A critical system of Atlantic Ocean currents could collapse as early as the 2030s, new research suggests

Angela Dewan and Angela Fritz, CNN
Sat, 3 August 2024 



A vital system of Atlantic Ocean currents that influences weather across the world could collapse as soon as the late 2030s, scientists have suggested in a new study — a planetary-scale disaster that would transform weather and climate.

Several studies in recent years have suggested the crucial system — the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC — could be on course for collapse, weakened by warmer ocean temperatures and disrupted saltiness caused by human-induced climate change.

But the new research, which is being peer-reviewed and hasn’t yet been published in a journal, uses a state-of-the-art model to estimate when it could collapse, suggesting a shutdown could happen between 2037 and 2064.


This research suggests it’s more likely than not to collapse by 2050.

“This is really worrying,” said René van Westen, a marine and atmospheric researcher at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and study co-author.

“All the negative side effects of anthropogenic climate change, they will still continue to go on, like more heat waves, more droughts, more flooding,” he told CNN. “Then if you also have on top of that an AMOC collapse … the climate will become even more distorted.”

Like a conveyor belt, the AMOC pulls warm surface water from the southern hemisphere and the tropics and distributes it in the cold North Atlantic. The colder, saltier water then sinks and flows south. The mechanism keeps parts of the Southern Hemisphere from overheating and parts of the Northern Hemisphere from getting unbearably cold, while distributing nutrients that sustain life in marine ecosystems.

The impacts of an AMOC collapse would leave parts of the world unrecognizable.

In the decades after a collapse, Arctic ice would start creeping south, and after 100 years, would extend all the way down to the southern coast of England. Europe’s average temperature would plunge, as would North America’s – including parts of the US. The Amazon rainforest would see a complete reversal in its seasons; the current dry season would become the rainy months, and vice versa.

An AMOC collapse “is a really big danger that we should do everything we can to avoid,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a physical oceanographer at Potsdam University in Germany who was not involved in the latest research.

To reach their conclusions, the scientists from Utrecht used state-of-the-art models and for the first time identified an area of the South Atlantic Ocean as the optimal place to monitor for changes in the circulation and use observational data. They looked at temperatures and ocean saltiness there to firm up previous predictions on when the AMOC might reach its tipping point.

The emphasis in ocean research on the timing of the collapse is a relatively new development, said Rahmstorf. But it speaks to how far scientists’ understanding of the AMOC’s weakening has advanced.

“Until a few years ago, we were discussing whether it would happen at all, as a kind of low-probability, high-impact risk,” Rahmstorf told CNN. “And now it looks a lot more likely than just a few years ago that this will happen. Now people are starting to close in on when it will happen.”

Rahmstorf said that five or so years ago he would have agreed that an AMOC collapse this century was unlikely, though even a 10% risk is still unacceptably high “for a catastrophic impact of such magnitude.”

“There’s now five papers, basically, that suggested it could well happen in this century, or even before the middle of the century,” Rahmstof said. “My overall assessment is now that the risk of us passing the tipping point in this century is probably even greater than 50%.”

While the advances in AMOC research have been swift and the models that try to predict its collapse have advanced at lightning speed, they are still not without issues.

For example, the models don’t take into consideration a critical factor in the AMOC’s demise — melting Greenland ice. Massive amounts of fresh water are sloughing off the ice sheet and flowing into the North Atlantic, which disrupts one of the circulation’s driving forces: salt.

“You’re already getting a huge influx of fresh water into the northern Atlantic, which is going to completely disrupt the system,” Rahmstorf said.

This research gap means the predictions could underestimate how soon or fast a collapse would happen, Rahmstof said.

‘Astonishing’ Antarctica heat wave sends temperatures 50 degrees above normal

Mary Gilbert
Sat, 3 August 2024 

Temperature departures from normal are shown over Antarctica on August 1, 2024. Reds indicate warmer than normal conditions while blues indicate cooler than normal conditions. - Climate Change Institute, University of Maine
Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu/Getty ImagesMore

A record-breaking heat wave unfolding at what should be the coldest time in Earth’s coldest place has scientists concerned about what it could mean for the future health of the Antarctic continent, and the consequences it could inflict for millions of people across the globe.

Temperatures since mid-July have climbed up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal over parts of Antarctica and unseasonable warmth could continue through the first half of August.

The latest data shows high temperatures in portions of East Antarctica – where the most abnormal conditions are ongoing – that are typically between minus 58 and minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit are now closer to minus 13 to minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit.

That’s cold, but Bismarck, North Dakota, has reached minus 20 degrees at least once a year in almost every year since 1875. Antarctica’s typical winter cold should be operating at a level unfathomable to most people in the US.

Summerlike heat in the dead of winter – even if much of the continent is still below freezing – is an alarming development for a place more capable than any other of generating catastrophic sea level rise as fossil fuel pollution continues to drive global temperatures upward.

Most of the planet’s ice is stored here, and were it all to melt, would raise average global sea levels by well over 150 feet. Even smaller icy features, like the so-called Doomsday Glacier, could raise sea levels by 10 feet if they were to melt – catastrophic amounts for the world’s coastal communities.

It’s possible more heat waves like this will happen in future winters, which could leave the icy continent less fortified for its hottest season – summer – and more vulnerable to melting during subsequent heat waves, said David Mikolajczyk, a research meteorologist with the Antarctic Meteorological Research and Data Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Increased Antarctic melting could also potentially alter global oceanic circulations, Mikolajczyk told CNN. These circulations play an outsized role in making the planet’s climate habitable.

“I’m sure more (impacts) will emerge with time as we understand (this heat wave) better, but at the moment, it’s just a case of astonishment really, what we’re seeing,” Thomas Bracegirdle, deputy science leader for the British Antarctic Survey’s Atmosphere, Ice and Climate team, said.

Temperature departures from normal are shown over Antarctica on August 1, 2024. Reds indicate warmer than normal conditions while blues indicate cooler than normal conditions. - Climate Change Institute, University of Maine

Bracegirdle told CNN the temperatures in this event were record-breaking and were an important signal of what could be coming in the longer term. Heat waves of this magnitude should be quite rare in Antarctica and scientists aren’t yet certain that they are occurring more frequently, but that may be changing.

“All we can say at this stage is that more high temperature extremes are what we expect (in Antarctica) under a changing climate, but for this particular event we’ll have to study more,” Bracegirdle said.

It also contributed significantly to Earth’s new hottest day on record in late June, according to an analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

This is the second significant heat wave Antarctica has endured in the last two years. During the previous in March 2022, temperatures in some locations reached up to 70 degrees above normal, the most extreme temperature departures ever recorded in this part of the planet.

That unprecedented heat wave was made worse by climate change, according to a 2023 study published in Geophysical Research Letters. Climate change contributed 3.6 degrees of warming to the heat wave and could worsen similar heat waves by 9 to 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, the study found.

While the current heat wave hasn’t seen temperature departures reach the level of 2022, it’s been much more expansive and long-lasting, according to Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado Boulder.

And the crucial differences between the two come down to what’s happening in the atmosphere.
‘A very unusual event’

The set of atmospheric conditions largely responsible for the ongoing heat wave – a breakdown of the southern polar vortex – is only expected to occur once every two decades on average, according to Bracegirdle.

