Following this week’s riots in Southport, Aldershot, London and Hartlepool, in the wake of the tragic murders of three young girls in Southport, the prime minister has this afternoon launched a new ‘violent disorder taskforce’.
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer noted how he believed that the riots were deliberate, stating, “It is a group of individuals who are actually hell bent on violence”.
Describing the rioters, Sir Keir said, ‘a gang of thugs got on trains and buses and went to a community that is not their own’. Visibly angry in his demeanour, the prime minister said, ‘It is not protest, it is not legitimate, it is violent disorder’.
Continuing he said, “We will not permit under any circumstances a breakdown in law and order on our streets”.
Having met with senior police chiefs this afternoon the government is now proposing a new national capability to help tackle violent disorder.
Referring to this newly proposed violent disorder unit, Sir Kier detailed how the government was looking to improve the sharing of intelligence, to the wider deployment of facial recognition technologies, and to increase the use of preventative measures such as a criminal behavioural orders.
Criminal behaviour orders have the power to restrict people’s movements, for example to prevent people boarding trains. It is a technique that is already in use with football hooliganism.
With widespread disinformation on social media said to have further fueled this week’s rioting, the prime minister also issued a warning to social media companies, stating ‘this is happening on your premises’.
The prime minister detailed how inciting violence online was a criminal offence, rather than a matter of free speech.
Despite being pressed twice during this afternoon’s press conference, Sir Keir refused to be drawn directly on the comments by the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage. Mr Farage has received widespread criticism for remarks online which it has been suggested might have added ‘fuel to the fire’ earlier in the week.
