KEIR Starmer chaired an emergency Cobra meeting with law enforcement officials on Thursday afternoon, as police brace for 20 potential further gatherings in England.
According to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), 20 potential gatherings and three counterprotests have been planned for Thursday evening.
More than 160 demonstrations were planned for Wednesday but only about 36 took place with “minimal disorder and only a handful of arrests”, the body said.
It comes after thousands of peaceful anti-racism demonstrators turned out to locations where far-right demonstrations were initially planned.
The total number of arrests made relating to violent disorder following the Southport killings now stands at 483, the NPCC said.
The policing body also confirmed on Thursday afternoon that 149 charges had been brought so far, with the figure set to “continue to rise significantly”.
Shops were boarded up in many towns and cities in England over fears of rioting on Wednesday after a week of disorder.
Further violence was largely curtailed, but the Prime Minister insisted it was “important that we don’t let up”.
Some rioters have been handed jail terms of more than two years, while others face charges relating to disorder across the country.
Amongst those now awaiting trial is a 15-year-old boy from Glasgow, who was charged with violent disorder and burglary following far-right violence in England.
He is due to appear at Liverpool Youth Court.
Following a visit to a mosque in Solihull, Starmer told broadcasters: “Now it’s important that we don’t let up here and that’s why later on today I will have another Cobra meeting with law enforcement, with senior police officers, to make sure that we reflect on last night but also plan for the coming days.”
The Prime Minister said Wednesday night’s events turned out “much better than was expected” and suggested the additional deployment of police officers and the quick sentencing of people involved in disorder were the reasons riots did not materialise in England.
“We were able to demonstrate the criminal justice system working speedily, so yesterday we saw the sentencing of individuals who had been involved in disorder days ago, some of them getting sentences as long as three years.
“That sent a very powerful message,” Starmer said.