“This is a very unusual event, from that perspective,” Bracegirdle added.

Just like the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere has a polar vortex – strong winds circulating high in the atmosphere that trap cold air in place.

But when the southern polar vortex gets disrupted, it releases cold air trapped over Antarctica and sends bursts of it farther north. This also leaves the door open for air to rush down from the upper atmosphere, warming along the way.

The southern polar vortex is disrupted much less frequently than its northern counterpart, which explains why such heat waves are much less frequent, according to Amy Butler, a research physicist at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory.

This polar vortex disruption began in the second half of July and could continue through the first half of August, perhaps peaking in intensity in about a week, Butler told CNN. This will keep temperatures at the surface elevated.

At the same time, multiple surges of warm air from the southwestern Indian Ocean pushed over East Antarctica – which comprises about two-thirds of the entire continent. Each surge of warm air was followed by another so closely that the warming has been nearly continuous over the last few weeks, according to Scambos.

East Antarctica – home to the South Pole – is where the most frigid conditions on Earth are found and is typically protected from this kind of extreme warmth, according to Mikolajczyk. But that wasn’t the case in this event or in 2022’s.

It’s part of a larger trend with already measured consequences.

The South Pole warmed more than three times the global average rate from 1989 to 2018, a 2020 study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found.

West Antarctica and its Thwaites “Doomsday” Glacier have been a major focus of scientific research in recent years due to the catastrophic impact its collapse would have on sea level rise. But other research in the last few years has demonstrated that melting in East Antarctica, where this heat wave is happening, is becoming equally troubling.

The recent warmth has posed a significant problem to the continent’s crucial ice sheet. Antarctica lost a staggering 280% more ice mass in the 2000s and 2010s than it lost in the 1980s and 1990s, according to a 2019 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“In recent years, I would say that the feeling was that the Arctic is the place where all the rapid change is happening and (change) was happening quite slowly in Antarctica,” Mikolajczyk mused. “But this is just another event that’s showing (change) can also happen quickly in Antarctica.”

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Conservatives left UK wide open to far-right violence, says former adviser

Daniel Boffey Chief reporter
Sun, 4 August 2024 at 3:59 pm GMT-6·5-min rea
Dame Sara Khan said the Conservatives’ political turmoil had allowed extremist interests to thrive.Photograph: Isabel Infantes/PA


The Conservative government left the UK wide open to the far-right violence erupting across parts of the country by ignoring red flags and stoking fires with a culture war agenda, a senior adviser on extremism to Tory prime ministers has said.

Dame Sara Khan, who was Rishi Sunak’s independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience until May this year and acted as counter-extremism commissioner under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, said the recent administrations had failed the British people.

Repeated and urgent counsel that far-right extremists were exploiting gaps in the law to foment violence on social media had been ignored while top-rank politicians in a series of administrations sought to gain advantage by waging culture wars, Khan said, in a damning intervention.

“The writing was clearly on the wall for some time,” Khan said. “All my reports have shown, in a nutshell that, firstly, these extremist and cohesion threats are worsening; secondly, that our country is woefully unprepared. We’ve got a gap in our legislation which is allowing these extremists to operate with impunity.

“Previous governments have astonishingly failed to address these trends, and they’ve taken instead, in my view, approaches that have actually been counterproductive and actually just defy any logical rationale.

“They scrapped the counter-extremism strategy [in 2021], including all the resources and funding for local areas across the country who are struggling with extremist activity and extremist actors. And the government, at that time, did not replace it with anything. They left local authorities struggling to deal with consistent extremist challenges in their area.

“Political leadership is really important and how our politicians behave is really, really critical, because I’ve seen, and I’m sure other people have seen, politicians who have actually, indirectly or directly undermined social cohesion because they’ve used inflammatory language.”

Related: Dozens arrested across UK as Cooper says ‘violent thugs will pay the price’ – as it happened

Khan, who has previously criticised those who described the pro-Palestine protests as “hate marches”, a formulation of words used by the former home secretary Suella Braverman, said the rhetoric used by some senior politicians in recent years had given a green light to those holding racist views.

She said: “I went to parts of the country where they were very upfront with me and just said: ‘Look, because of some of the inflammatory language used by politicians, the same language would then be co-opted by, you know, far-right extremists and others, who would then use that to undermine cohesion in a local area.’

“There’s a serious duty on our politicians to not engage in inflammatory language; to not use, for example, dehumanising language about asylum seekers, refugees and, you know, people who are coming to our country.

“Of course, there’s a legitimate debate about immigration, about numbers and all of those things, but there’s a way that you can talk about these issues without using dehumanising and inflammatory language. Because, by using that language, you just see extremists co-opting that. You see people saying, well, if politicians can use that language, why can’t we?”

Khan, a British Muslim raised in Bradford, who published a review for Michael Gove in March this year on social cohesion in the UK known as the Khan review, said there had been growing evidence in recent years of the far right spreading disinformation to cause unrest, with outbreaks of unrest in Oldham, Knowsley and Barrow.

Khan, who wrote a report in 2021 with the current Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, calling for a change in the law on extremism, said it remained the case that it was legal to stir up racial hatred that is not threatening, abusive or insulting.

“And that’s why we’ve seen lawful fascist and neo-Nazi organisations in this country who are doing precisely that,” Khan said. “There are claims about white genocide, promoting dangerous narratives, which is intended to stir up hatred against a racial and religious group.

“There is a kind of growth and influence, not only far-right influencers, but also other extremist actors. There is the use of disinformation on social media.

“Hateful extremism has evolved significantly in the last decade, and extremists have professionalised and coordinated, locally, nationally, transnationally, they’re using social media to spread their extremist ideology and spreading disinformation.

“Our rules have failed to evolve with this growing extremist threat, there are gaps in our legislation that is allowing them to, in effect, operate with impunity.”

Khan said the political tumult in recent years, with the country having five different prime ministers in seven years, had enfeebled the government.

She said: “I was dealing with three different home secretaries because of the kind of political instability you had. Home secretaries who had different interests and views about how to tackle this problem, and so some were very forthcoming and supportive, but I think others were less so.

“Why it was that they didn’t respond to the reports, ultimately, is a question for them, but it’s just astonishing that they didn’t do anything about it.”

There was also, she said, a lack of institutional knowledge about how to combat disinformation and protect vulnerable people.

She said: “What local authorities were telling me was that the far right would find out where asylum hotels would be before the local authority did, because the communication between the Home Office and them was just not working.”

On Sunday, police clashed with rioters outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, with demonstrators chanting “Get them out” as they smashed the windows of the Holiday Inn Express.

Khan added: “They’ve (the Conservatives) actually failed those people in communities who are trying to protect cohesion, you know, who are trying to push back against extremist actors.

“Ultimately, unless we address these problems, it will get worse.”

A Conservative spokesperson said: “Rishi Sunak as prime minister made it clear that we must stand up to extremism in all its forms. The police must take a zero-tolerance approach to extremist tactics, and we set out reforms to how governments deal with extremists, redoubled our support for the Prevent programme and demanded that universities stopped extremist activity on campus.

“We must stand together to combat the forces of division and give the police the powers they need to protect our country and values.”

