SOLIHULL: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Thursday not to ease up efforts to stop further far-right riots in English towns and cities, after more anticipated street violence failed to materialize overnight.
The UK leader said despite a largely peaceful Wednesday evening, he would chair another emergency meeting of senior ministers and police leaders later on Thursday to plan for potential trouble in “the coming days.”
He also noted the criminal justice system would continue “working speedily” to convict those already arrested during a week of near nightly riots across England and in Northern Ireland.
It came as a judge in Liverpool, northeast England, jailed several more participants in the violence, which has seen mosques and migrant-related facilities attacked alongside police and other targets.
“It’s important that we don’t let up here,” Starmer told media outlets as he visited a mosque and met community leaders in Solihull, western England.
“That’s why later on today, I’ll have another... meeting with law enforcement, with senior police officers, to make sure that we reflect on last night but also plan for the coming days.”
Starmer credited “police deployed in numbers in the right places, giving reassurance to communities” with helping to ease the unrest overnight.
Instead of rumored far-right gatherings at dozens of sites linked to immigrant support services, thousands of anti-racism and anti-facism protesters took to the streets.
They massed in considerable numbers, holding rallies in cities including London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle.
“Whose streets? Our streets!” thousands chanted in Walthamstow, northeast London, where hundreds of pro-Palestine supporters joined the rally under a heavy police presence.
However, Northern Ireland saw another night of disturbances — its fourth in a row.
There were five arrests and a police officer was injured during disorder in Belfast.
The UK government had put 6,000 specialist police on standby across England to deal with scores of potential flashpoints, after far-right social media channels called for a string of immigration-linked sites to be targeted.
The violence has been fueled by misinformation spread on social media about the suspected perpetrator of a knife attack on July 29 which killed three children.
London’s Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley, who ordered thousands of officers onto the streets of the capital on Wednesday, said he was “really pleased” with how the police and local communities had responded to the riots.
“I think the show of force from the police — and frankly, the show of unity from communities together — defeated the challenges that we’ve seen,” he told UK broadcasters.
Rowley noted there had been a small number of arrests due to “some local criminals” engaging in anti-social behavior in some locations but that fears of “extreme-right disorder were abated.”
On Thursday, London mayor Sadiq Khan thanked “heroic police force working round the clock” and “those who came out peacefully to show London stands united against racism and Islamophobia.”
“And to those far-right thugs still intent on sowing hatred and division: you will never be welcome here,” he added on X.
Courts started on Wednesday to order jail terms for offenders tied to the unrest as authorities sought to deter fresh disorder.
The unrest, Britain’s worst since the 2011 London riots, has seen hundreds arrested and at least 120 charged, and has led several countries to issue travel warnings for the UK.
London police said on Thursday that officers had made 10 further arrests overnight, a week after protests outside Downing Street in Westminster turned violent.
Rowley, who joined the dawn raids, said those arrested “aren’t protesters, patriots or decent citizens.”
“They’re thugs and criminals,” he noted, adding most had previous convictions for weapon possession, violence, drugs and other serious offenses.
The riots broke out after three girls — aged nine, seven and six — were killed and five more children critically injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England.
False rumors spread on social media that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.
The suspect was later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales.
UK media report that his parents are from Rwanda, which is overwhelmingly Christian.
UK’s Starmer vows no let up in stopping further far-right riots
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UK’s Starmer vows no let up in stopping further far-right riots
- “It’s important that we don’t let up here,” Starmer told media outlets as he visited a mosque and met community leaders in Solihull, western England
Escapee from Portuguese prison caught in Morocco, four still at large
- On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from Vale de Judeus prison during visiting hours, when the guards were busy, with the help of a long ladder provided by an accomplice on the outside
LISBON: One of five inmates who staged a spectacular escape from a high-security prison near Lisbon a month ago has been recaptured in Morocco, Portuguese police said on Monday, while the other four, including foreign nationals, remain at large.
Moroccan authorities arrested Fabio Loureiro, 33, late on Sunday in Tangier.
He will appear before a judge in Morocco before his extradition to Portugal to serve the rest of a 25-year prison sentence for armed robbery, drug trafficking, extortion and other crimes, police said.
On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from Vale de Judeus prison during visiting hours, when the guards were busy, with the help of a long ladder provided by an accomplice on the outside.
The prison guards’ union has long been flagging what it sees as inadequate staffing and security at the prison with a capacity for 560 inmates, especially since the watchtowers were torn down and replaced with video surveillance.
India offers financial support to Maldives after talks to repair ties
NEW DELHI: India stepped up its development assistance to the Maldives after the two leaders held talks in New Delhi on Monday in a bid to repair strained ties that saw the president of the Indian Ocean archipelago forging closer relations with China.
