'YOU WILL REGRET IT'
‘Far-right’ riot thugs warned they face ‘reckoning’ as PM holds Cobra meeting after weekend of fiery carnage
Here's what sparked the riots in towns and cities across the UK
FAR-RIGHT thugs have been warned they face a "reckoning" as the Prime Minister held a Cobra meeting after a weekend of chaos.
More than 420 people have been arrested after social media lies whipped up riots across the UK.
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
Hundreds of thugs petrol-bombed a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, near Sheffield, yesterday.
Rioters in balaclavas hurled bricks and fire extinguishers at cops who tried in vain to stop them torching the hotel.
Ten riot cops were injured - including one who was knocked out after suffering a head injury.
Yobs also petrol-bombed a Holiday Inn hosting asylum seekers in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
Read More UK Riots
A children's library in Liverpool and a Citizens' Advice centre in Sunderland were also torched over the weekend.
Mosques across the country have been attacked and shops owned by ethnic minority Brits have been looted.
Today Sir Keir Starmer summoned ministers and police chiefs for the first Cobra meeting since the riots started.
This morning's Cobra meeting appears to have finished just before midday, with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood leaving the Cabinet Office.
Most read in The Sun
Ms Mahmood ignored questions from the press as she walked to her car outside.
Senior police chiefs who are understood to have attended Monday morning's Cobra meeting have also left the Cabinet Office.
It comes as the PM today blasted depraved maniacs who have been wreaking havoc across Britain by cruelly targeting and attacking ethnic minorities.
Starmer and top cops also put online and in-person thugs on notice, warning the full force of the law will come down on them.
He said: "This is not protest this is violence.
"We're not going to tolerate that in this country."
And, Downing Street confirmed there are enough free prison cells to ensure every last rioter is locked up.
A No10 spokesperson said: "The police, Home Office and National Crime Agency are working to tackle criminality online and to ensure people are prosecuted.
"They are working to tackle misinformation and bot activity.
"The additional courts protocol is in place to ensure that additional court capacity is in place as is needed, and as the home office announced, the protective security scheme for mosques has been extended with additional security in place across across the country."
It follows a statement issued by the PM last night in which he said the "far-right thugs" behind the riots would regret their actions.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper slammed the "disgraceful" riots - saying they betray Britain's values.
Writing in , Cooper said: "Make no mistake - there will be a reckoning for the individuals who took part in this violence.
"Whatever they and some of their political supporters may tell us, these are not patriots standing up for their communities.
"They are thugs, criminals, and extremists who betray the very values our country is built on."
Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly told Times Radio: "Mosques are being targeted, asylum hotels are being targeted.
"We are seeing people with swastika tattoos and giving Nazi salutes - this is self-evidently driven in significant part by the far right.
"We know that there is a very active online community stirring up hatred, stirring up the kind of attitudes which trigger events like this.
"So we know where this is coming from. It is absolutely right to describe the actions of these people as the far right."
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
Tory leadership contender Cleverly said the government had been "slow" to crack down on the riots.
He said: "When the government gets things right, I will support them, because this issue is absolutely key.
"But I'm also concerned that they have been slow. It's only today that Cobra is going to sit."
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for Parliament to be recalled this morning.
Posting on X, Farage added: "We should not discount the use of the army if the situation were to deteriorate further."
Violent clashes broke out in dozens of UK towns and cities last week and continued over the weekend.
They have been fuelled by online lies following the murders of three girls in Southport on Monday.
Posts wrongly claimed suspect Axel Rudakubana was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Rudakubana, 17, was actually born in Cardiff and raised as a Christian.
Terrifying violence followed the attack in Southport, before unrest spread to Hartlepool and Manchester on Wednesday.
Riots then broke out in Sunderland and Blackpool on Friday - and in 11 more cities on Saturday and Sunday.
At Middlesbrough’s Cenotaph, hundreds of protesters squared up to police before throwing slate, cans and pots at the officers.
A group of masked yobs walked through a residential suburb of the city.
They used metal bars and wooden posts to smash car windscreens and the windows of terraced houses.
Vehicles were torched, along with wheelie bins.
Meanwhile, in Weymouth cops were tasked with keeping protesters and counter-protesters separate along the beach.
Cops confirmed two officers were injured, one hit in the face with a bottle while the other was punched.
Another migrant hotel in the Hampshire town of Aldershot was also targeted.
A group of men outside Potters International Hotel brandished a banner insisting: “We’re not far right, we’re just right.”
By 6.45pm a crowd of some 200 "got involved in criminal activity, throwing objects and subjecting people to racist abuse," according to Hampshire Police.
In the centre of Bolton, large crowds of anti-immigration demonstrators gathered along with counter-protesters while police tried to keep them apart.
Trouble also flared in Belfast, Blackpool, Stoke, Leeds, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol and Portsmouth.
Snaps show the devastation which rioters have left behind in many towns this morning.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
One photo shows a torched upside-down car in Middlesbrough - with thugs responsible nowhere to be seen.
Cops are probing a reported threat of an "imminent attack" on Hastings Mosque.
THE SUN SAYS
THERE are several things to be learned from the sickening scenes of rioting across the UK following the murders of three innocent little girls in Southport.
That relying on the Wild West of social media to get news — instead of regulated, traditional and trusted media — opens users to a constant feed of fakery from distorted algorithms.
That a lack of speedy transparency from the police and other authorities often creates a vacuum into which lies are peddled by twisted conspiracy theorists.
This in turn is fuelled by disinformation deliberately spread by malign foreign states like Russia to sow discord in the UK.
There is no question the courts should now throw the book at the drunk and drugged-up far-right thugs responsible for mindless violence in towns like Rotherham.
Punishment, too, should be meted out to the hard-Left and Islamists also seeking to drive a wedge in our communities.
But it remains the case that unless the Government grips the twin problems of violent crime and illegal migration, vile organised racists and fanatics will always seek to exploit those issues.
That is precisely why Sir Keir Starmer wants to bring the full force of justice against the mobs.
Yet amid the sickening and depressing scenes, we have also been shown the uplifting true face of Britain.
Southport’s mosque repaired by volunteer builders, locals leading clean-up operations in their towns.
The far-Right faced down as, ultimately, they always have been.
Because it’s vital to remember that this remains a moderate, tolerant country — always capable of delivering a mocking brick-in-the-balls to the fascists who deserve derision as well as contempt.
We haven’t let them win before and we won’t start now.
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
26
Topics