Keir Starmer decisive on mob violence but faces dilemma over Reform

Rowena Mason Whitehall editor

THE GUARDIAN
Sun, 4 August 2024 

Keir Starmer speaking in Downing Street on Sunday. Photograph: Ben Bauer/PA


Keir Starmer sounded uncharacteristically angry as he appeared in front of a podium in Downing Street on Sunday to condemn the violent mobs causing damage and spreading fear.

Just a few weeks into government, the prime minister has been confronted with an appalling triple murder of three young girls, followed by days of rioting whipped up by online disinformation that a migrant was responsible.

So far, he has taken a proactive approach to tackling the violent unrest – leading visibly from Downing Street rather than letting his home secretary, Yvette Cooper, front up the response.

In a statements on Friday and Sunday, Starmer has made it clear he wants the response to thuggery to be swift and decisive. He has called in the police to coordinate tactics, as well as delivering a message to Muslims and others frightened by the violence that this does not represent Britain. And he has named the forces he holds responsible – the far right exploiting a horrific tragedy to whip up disinformation and target migrants.

As a former director of public prosecutions, who was involved in the response to the 2011 riots, Starmer is well placed to deal practically with a crisis in the sphere of law and order.

He understands the importance of quick justice, both in getting criminals off the street to avoid prolonged violence and in deterring others from taking part when they see their fellow far-right rioters make life-ruining choices in less than week.

Related: The far right has moved online, where its voice is more dangerous than ever

There has also been little criticism of Starmer’s approach from the Conservatives, with former shadow home secretary David Davis saying: “Remember, the riots started with a lie, or three lies … I don’t have that many criticisms of the government or the police on this, to be honest.

“All what I would say is, perhaps they should have been faster to crush all that misinformation.”

However, a bigger difficulty for Starmer lies in the politics of the situation after the initial practical response, and how he reacts to Nigel Farage’s Reform party. Its politicians claimed over this weekend that the far right were not to blame for the riots, but discontent and unease about immigration.

Related: Watchdog should investigate Farage’s ‘dangerous comments’, says Liverpool MP

Labour sources say the view is that it is counterproductive to give Farage and his crew the oxygen of too much direct criticism, when the focus should be on the policing and tackling the rioters.

However, others within the party are worried that Labour failing to challenge Farage more comprehensively head-on allows his anti-migrant insinuations to become part of mainstream political rhetoric, especially when he now has five MPs and received 4m votes at the election.

Hostile language about migrants has become increasingly mainstream in the last five years, fuelled by those such as Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, referring to migrants as an invasion, and Lee Anderson, the former Tory deputy chair turned Reform MP, talking of wanting asylum seekers to “fuck off back to France” and claiming baselessly that the Labour mayor of London was controlled by Islamists.

Starmer has taken the view that he needed to explicitly condemn the far right for being behind the violence – making it clear that whatever the underlying motive, causing fear, damage and disorder are never acceptable. But there may come a time soon when he needs to more strongly confront the anti-migrant rhetoric that lies behind the violence as well, whether it comes from protesters or politicians.

Tommy Robinson stokes far-right riots on social media from outside UK

Nadine White
Updated Sun, 4 August 2024

Tommy Robinson has been accused of stoking far-right riots following the Southport knife attack from afar after he left the UK last week.

The High Court was told on Monday that anti-Islam activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had left the country after being released on unconditional bail following his arrest in Kent the previous weekend.

A fresh warrant was issued for the English Defence League (EDL) founder’s arrest after he did not attend a scheduled hearing in a contempt of court case.

But in the days since, Robinson has been regularly posting about the ongoing wave of disorder on social media.

The 41-year-old has been publishing running commentary and videos documenting the riots, describing the disorder as a result of “legitimate concerns” and calling for “mass deportations”.

Campaigners have accused Robinson of playing an important role in inciting violence directed at ethnic minority groups.

A man looks through a window as rioters attack a hotel housing migrants in Rotherham (Getty Images)

“There is no doubt that Tommy Robinson’s social media is playing a really important role in these far-right demos,” a spokesperson for Hope Not Hate told The Independent.

“Tommy Robinson’s reach has grown since his X account was reinstated last year. His last two demos in London have attracted tens of thousands of people and his X following is now over 800,000 people, meaning he once again has an enormous reach online.

“After Monday’s horrific attack, Tommy Robinson was regularly tweeting calling Islam a mental health issue, sharing videos of disorder and encouraging to join future demonstrations. One said: ’get there and show your support. People need to rise up.’

“We know that he was influential in Tuesday’s disturbance in Southport, rioters were chanting Tommy Robinson’s name and “Who the f*** is Allah?” - these are chants regularly heard at far-right demonstrations.”

Rioting has taken place around the UK in the wake of the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport, Merseyside, on Monday.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, from Lancashire, is accused carrying out the attack, but false claims spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker of Muslim faith who had arrived in the UK by small boat in 2023.

Robinson has been linked to widespread rioting around the UK in the wake of the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport, Merseyside, on Monday. (Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Several of the demonstrations have targeted mosques and other Muslim religious buildings.

Sabby Dhalu, co-convenor of Stand up to Racism told The Independent: “What we’re seeing in Liverpool, Hull, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Southport and elsewhere, is not just violent disorder and thuggery. They are racist, Islamophobic, fascist riots, with targeted attacks on Mosques, asylum seekers and anyone not white.

“Tommy Robinson is deliberately stoking up racism and Islamophobia, whilst on the run. It’s no accident that the riots took place days after Robinson mobilised 15,000 in Trafalgar Square last week. Fascists are emboldened.

“However this did not emerge from a vacuum. It’s a product of politicians stirring up Islamophobia and racism, whilst making people worse off. The only way to defeat this movement is to unite, mobilise against fascism and stand up to racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism.”

The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) claimed Robinson was “fanning the flames of violence” in the UK from afar.

“For over 23 years, MAB and other civil society organisations have warned about the growing far-right threat and the and the dangers of making Islam and Muslims appear as the main threat to British security; sadly, our warnings have proven correct,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

“Political and socio-economic failures have given prominence to individuals like Tommy Robinson, a criminal who has fled the country, and is fanning the flames of violence and terror.

“The warning signs during the Brexit campaign in 2016 were ignored, allowing the far-right to grow in influence.

People riot outside Leeds Town Hall (Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

“The government’s pandering to the far-right by labelling their actions as ‘legitimate concerns’ rather than addressing the real danger of far-right extremism has worsened the situation. The current wave of riots has seen mosques targeted, Muslims and other minorities attacked on the streets, and businesses looted and burned to the ground.”

Robinson’s exact whereabouts are unclear. However, photos emerged on Sunday purporting to show him at a hotel in Cyprus.

The same day, a reporter for Robinson’s online platform was forced to leave the scene of violent disorder in Rotherham outside a hotel housing asylum seekers after a mob clashed with police and started fires.

“It’s not very safe there, tensions are still high”, Robinson wrote on X: “The organisers of the demonstration are extremely disappointed as they wanted a peaceful protest today.”

UK

Tory shadow minister says sorry after appearing to justify riots

Charlie Moloney
Sun, 4 August 2024 

THE GUARDIAN


Police rescued a couple from a house next to a burning car on Parliament Road, Middlesborough, during violent far-right protests.Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer


The Conservative shadow Welsh secretary has apologised after he was accused of “inflaming” the riots by suggesting they were politically justified.

