for the reversal of the wave of public order disorder.
According to the BBC, more than 6,000 police officers who have received riot control training were on standby to deal with possible riots on the evening of the 7th local time. However, despite the participation of thousands of anti-racism activists, far-right forces were largely absent.
Gavin Stephens said there was no reason to take it lightly and police were now "highly focused on the weekend" with many potential activities still being promoted and circulated online.
The continued violent riots in the UK stem from a murder that occurred early last week. On July 29, a knife attack occurred in Southport in northwest England, killing three children, followed by a wave of demonstrations across the UK. Last weekend, the largest riots in 13 years broke out in many cities in the UK. Demonstrations of varying sizes took place in Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and Belfast, and demonstrations in many places evolved into violent riots. Until the evening of the 5th, violent riots continued in parts of the UK, such as Belfast, Darlington and Plymouth, with thugs throwing Molotov cocktails at police, looting shops and burning police cars.
Communities across the UK braced for a night of unrest after a far-right group's hit list purportedly containing the names and addresses of immigration lawyers circulated online on August 7.
British police were reportedly aware of 160 locations where public disorder could occur, but only 36 of them actually required a large police presence that night.
The BBC said that from a practical point of view, potential rioters seemed to be scared off by the large number of police deployed. Some known far-right agitators appeared on the edge of the event, lurking and observing the event, but then disappeared.
It is worth noting that some large-scale anti-racism demonstrations in places such as Walthamstow in northeast London and Newcastle made it impossible for anti-immigration protesters to get close to their targets.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said a strong police response would continue to be taken to ensure more police forces were ready to respond at any time.
As of August 8, more than 480 people have been arrested across the UK for participating in violent riots, nearly 150 people have been charged, dozens have been sentenced, and the cases have been quickly tried through the judicial system. (End)