After the talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will offer financial support to the cash-strapped Maldives in form of a $100-million treasury bills rollover. The countries also signed a $400-million currency swap agreement.
The two leaders virtually inaugurated a new international airport in the Maldives, and Modi announced that work will be accelerated on the India-assisted Greater Male Connectivity Project, which aims to link key islands of the Maldives through modern transport networks.
“India is Maldives’ nearest neighbor and a close friend,” Modi said during a joint news conference. He said the Maldives held an important position in India’s “neighborhood first policy.”
Tensions between India and the Maldives have grown since President Mohamed Muizzu, who favors closer ties with China, was elected last year after defeating India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Leading up to the election, Muizzu had promised to expel Indian soldiers deployed in the Maldives to help with humanitarian assistance.
Indian man charged with rape and murder of doctor that sparked widespread protests
- The suspect, named as Sanjoy Roy, was arrested the day after the murder on August 9 and held in custody since
- Roy, who had been working as a volunteer supporting patients, would potentially face death penalty if convicted
Kolkata: Indian police on Monday charged a man with the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor, a crime which appalled the country and triggered wide-scale protests.
The discovery of the doctor’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 sparked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.
The suspect, named as Sanjoy Roy, arrested the day after the murder and held in custody since, was formally charged on Monday with a confidential document of evidence submitted to the court.
“Sanjoy Roy has been charged with the rape and murder of the on-duty trainee post-graduate doctor inside the hospital,” a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told AFP.
Roy, widely reported by Indian media to be aged 33, and who had been working as a volunteer in the hospital supporting patients, would potentially face the death penalty if convicted.
Doctors in Kolkata went on strike for weeks in response to the brutal attack.
Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians joined in the protests, which focused anger on the lack of measures for women doctors to work without fear.
While most medics have returned to work, a small group began a hunger strike this month.
The doctors say the West Bengal state government had failed to deliver on its promises to upgrade lighting, security cameras and other measures to protect them.
India’s Supreme Court last month ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for health care workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation.”
The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.
UK’s Starmer urges Middle East ‘restraint’ on Oct 7 anniversary
- “All sides must now step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint. There is no military solution to these challenges,” Starmer said
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday urged “all sides” in the Middle East conflict to “find the courage of restraint,” on the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
Addressing lawmakers in parliament, the UK leader said the region “cannot endure another year of this” and that “civilians on all sides have suffered too much.”
“All sides must now step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint. There is no military solution to these challenges,” Starmer told MPs in a somber House of Commons.
His comments followed a statement earlier Monday in which he paid tribute to the victims of those killed a year ago, saying: “We stand together to remember the lives so cruelly taken.”
Starmer, who took power in early July, added that Britain “must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community and unite as a country,” following a surge in reports of anti-Semitism across the UK.
“On this day of pain and sorrow, we honor those we lost, and continue in our determination to return those still held hostage, help those who are suffering, and secure a better future for the Middle East,” he said.
In his brief speech in parliament, Starmer said 15 British citizens were killed on October 7 in the attacks, and that another died while being held in captivity.
The Hamas onslaught left 1,205 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
Some 251 people were captured and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Of those 97 are still held captive including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Starmer also noted that more than 41,000 Palestinians had also been killed in Israel’s military response, reiterating his calls for immediate ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza, and more aid to be allowed into the latter.
Again urging British citizens in Lebanon to leave, the UK leader noted 430 people had already left the country on government chartered flights over the last week.
Putin to meet Iran president in Turkmenistan Friday
- Leaders will meet in Ashgabat while attending an event celebrating a Turkmen poet
- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iran last week for talks with Masoud Pezeshkian
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian for talks Friday at a forum in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan, a senior aide said Monday.
Yury Ushakov, Putin’s aide on foreign policy, told journalists the leaders will meet in Ashgabat while attending an event celebrating a Turkmen poet.
“This meeting has great significance both for discussing bilateral issues as well as, of course, discussing the sharply escalated situation in the Middle East,” Ushakov said.
Leaders of Central Asian countries are meeting to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of 18th-century poet Magtymguly Pyragy.
Putin’s attendance had not been previously announced.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iran last week for talks with Pezeshkian and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.
The talks come as Israel intensively bombs Lebanon, targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah and Russia has evacuated some citizens.
Russia has close relations with Iran, and Western governments have accused Tehran of supplying Moscow with drones and missiles, which it has repeatedly denied.
Pezeshkian will also hold talks with Putin during a visit to Russia this month to participate in a BRICS summit of emerging economies.