Lord (Byron) Davies had became embroiled in the controversy while exchanging comments with a Mail on Sunday columnist on X.

The columnist, Dan Hodges, had posted: “There’s no political justification for the disorder we have seen. But if people want to get into the blame game these are the facts. The Tories were in power for 14 years. Labour have been in power for four weeks. Blaming Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper for this is just ridiculous.”


Davies, the former MP for Gower, responded: “But Labour blocked the Rwanda Bill 130+ times of course it’s politically justified!”

Jo Stevens, Labour’s Welsh secretary, was among many who condemned the peer for his remarks.

“The shadow Welsh secretary’s comments are disgusting, misguided and dangerous. Racist violence is never justified,” she said. “Politicians, including unelected ones, have an important responsibility to de-escalate tensions. Those inflaming them should seriously consider their position.”

Davies, who is now shadowing Stevens after the Tories lost every seat in Wales at the last election, posted on X: “I apologise if earlier words have been misconstrued, particularly at such a sensitive time. To be crystal clear, I utterly condemn the violence in our cities. What I am criticising is Labour’s totally negative approach to immigration & organised crime. I stand by that.”

Anti-immigration rioters were seen attacking police and smashing the windows of a hotel in Rotherham on Sunday as the atmosphere turned increasingly febrile on the sixth day of unrest in England.

Masked men launched lengths of wood and sprayed fire extinguishers at officers outside a Holiday Inn Express, with some storming past a police line and into the ground floor, which was set on fire during the disorder.

At least 10 officers were injured, including one who was knocked unconscious, South Yorkshire police confirmed later, saying one person was already arrested and others involved should “expect us to be at their doors very soon”.

A group of rioters in Middlesbrough smashed the windows of houses and cars and hurled objects at officers on Sunday afternoon, with one seen shouting a racial slur and another telling police: “It’s our country.”

Similar scenes of unrest in Southport, Belfast, Hartlepool, Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Sunderland and elsewhere had taken place earlier in the week.

Cleveland police has said nine arrests have been made.


Sunak issues warning to shadow cabinet minister accused of “inflaming” riots

David Maddox
Sun, 4 August 2024 

A senior member of Rishi Sunak’s shadow ministerial team has been branded “disgusting” after appearing to suggest that the far right riots sweeping the UK are the fault of Labour opposing the Rwanda deportation scheme.

Shadow Welsh secretary Lord Byron Davies got caught up in an exchange on X/Twitter with Mail on Sunday columnist Dan Hodges over whether there could be any political justification for the riots.

After appearing to suggest that the fault lay at the feet of Sir Keir Starmer and Labour for opposing the Rwanda scheme, Rishi Sunak has ordered that he is spoken to by the chief whip in the Lords after initially declining to take action..

Labour’s new Welsh secretary Jo Stevens condemned the peer who is currently shadowing her after the Tories lost every seat in Wales at the last election.

A fire is extinguished by police officers outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham (PA Wire)

She posted: “The shadow Welsh secretary's comments are disgusting, misguided and dangerous. Racist violence is never justified.

“Politicians, including unelected ones, have an important responsibility to de-escalate tensions. Those inflaming them should seriously consider their position.”

The row has come on a day when Rotherham became the latest English town to be scarred by far-right violence with a hotel set on fire with asylum seekers inside it.

Violent scenes have hit Southport, Liverpool, Belfast, Hull and Halifax since misinformation about the murder of three girls in Southport triggered the first wave of civil unrest in the Merseyside seaside resort.

The exchange started with Mr Hodges stating: “There’s no political justification for the disorder we have seen. But if people want to get into the blame game these are the facts. The Tories were in power for 14 years. Labour have been in power for four weeks. Blaming Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper for this is just ridiculous.”

Lord Davies, the former MP for Gower, responded: “But Labour blocked the Rwanda Bill 130+ times of course it’s politically justified!”

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak hs taken no action against Davies (PA)

A surprised Mr Hodges questioned whether it was a genuine account but Lord Davies confirmed it was.

He said: “I am for real @DPJHodges and stand by my comment, that Labour’s lack of support in parliament to find a solution to the boat issue, cannot be politically justified.”

Mr Hodges retorted: “That’s not what you said. My tweet, and your reply, are clear.”

But an unrepentant Lord Davies replied: “You can put whatever interpretation you like to entertain your followers but the fact remains, Labour were unhelpful in passing legislation to combat the issue of the boats and for that, there cannot be any political justification. That’s what I said and that’s what I mean.”

A Conservatve Party spokesman made it clear that Lord Davies had been given a warning about his conduct.

He said: “These comments are unacceptable. Lord Davies is being spoken to by the Lords opposition chief whip and reminded of the consequences of the misuse of language at such a sensitive time and the standards expected of him as a member of the shadow cabinet.”

Lord Davies is not the only senior tory to face questions over statements on the riots with Hampshire police and crime commissioner Donna Jones also criticised for a statement she issued, deleted and then reissued which some critics saw as giving justification to the angry scenes

Tory police commissioner blames illegal immigration for riots

Albert Tait
Sun, 4 August 2024 

Protests and riots over the last week are a 'rebellion to illegal immigration', Donna Jones said - JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images


A Tory policing chief has suggested that “mass uncontrolled immigration” is one of the reasons behind rioting which has spread across the UK.

In a statement Donna Jones, the police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, compared the riots over the last week to a “rebellion to illegal immigration”.

The Conservative politician said that while not justifying any violence she had spoken to people from “both sides of the spectrum” and claimed there was value in “understanding the views of those attending rallies who feel strongly but don’t cause disorder”.

On Saturday, there were violent confrontations in Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool and Belfast and more than 90 arrests were made.

Police officers were attacked and forced to draw their batons as they came under fire from bricks, bottles and flares.

The riots have been sparked by the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport on Monday.

Donna Jones says she has 'spoken to people on both sides of the spectrum' - OPCC Hants & IOW/Solent News & Photo Agency

On Saturday evening, as violence surged across the country, Ms Jones, who claims to be the UK’s most senior police commissioner, released a statement which appeared to justify some of the activities.

On Sunday, rioting continued in Middlesbrough, Bolton and Rotherham where rioters attacked a hotel housing migrants.

“I’ve spoken to people from both sides of the spectrum and the only way to stem the tide of violent disorder is to acknowledge what is causing it,” Ms Jones said.

“Whilst the devastating attacks in Southport on Tuesday were a catalyst, the commonality amongst the protest groups appears to be focused on three key areas: the desire to protect Britain’s sovereignty; the need to uphold British values, and, in order to do this, stop illegal immigration.”

She said arresting people was “treating the symptom and not the cause” and that the Prime Minister had questions to answer about how the new Labour Government would tackle immigration and uphold British values.


Nazir Afzal, the Former chief prosecutor, called her comments “totally unacceptable” and said she was “appearing to justify rioting and criminality that police officers are bravely having to deal with right now”.

Charlotte Nichols, the Labour MP for Warrington North, told The Telegraph: “First and foremost, it demeans the office that she holds.

“We can accept that there is anger in parts of the community about immigration but that doesn’t mean we legitimise thuggery.

