LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned Friday that UK authorities must “stay on high alert” for more far-right riots, as courts issued the first jail sentences for online incitement during the recent disorder.
While England has had consecutive nights of relative quiet, disturbances have continued unabated in Northern Ireland where police have blamed pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries for fueling nightly violence in Belfast.
More than 1,000 anti-racism protesters massed in the Northern Irish capital on Friday amid a large police presence.
Several dozen anti-immigration demonstrators also showed up.
Starmer told reporters during a visit to the London police headquarters that “swift justice” handed out by courts was helping deter more disorder in English towns.
“But we have to stay on high alert going into this weekend because we absolutely have to make sure that our communities are safe and secure,” Starmer added.
A judge in Leeds, northern England, jailed a 28-year-old man for 20 months after he admitted publishing Facebook posts that met the criminal threshold for stirring racial hatred.
In the first case of its kind linked to the disturbances, a judge sentenced Jordan Parlour for posts last week encouraging people to attack a hotel in the city housing asylum seekers and refugees.
The hotel manager had to put the building into lockdown Saturday due to disorder in the city, and at least one window was broken after stones were thrown at it.
In Northampton, central England, a judge jailed 26-year-old Tyler Kay for 38 months after he called on social media for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.
Speaking before the sentences — but after both had been convicted — Starmer said they were “a reminder to everyone that whether you’re directly involved or whether you’re remotely involved, you’re culpable.”
Social media executives and users should be “mindful of the first priority, which is to ensure that our communities are safe and secure.”
“We’re going to have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder but the focus at the moment has to be on dealing with the disorder,” Starmer said.
Police in England said nearly 600 arrests have been carried out linked to the unrest since July 30 and around 150 charges had been filed.
The disturbances, sparked by a July 29 knife attack in which three children were killed, have seen mosques and migrant-related facilities attacked alongside police and other targets.
Officials say false information spread on social media about the suspected perpetrator fueled the disorder.
Courts across England have started sentencing participants in the disorder, with about a dozen people jailed on Thursday.
In Northern Ireland, a number of Belfast businesses and libraries closed early on Friday after more disorder overnight and the latest protests.
Police there said 23 people have been arrested so far in Belfast following the disturbances, and 15 charged.
Officers have been granted additional powers to stop and search suspected troublemakers and ask them to remove face coverings, while additional manpower is being sent from the UK mainland, according to reports.
Britain’s monarch, King Charles III, praised the police and emergency services “for all they are doing to restore peace in those areas that have been affected by violent disorder.”
He hoped that the “shared values of mutual respect and understanding will continue to strengthen and unite the nation,” a palace spokesman added in a statement, his first reaction to the unrest
French President Emmanuel Macron offered his support to Starmer in a phone call with the prime minister Friday, said a statement from the French presidency.
Offering condolences to the families of the victims of the July 29 stabbing, Macron “firmly condemned the violence and disorder” in Britain in his conversation with Starmer, said the statement.
UK remains on ‘high’ riot alert as jail terms ordered for social media posts
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UK remains on ‘high’ riot alert as jail terms ordered for social media posts
- Racist attacks and disorder have mostly targeted Muslims and migrants
- There are around 40 counter-protests due on Saturday, according to the Stand Up to Racism group
Pakistan separatist militants BLA deny involvement in attack on mines
- Dozens of attackers stormed a cluster of small private coal mines in Pakistan’s restive southwest
KARACHI: The Baloch Liberation Army, a militant separatist group in Pakistan, denied involvement in an attack that killed at least 21 mine workers, condemning the violence.
Dozens of attackers stormed a cluster of small private coal mines in Pakistan’s restive southwest on Friday with guns, rockets and hand grenades, killing some miners in their sleep and shooting others after lining them up.
“Baloch Liberation Army condemns the massacre of 21 Pashtun workers in Dukki, making it clear that our organization has no involvement in this tragic incident,” the BLA said in an email late on Saturday.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the mines of the Junaid Coal Co. in the mineral-rich province of Balochistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran.
It was the worst such attack in weeks and comes days before Pakistan hosts a summit of the Eurasian group Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
A decades-long insurgency in Balochistan by separatist militant groups has led to frequent attacks against the government, army and Chinese interests in the region, pressing demands for a share in mineral-rich resources.
Besides the separatists, the region is also home to Islamist militants, who have resurged since 2022 after revoking a ceasefire with the government.
The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan. It is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the South Asian nation’s government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistan’s rich gas and mineral resources.
The province is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, run by giant Barrick Gold and believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines. China also operates a gold and copper mine in the province.
At the time of the attack, a delegation from Saudi Arabia, which says it is set to buy a stake in the Reko Diq mine, was in Islamabad exploring deals as Pakistan seeks to recover from an economic crisis.
Israel envoy criticizes Japan atomic survivor’s Gaza comparison
- Around 140,000 people were killed when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima
Tokyo: Israel’s ambassador to Japan criticized on Sunday a leader of Nihon Hidankyo, the atomic bomb survivors’ group awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for comparing their experiences to the children of Gaza.
