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Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley has praised the “show of force” and “unity” from police and Londoners that faced down the feared threat from far-right thugs.
Thousands of peaceful anti-racism demonstrators took to the streets last night following a week of disorder which started in Merseyside on July 30.
Despite threats of more than 100 planned anti-immigration protests across the country, including several in London, widespread violence failed to materialise.
Aerial photos showed more than 8,000 people gathered to protect a migrant support centre in Walthamstow, where a rally was due to take place. The crowd chanted: “Whose streets? Our streets” and “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”.
In Finchley, Harrow and Hounslow, businesses and shops were boarded up or closed early near buildings housing immigration services.
The Metropolitan Police mobilised more than 1,300 public order officers across London to deter trouble.
Commissioner Sir Mark, who joined colleagues this morning on one of 10 dawn raids targeting suspected rioters, said fears of “extreme-Right” thuggery were “abated” by a successful policing operation and “show of unity from communities”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: “I’m really pleased with how it went. We put thousands of officers on the streets and I think the show of force from the police and frankly, the show of unity from communities together defeated the challenges that we’ve seen.
“It went off very peacefully last night. [There were] a couple of locations where some local criminals turned out and tried to create a bit of anti-social behaviour and we arrested a few of them, but it was a very successful night and the fears of some sort of extreme-Right disorder were abated.”
He added: “We’ve been out doing some dawn raids this morning, the people who were most violent in the Whitehall protests and violence last week… about 70 per cent of them have got criminal backgrounds. We’ve got criminal damage, violence, weapons offences, football banning orders. These are criminal thugs. Any suggestion that they’re patriots, or they’ve got a cause that they’re protesting about is nonsense, and frankly, most of them are going to be charged with violent disorder and most of them are going to go to prison for a few years.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan thanked “those who came out peacefully to show London stands united against racism and Islamophobia”. Mr Khan added: “To our heroic police force working round the clock to keep Londoners safe thank you. And to those far-Right thugs still intent on sowing hatred and division — you will never be welcome here.”
Unrest was sparked by the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last Monday. False rumours spread online that the teenage suspect was an asylum-seeker.
Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson said last night’s counter-demonstrations were “on the whole peaceful” and showed that the majority of people in the UK were “tolerant”, “law-abiding” and “respect the police”. “I think this country has a tradition, doesn’t it, of peaceful protests and I think last night was an example of that,” she added.
More than 400 people have been arrested and 120 charged after disorder around England, with the number expected to rise. Dame Diana said the de-escalation in violence might have been a result of the “swift justice” has meted out as a deterrence to potential rioters. She told Sky News: “It’s good that we didn’t see the level of disorder and criminality on our streets that we have in previous days, but obviously this is just the start. There is now further intelligence of events during the next few days, and we need to see what happens there.”
Speaking in support of potential football bans for those involved in rioting, Dame Diana said clubs do not want those implicated in disorder “in their stands on a Saturday”.
Despite the majority of forces facing little trouble, the Met said about 50 people gathered in North End Road, Croydon, and had “made clear their intention to cause disruption”.
Amid reports of fireworks being thrown at police, 10 were arrested for offences including assault on an emergency worker, breaching a section 35 dispersal order, going equipped for arson and violent disorder.