“Considering the number of police officers who have been injured, I believe her position is untenable. She should resign, and if not, she should be sacked.”

Ms Jones is also the chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners in the UK.


Following the criticism, she released another statement, praising the police and condemning “those acting outside the law”, but refusing to back down from her position.

“I stand by my statement issued [Saturday] where I called for calm, and for the country to work together to stop this mindless, criminal behaviour”, she wrote on the official website of the commissioner on Sunday.

“I fully support the police’s response to stem the growth of these riots and those acting outside of the law should expect to feel the full force of it.

“The violence we have seen has endangered our communities and infected lawful protest on a much broader issue.

“As a country this issue is something we should seek to understand without letting it divide us.

“I am confident there will be a time and place for that discussion in due course,” she added.

UK WHITE RIOT 

‘That’s my car, you fascist thugs’: far-right rampage engulfs Middlesbrough

Mark Brown North of England correspondent

THE GUARDIAN

Sun, 4 August 2024 

Rioters torched cars and smashed the front windows of terraced homes as a protest in Middlesbrough turned violent.Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer


Incredibly, it began with a two-minute silence for the victims of the Southport knife attack.

What followed was angry, often racist and mindless violence during which front windows of homes were smashed in, cars torched, residents terrified and police repeatedly attacked with missiles.

Related: Rioters try to torch Rotherham asylum seeker hotel amid far-right violence


Middlesbrough resembled a battle zone on Sunday afternoon, the latest place to be chosen as a venue for far-right led violence.

About 300 people gathered at Middlesbrough’s cenotaph at the gates to Albert Park at 2pm. They had been encouraged to turn up by posts on social media. A striking number were men and women in their 50s and 60s.

“We’re fucking angry,” said one woman in her 60s. “I know we’re only plebs from a poor town.”

Another shouted: “This is our way of life that’s at stake.”

One elderly couple took time to go to admire the Brian Clough statue in the park before returning to find somewhere to sit.

But shortly before the crowd set off, a large group of younger masked men walked up to the cenotaph. Things began to feel more sinister and scary.

A man in a blue T-shirt, an organiser, couldn’t get his megaphone to work so yelled instead that it was a protest not about race or religion but about the children who were killed.

By the end, they seemed like hollow words.

The gathered people walked down Linthorpe Road into the city centre. Almost every business along the road had closed early and put the shutters down. A Wetherspoons stayed open but wasn’t letting anyone in.

Police stopped marchers from going down terraced streets off the main road which led to angry confrontations; furious, red-faced men bellowing at officers that their civil rights were being ignored.

Two of the streets had mosques on or near them, a reason marchers wanted to go down them. The police kept shouting “keep moving, keep moving” as the march made its way into the town centre.

It was starting to get ugly. There were racist chants. Windows were smashed, including one which, with grim irony, had a sign on it: “Middlesbrough – moving forward.”

A young girl, probably 12, was on the march with her mother and siblings. She was red-faced and tearful. “I don’t like it mam, I want to go home.”

The marchers headed back towards the cenotaph, this time snaking through terraced streets to the west of Linthorpe Road. Several homes of working-class people had their front windows smashed for no discernible reason.

At least two parked taxis had all their windows broken. Other parked cars were chosen randomly to have their windscreen smashed. One car owner bravely and furiously confronted them: “That’s my car,” she shouted. “You fascist thugs!”

Children used bricks and stones to smash windows of a new development of affordable homes.

The main body of the march made its way back to the cenotaph where there was a standoff with riot police with shields. People threw bricks, bottles and metal bars. At one point burning wheelie bins were pushed towards them.

It was proving impossible to keep everyone in one place. As police dealt with rioters at the cenotaph a large group of dozens of masked children cycled and ran away from a car they had overturned and set on fire in Borough Road. Another car was later torched on Parliament Road.

The police and crime commissioner for Northumbria, Susan Dungworth, has expressed fears that police will be exhausted if they have to keep on dealing with such protests in the coming weeks. When it was possible for officers to take a break, to chat amongst themselves, many looked exhausted. And haunted.

For Cleveland police this is the second time in a week they have had to deal with riots after a night of disorder in Hartlepool on Wednesday.

The force said nine arrests had been made on Sunday and urged people to avoid the area. By 4.30pm the crowds had largely dispersed from the cenotaph but no one was betting that might be the end of it. An hour later Middlesbrough still echoed to sirens and the constant thrum of a police helicopter overhead.

Masked rioters break into hotel housing asylum seekers as violence leaves 10 police officers injured

Sky News
Updated Sun, 4 August 2024

Chairs have been hurled at police and windows were smashed as masked anti-immigration rioters broke into a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Objects including long pieces of wood were thrown at the Holiday Inn Express and at police officers who lined up in front of the building as they tried to protect it.

At least 10 officers were injured, including one who was left unconscious, in violent scenes as the prime minister vowed rioters would "regret" engaging in "far-right thuggery".


UK protests latest: Masked group smash windows at hotel

At least one injured officer in riot gear was carried away by colleagues.

Hotel employees and residents were "terrified", but no injuries to them were reported.

Police, including some on horseback, had been trying to separate the crowd from the hotel entrance, but a large group forced their way inside after smashing a nearby glass door.

After breaking in, the rioters attempted to set the hotel on fire, before blockading the exit with bins. Riot police were able to move them away from the entrance, but the group moved around the side, throwing rocks and debris at the windows.

Masked men also sprayed fire extinguishers at officers.

Several men attacked police cars, including with a riot shield, stolen from an officer. Police have now formed a line around the hotel, preventing any of the group from getting inside.

Officers in riot gear have been moving back a large crowd who were gathered outside the building, but they have been coming under attack from people throwing stones and large pieces of wood.

One person has been arrested on suspicion of public order offences. Police are continuing to disperse the group from the area.

Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "Today in Rotherham we have seen our officers attacked and at least 10 injured, significant damage caused and a fire set outside a hotel full of terrified residents and staff.

"The mindless actions of those today have achieved nothing other than sheer destruction and leaving members of the public and the wider community in fear."

Addressing the nation, Sir Keir Starmer said that those involved in the unrest today and in recent days in parts of England and Northern Ireland will "regret" it and will "face the full force of the law".

BUF BRIT

'Utterly appalling'

He condemned the disorder as far-right thuggery, saying: "I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves.

"This is not a protest, it is organised, violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets or online."

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the deliberate torching of a hotel where people were known to be inside was "utterly appalling" and South Yorkshire Police have government backing to take "the strongest action".

Violence in Middlesbrough

Bricks and other objects have been thrown at a line of police in riot gear by a group, including some masked, in Middlesbrough.

They also pushed burning wheelie bins at officers with shields, leaving the road strewn with smoking rubbish.

Cleveland Police said "a number of arrests" have been made since the protest started in Middlesbrough at around 2pm.

More than 300 people marched in the town carrying a banner saying: "Tom Jones is Welsh, Axel Rudakubana [Southport stabbings suspect] isn't" while chanting "We want our country back" as they made their way through the town centre.

At one point, police used dogs to keep the group back and stop them breaking through and running ahead of the officers patrolling the march.

At least two people were taken away in handcuffs within the first half hour, while several pieces of slate were thrown, along with vapes and full plastic bottles.