Gilad Cohen congratulated Nihon Hidankyo for winning this year’s prize but said in a post on social media platform X on Sunday the comparison drawn by the group’s co-chair Toshiyuki Mimaki “is outrageous and baseless.”
“Gaza is ruled by Hamas, a murderous terrorist organization committing a double war crime: targeting Israeli civilians, including women and children, while using its own people as human shields,” Cohen said.
“Such comparisons distort history and dishonor the victims” of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, Cohen said.
Mimaki said after the prize was announced on Friday that the plight of children in Gaza was similar to what Japan faced at the end of World War II.
“In Gaza, bleeding children are being held (by their parents). It’s like in Japan 80 years ago,” Mimaki said.
A representative for the Hiroshima chapter of Nihon Hidankyo could not be reached for comment about Cohen’s post.
Around 140,000 people were killed when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and 74,000 more were killed in Nagasaki three days later.
Survivors of the blasts later formed Nihon Hidankyo to tell the stories of those atomic bombings and to press for a world without nuclear weapons.
Nagasaki decided not to invite Cohen to mark this year’s 79th anniversary of the bombing, citing security reasons to avoid possible protests.
That decision prompted the ambassadors of the United States, Britain and the European Union, among others, to skip the ceremony and send lower-level officials instead.
The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 42,175 people, a majority of them civilians, have been killed since Israel’s military campaign began there. The United Nations acknowledges these figures to be reliable.
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Taiwan says on ‘alert’ as China aircraft carrier detected to its south
- China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years
TAIPEI: Taiwan was on “alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier to its south on Sunday, the self-ruled island’s defense ministry said.
“China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier group has entered waters near the Bashi Channel and is likely to proceed into the western Pacific,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that its military “remains on alert, prepared to respond as necessary.”
China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending in warplanes and other military aircraft while Chinese ships maintain a near-constant presence around its waters.
The Liaoning aircraft carrier detection comes after US State Secretary Antony Blinken warned China on Friday against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan, following a speech by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during the island’s National Day celebrations a day earlier.
Lai, who China calls a “separatist,” vowed Thursday to “resist annexation” of the island, and insisted Beijing and Taipei were “not subordinate to each other.”
China warned after the speech that Lai’s “provocations” would result in “disaster” for the people of Taiwan.
Indian politician shot dead in Mumbai
- Baba Siddique, 66, was shot multiple times in the chest outside son’s office in Mumbai
- Siddique’s death takes place ahead of key state elections slated for later this year
MUMBAI: A senior politician in India’s financial capital Mumbai was shot dead on Saturday, weeks ahead of key state elections, with police probing the role of a notorious crime gang.
Baba Siddique, 66, a local lawmaker and former minister in Maharashtra state, was shot multiple times in the chest outside his son’s office in Mumbai, Indian media reported.
Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, from the same party as Siddique, said he was “shocked” by the “cowardly attack.”
The Hindustan Times newspaper reported that two suspected attackers had been arrested, and police were searching for another.
Broadcaster NDTV said the two suspects claimed they were part of a gang run by Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in jail accused of running a crime gang that has carried out multiple killings.
The shooting comes just weeks after Siddique’s security detail was upgraded after he received death threats, and ahead of elections slated for later this year.
“The incident will be thoroughly investigated and strict action will be taken against the attackers,” Pawar said in a statement. “The mastermind behind the attack will also be traced.”
Siddique was close to several Bollywood stars and was known for throwing grand parties.
Vietnam, China to boost economic, defense cooperation
- Vietnam would facilitate more high-tech Chinese investment in the country and Beijing would strengthen market access for Vietnamese agricultural products
- Both sides would prioritize cooperation in rail connectivity between the neighboring countries
HANOI: Vietnam and China said they will boost defense and economic cooperation, Vietnamese state media reported on Sunday, despite a recent fare-up in their territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
China’s Premier Li Qiang met Vietnam’s top leader To Lam in Hanoi on Saturday, the Nhan Dan newspaper reported.
The two agreed to “maintain regular high-level exchanges and cooperation in defense, security, and foreign affairs... expanding the implementation of new mechanisms,” the newspaper said.
Vietnam would facilitate more high-tech Chinese investment in the country and Beijing would strengthen market access for Vietnamese agricultural products, the newspaper said.
Both sides would prioritize cooperation in rail connectivity between the neighboring countries, Nhan Dan said.
China is Vietnam’s biggest trade partner, but the two countries share historic tensions — including in the South China Sea, a waterway through which trillions of dollars of trade pass each year.
China has for years sought to expand its presence in contested areas of the sea, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.
Last week Hanoi protested what it said was a “brutal” attack by Chinese vessels on Vietnamese fishermen in a disputed area of the sea.
At Saturday’s meeting Vietnam’s Lam “urged both parties to... better manage and resolve differences” in maritime issues, Nhan Dan said.
Lam took office in early August as general secretary following the death of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong.
He met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing just a few weeks after during his first overseas trip.