Some people kicked bollards into the road so that police vehicles driving ahead of the group could not get through, and one man sat on the bonnet of a police car to stop it from moving.

Businesses, including McDonalds, locked their doors as hundreds walked down the streets.

There was violence on Saturday in towns and cities such as Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool and Belfast which saw several police officers injured.

Police given extra powers

It comes as a Section 34 dispersal notice was put in place in Bolton, giving officers extra powers to deal with anyone causing anti-social behaviour.

Read more:
Should the EDL be banned under terror laws?
'We took beer bottles to our helmets': Bristol riots

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) put a Section 34 in place in parts of Manchester on Saturday, as did police in Liverpool, Southport and Blackpool.

Sir Keir has given police his "full backing" to take any action necessary to respond to "extremists" attempting to "sow hate" after scenes of disorder in England and Northern Ireland this week.

He said: "The police will be making arrests. Individuals will be held on remand, charges will follow and convictions will follow."

More than 100 people have been arrested after riots broke out in the wake of the death of three young girls at a dance studio in Southport.

The Home Office has announced that mosques will be offered greater protection with new "emergency security" that can be rapidly deployed to respond to violent disorder.

Far-right rioters set fire to hotel hosting asylum seekers in Rotherham
Ross Hunter
Sun, 4 August 2024 at 8:02 am GMT-6·2-min read


Far-right rioters clash with police outside a Holiday Express in Manvers (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire.)


FAR-RIGHT rioters have set fire to hotel in Rotherham which is being used to house asylum seekers.

A large group of people draped in Union flags with some wearing balaclavas smashed the windows of a Holiday Express hotel in Manvers, South Yorkshire before setting the building on fire.

Police clashed with the group after bricks were thrown at the building as guests peered down from top floor windows.


Photographs show police officers in riot gear attempting to stop groups of men entering the building.

However, footage posted on social appears to show that some of the men were able to enter the hotel.

READ MORE: Tommy Robinson spreads disinformation about stabbing in Scottish city

It's believed the fire started after a wheelie bin was set on fire and thrown through the window of the hotel.

The Labour MP for Rotherham, Sarah Champion, described the behaviour as "criminal disorder".

She said: “I’m extremely concern at the escalating violence we are seeing at Holiday Inn, Manvers.

“The people causing damage and attacking police do not represent our town and I am disgusted by their actions.

This is criminal disorder and intimidation - not protest.”

It comes after dozens of people were arrested following riots across numerous cities in England enflamed by disinformation spread by far-right agitators such as Tommy Robinson on social media.

Indeed, Robinson attempted to increase tensions in the Scottish city of Stirling after a woman was stabbed by a man on Saturday.

Police in riot gear face off with a far-right mob outside a Holiday Express being used to house asylum seekers (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire.)

Robinson claimed the attacker was an “alleged Muslim” before Police Scotland issued a statement confirming they had arrested a white man who was local to the area.

John Swinney has since hit out at “unhelpful speculation” on the isolated incident, which police say poses no further threat to the public.

Far-right rioters loot shops and set fire to library and food bank in shameless day of disorder

Jabed Ahmed
Sun, 4 August 2024 

Looters have raided shops across the UK as they took advantage of the disorder caused by violent far-right demonstrations in cities across the country.

Several locations in England and Northern Ireland saw violent clashes involving far-right demonstrators, with dozens of police officers left injured, missiles thrown and shops broken into on Saturday. Home secretary Yvette Cooper said people involved in the clashes “will pay the price” and that “criminal violence and disorder has no place on Britain’s streets”.

Click here for our live coverage of the riots.

A Shoezone in Hull was looted and set on fire on Saturday (X/Twitter)


A man leaves an o2 store being looted in Hull (X/Twitter)

Rioters stole wine, shoes and phones; some shops were then torched during the chaos.

In footage from Liverpool, a group of rioters could be heard shouting “Get the phones! Get the phones!” as they ransacked a phone repair and vape shop in the city centre.

Have you been affected by looting? Email jabed.ahmed@independent.co.uk

Smashed glass and empty phone packaging could be seen on the streets after rioters kicked in the shutters, breaking their way into the business.

In another incident in Liverpool, thugs torched a recently renovated library and food bank on Saturday night. The Spellow Lane Library Hub, which was opened last year to provide support for one of the most deprived communities in the country, suffered severe damage.

A police car is set on fire in Sunderland on Friday night (Getty Images)

A group protest outside Leeds Town Hall (PA)

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram condemned the mob who tried to prevent firefighters from accessing the blaze.

“Devastated to see this wonderful community asset ravaged by thugs,” Mr Rotheram said in a post on X.

A Shoezone in Hull was badly damaged after rioters shattered the glass storefront, looted the store and set it on fire. Footage showed a blaze inside the shop with shoes scattered on the path outside, while a Greggs and a Specsavers had also been targeted by masked men throwing stones and bricks.

Humberside Police said officers “faced eggs and bottles being thrown” as windows were smashed at a nearby hotel that has housed migrants.

A supermarket manager in Belfast said his store was reduced to ashes as rioters deliberately targeted immigrant-owned businesses.

“People attacked this place, racism against Islam and Muslims, especially the Muslim community,” Bashir said. “All of that happened and the police did nothing, I am telling you the truth. What kind of police are letting the people burn everything down?”

Across the road from the supermarket, the Bash Cafe, selling Arabic coffee and falafels, was badly damaged by fire.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said it had attended a shop and a cafe on fire on the Donegall Road on Saturday night. It said the cause of both fires had been determined as deliberate.

A supermarket manager said his store was reduced to ashes (PA)

A fire-damaged Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Sunderland (PA)

Masked men in Manchester chanted “England” and “Oh Tommy, Tommy!”, a reference to the founder of the far-right English Defence League Tommy Robinson, as they ransacked a Sainsbury’s local in Picadilly Gardens, leaving with expensive wines.

In footage of the incident, one man can be heard further encouraging the looters, shouting: “Go get the beers!” The men were chased by riot police before being detained.

Rioters in Sunderland set an overturned car on fire, set alight a disused police building and torched a Citizen’s Advice Bureau, while others targeted a mosque and chanted Islamophobic insults.

The far-right has drawn widespread condemnation as the organising force behind the scenes of disorder in the wake of the killings of three young girls in Southport.

False claims had spread online that the suspect, later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana from Lancashire, was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.


Dozens arrested in violent clashes across UK as government warns rioters ‘will pay the price’

Robin McKie, James Tapper, Michael Savage and Olivia Lee

 THE GUARDIAN
Sat, 3 August 2024


Police clash with right wing protesters in Piccadilly Gardens on 3 August in Manchester.Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images


Rioters will “pay the price” for the wave of violent clashes that has spread across the UK, ministers warned on Saturday, after a day in which police battled rival groups of demonstrators in the worst outbreak of civil disorder in Britain for more than a decade.

Dozens of arrests were made after the scenes of disorder, with police warning that further violence is likely in the coming days.

Multiple towns and cities saw clashes between anti-immigration demonstrators and counter-protesters, with police officers attacked and injured, and many more arrests promised.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the police would have the government’s full support to take the strongest possible action. “Criminal violence and disorder have no place on Britain’s streets,” she said.

Related: Rioting ‘flooding across major cities and towns’ as police brace for further disorder across UK – live

“Anyone who gets involved in criminal disorder and violent thuggery on our streets will have to pay the price and they should expect there to be arrests, prosecutions, penalties and the full force of the law including imprisonment and travel bans. There are consequences for breaking the law.”

The widespread clashes pose the first big challenge to Keir Starmer’s new government, which is facing demands to introduce emergency powers to stop further violence and to recall parliament.

On Saturday bricks were hurled at police officers in Stoke-on-Trent, fireworks were thrown amid tense exchanges between an anti-Islamic group and an anti-racism rally in Belfast, and windows of a hotel which has been used to house migrants were smashed in Hull, where three police officers were injured and four people arrested. Later video footage on social media showed shops on fire. Several officers were also injured during “serious disorder” in Liverpool city centre, where bricks, bottles and a flare were thrown and two officers needed hospital treatment and six arrests were made. Greater Manchester police said a dispersal notice had been authorised for the city centre. Scuffles broke out as opposing groups faced each other in Nottingham’s Old Market Square with bottles and other items thrown from both sides.

About 150 people carrying St George’s Cross flags, shouting “you’re not English any more” and “paedo Muslims off our street”, were greatly outnumbered in Leeds by hundreds of counter-protesters shouting “Nazi scum off our streets”. Skirmishes broke out between demonstrators and punks – in town for a festival – in Blackpool, with bottles and chairs thrown.

In Bristol, police kept protesters and counter protesters apart before a group headed to a hotel used to house asylum seekers.

The need for urgent political intervention was stressed by the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, Lord Walney, who told the Observer that new emergency powers may be needed. “The system isn’t set up to deal with this rolling rabble-rousing being fuelled by far-right actors,” he said.

“I think home office ministers may want to look urgently at a new emergency framework – perhaps temporary in nature – that enables police to use the full powers of arrest to prevent people gathering where there is clear intent to fuel violent disorder.”

Keir Starmer held a meeting of senior ministers on Saturday in which he said police had been given full support to tackle extremists who were attempting “to sow hate by intimidating communities”. He made clear that the right to freedom of expression and the violent scenes over recent days were “two very different things”.

Last week’s riots followed the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on Monday. Axel Rudakubana, 17, from Lancashire, is accused of the attack, but false claims were spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat. In the wake of these messages, far-right protesters – guided by social media – gathered in cities across the country.

A key factor in this spread of online disinformation involved Elon Musk’s decision to allow rightwing activists such as Tommy Robinson back onto his social media platform X, said Joe Mulhall, director of research at Hope not Hate, the anti-fascism organisation. “The initial disinformation and anger was being perpetrated by individuals on Twitter, for example, that have been previously deplatformed,” he said. “And now they’ve been replatformed.”

Robinson was permanently banned from the platform (then called Twitter) in March 2018, then reinstated in November last year, after Musk bought it. “We hadn’t seen any significant numbers at any demonstrations since 2018,” Mulhall added.

An example of the danger posed by the misuse of social media was revealed in Stoke-on-Trent, where police were forced to deny there had been a stabbing, countering claims made on social media. “There is growing speculation that a stabbing has taken place as a result of the disorder today. We can confirm this information is false and no stabbings have been reported to police or emergency responders, despite videos fuelling speculation on social media,” police said.

The danger of such intervention was stressed by Ben-Julian “BJ” Harrington, the National Police Chiefs Council lead for public order, who condemned social media disinformation as a cause of last week’s disorder.

He said: “We had reports today that two people had been stabbed by Muslims in Stoke – it’s just not true. There’s people out there, not even in this country, circulating and stoking up hatred, division and concerns in communities that they don’t care about, don’t know and don’t understand.”

Harrington, who was also the NPCC’s gold commander in charge of national strategy for Saturday’s disorder, said that “yobs and thugs and criminals” were responsible. “This isn’t about protests,” he said. “This is about violent disorder. This is about people who are descending into communities and causing damage – throwing bricks and bottles and things at cops who work within those communities.”

Forces across England brought officers back from leave to deploy an extra 130 police support units – about 2,000 officers, he revealed. “Of course there is a limited number of officers, and every one that is taken from a community is not out there solving burglaries.”

Echoing concerns about the dangers of social media, shadow home secretary James Cleverly called for tech companies to be hauled into Downing Street to ensure they were acting to stop the spread of disinformation on their platforms. However, he was criticised for issuing a statement in which he said Starmer taking the knee had sent “completely the wrong message” to protesters, adding that there was “never a justification for disorder like this”.

There was also further condemnation of Nigel Farage’s role in inciting the violence with his comments about the Southport killings, in which he questioned “whether the truth is being withheld from us” after the attack on Monday. Robert Jenrick, one of the favourites in the Tory leadership race, said that the Reform leader’s comments did not “make the situation better”.

Last week’s clashes spread four days ago, when more than 100 protesters were arrested on Whitehall, where bottles and cans were thrown at police, while violence also broke out in Hartlepool and in Manchester.

On Thursday, Starmer announced a new “national” response to the disorder linking police forces across the country through shared intelligence and the expanded use of facial recognition.

Then, on Friday, about 500 people, including some parents with their children, gathered in Sunderland city centre, responding to far-right social media posts to turn up and demonstrate. The gathering quickly descended into violence, with masked boys and men throwing missiles, including bricks, stones, beer barrels and scaffolding poles, at riot police.

Ten people were arrested and four policemen taken to hospital, one seriously injured. A police station was ransacked and a Citizens Advice Bureau set alight. By Saturday morning, the acrid smell of fire still hung in the air. Shoppers stopped to express their shock at what had happened, with hundreds of residents of all ages gathering on the city’s streets with brushes, litter pickers, buckets, bin bags and dust pans.

The Sunderland Central Labour MP, Lewis Atkinson, said a link could be drawn between the disorder and the ashes of the English Defence League (EDL), which was founded by Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. The EDL has disbanded but its supporters remain active, and Atkinson said evidence suggested a neo-Nazi offshoot of the group was involved in Friday’s violence.

A priest at Sunderland Minster said yobs tried to smash a gravestone to use as missiles during the disorder that gripped the city. “It’s an act of sacrilege to disturb someone’s gravestone,” said Rev Jacqui Tyson. “It’s also remarkably lacking in common sense – have you tried to pick up a gravestone?”


Thugs will ‘pay the price’, Government warns amid fears of more disorder to come

George Lithgow, PA
Sat, 3 August 2024 at 8:55 pm GMT-6·5-min read

Thugs who engage in criminal disorder on the streets will “pay the price”, the Government has said, amid warnings that further violence is likely in the coming days.

Towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland saw clashes between anti-immigration demonstrators and counter-protesters on Saturday, with police officers attacked and injured and a number of arrests made, with many more promised.

The string of violent incidents over the past few days began on Tuesday in Southport, after three girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said people involved in the clashes “will pay the price” and that “criminal violence and disorder has no place on Britain’s streets”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the police have his “full support” to take action against “extremists” attempting to “sow hate” by intimidating communities as he held emergency talks with ministers over the unrest in parts of England.

The far right has drawn condemnation from MPs across the political spectrum after disorder in London, Manchester, Southport and Hartlepool came before Saturday’s violence.

Police in Liverpool (James Speakman/PA)

Arrests have been made across the country with police warning of more to come once CCTV, social media and body-worn camera footage has been scoured.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told ministers “the whole justice system is ready to deliver convictions as quickly as possible”, a Downing Street spokesperson said, which could see courts sitting for 24 hours a day as they did for the 2011 riots, according to one report.

There was violence on Saturday in towns and cities such as Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool and Belfast which saw several police officers injured.

It followed a riot in Sunderland on Friday evening.

A protest in Sunderland city centre (Scott Heppell/PA)

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said anyone who attacks police “should be ashamed”.

She wrote on X: “I cannot thank our local police enough for everything they’re doing to keep people safe.

They were among the first on the scene when the horrendous incident unfolded in Southport.

They run into danger to keep us safe, and those who attack them should be ashamed.”


Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said “violence is not acceptable”.

“Northern Ireland must always be a place that protects the right to protest, the right to have a view and to express it”, she posted on X.

“Let’s be VERY clear – violence is not acceptable. It never was and it is not now. No one, NO ONE, has the right to express hate and violence. Stop it now.”

In Liverpool, Merseyside Police said about 300 people were involved in violent disorder on County Road, Walton, which included community facilities being set on fire.

The Spellow Lane Library Hub, which was opened last year to provide a much needed on stop shop for one of the most deprived communities in the country, has suffered severe damage to the ground floor.

Police said rioters tried to prevent firefighters accessing the fire, throwing a missile at the fire engine and breaking the rear window of the cab.

A total of 23 people were arrested on Saturday, including 12 arrests for the disorder in the city centre, nine arrests for the disorder on County Road and two arrests in connection with disorder in Southport.

One officer was kicked and knocked off his motorcycle by a demonstrator and others tried to kick riot shields.

In a post on X, Liverpool City Council urged people to “stay away from the area” and let police “deal with this ongoing situation in Walton”.

Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss called the behaviour of protesters “deplorable”, adding: “The impact of the disorder will be devastating for the people of Walton, but I promise that we are doing everything in our power to arrest those involved and bring them to justice.”

Merseyside Police also said a 58-year-old man has been charged with two offences following the violent disorder in Southport on Tuesday.

Derek Drummond of Pool Street, Southport, has been charged with violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker. He will appear at Wirral Magistrates Court on Monday, August 5, police said.

In Hull, Humberside Police said there were 20 people arrested, three police officers injured and shops looted and burned after a mob attacked a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Assistant Chief Constable Mike Walker said: “The right to lawful protest is a part of democracy, which my officers upheld, however, we will not accept the senseless vandalism, antisocial behaviour and sheer violence that has been brought to our streets.”

Businesses were targeted in Belfast where police mounted a significant security operation during a lengthy confrontation between anti-Islamic protesters and those taking part in an anti-racist rally at Belfast City Hall during which fireworks and other missiles were thrown.

A vehicle is set alight in Belfast (David Young/PA)

In Bristol, police made 14 arrests because of violent disorder in the city centre which Avon and Somerset Police described as “completely unacceptable”.

Lancashire Police said more than 20 people were arrested and dispersal orders were issued in parts of Blackpool, Preston and Blackburn.

And Staffordshire Police said 10 people were also arrested following disorder in Stoke-on-Trent.

Further protests are planned for Sunday and more trouble is likely in the coming days, police said.

“We know people will try and do this again and policing has been and will continue to be ready,” said Chief Constable BJ Harrington, who speaks on public order for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

“There are 130 extra units in place across the country, meaning almost 4,000 extra public order-trained officers to deploy.

“So if you’re planning to cause trouble and disorder our message is very simple – we’ll be watching you.”


Mapped: Violent protests grip the country with fears of more to come

Jabed Ahmed
Sun, 4 August 2024

Around 90 people were arrested following violence and disorder across the country in another night of rioting on Saturday, with police warning that further violence is likely in the coming days.

Several towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland saw violent clashes involving far-right demonstrators, with dozens of police officers left injured.

There was unrest in Manchester, Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool and Belfast, with missiles thrown and shops looted.

The string of violent incidents over the past few days began on Tuesday in Southport, after three girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer added the police have his “full support” to take action against “extremists” attempting to “sow hate” by intimidating communities as he held emergency talks with ministers over the unrest in parts of England.

The interactive map below shows the towns and cities where there was disorder and the number of arrests made.

The far right has drawn condemnation from MPs across the political spectrum after disorder in London, Manchester, Southport and Hartlepool came before Saturday’s violence.

False claims had spread online that the suspect, later identified as a 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana from Lancashire, was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat in 2023.

Arrests have been made across the country with police warning of more to come once CCTV, social media and body-worn camera footage has been scoured.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said people involved in the clashes “will pay the price” and that “criminal violence and disorder has no place on Britain’s streets”.

In Liverpool, Merseyside Police said about 300 people were involved in violent disorder on County Road, Walton, which included community facilities being set on fire.

Police said rioters tried to prevent firefighters from accessing the fire, throwing a missile at the fire engine and breaking the rear window of the cab.

Police officers face protesters in Liverpool (James Speakman/PA Wire)

A total of 23 people were arrested on Saturday, Merseyside Police said. One officer was kicked and knocked off his motorcycle by a demonstrator and others tried to kick riot shields.

Lancashire Police said more than 20 people were arrested and dispersal orders were issued in parts of Blackpool, Preston and Blackburn.

Further protests are planned for Sunday and more trouble is likely in the coming days, police said.

“We know people will try and do this again and policing has been and will continue to be ready,” said Chief Constable BJ Harrington, who speaks on public order for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

“There are 130 extra units in place across the country, meaning almost 4,000 extra public order-trained officers to deploy.

“So if you’re planning to cause trouble and disorder our message is very simple – we’ll be watching you.”

Lumpenproletariat

Roughly translated as slum workers or the mob, this term identifies the class of outcast, degenerated and submerged elements that make up a section of the population of industrial centers. It includes beggars, prostitutes, gangsters, racketeers, swindlers, petty criminals, tramps, chronic unemployed or unemployables, persons who have been cast out by industry, and all sorts of declassed, degraded or degenerated elements. In times of prolonged crisis (depression), innumerable young people also, who cannot find an opportunity to enter into the social organism as producers, are pushed into this limbo of the outcast. Here demagogues and fascists of various stripes find some area of the mass base in time of struggle and social breakdown, when the ranks of the Lumpenproletariat are enormously swelled by ruined and declassed elements from all layers of a society in decay.

The term was coined by Marx in The German Ideology in the course of a critique of Max Stirner. In passage of The Ego and His Own which Marx is criticising at the time, Stirner frequently uses the term Lumpe and applies it as a prefix, but never actually used the term “lumpenproletariat.” Lumpen originally meant “rags,” but began to be used to mean “a person in rags.” From having the sense of “ragamuffin,” it came to mean “riff-raff” or “knave,” and by the beginning of the eighteenth century it began to be used freely as a prefix to make a range of perjorative terms. By the 1820s, “lumpen” could be tacked on to almost any German word.

The term was later used in the Communist Manifesto (where it is translated as “dangerous classes”) and in Class Struggles in France, and elsewhere.

https://www.marxists.org/