Thousands of riot police across Britain stood ready on Wednesday to deal with further potential outbreaks of violence that erupted after the killing of three children more than a week ago.
Far-right groups have planned demonstrations at more than 30 locations, with immigration advocates and buildings sheltering refugees the primary targets, according to posts on the messaging app Telegram leaked to British media.
The government has said 6,000 specialist police are being mobilised to tackle the worst violence in England in more than a decade, with hundreds of people arrested and more than 100 charged.
The violence erupted after three girls, aged nine, seven and six, were killed and five other children were seriously injured in a stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport, northwest England.
False rumours initially spread on social media that the attacker was a Muslim refugee. The suspect was later identified as Axel Rudakubana, 17, born in Wales. UK media reported his parents are from Rwanda.
Despite police statements, the initial disturbances in Southport were centred around a local mosque, and wider violence has since spread across England and Northern Ireland.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned late on Tuesday that anyone involved would face the “full force of the law”, including those inciting violence online.
Starmer, a former chief state prosecutor, said after chairing a second emergency meeting on Tuesday that he hoped the rioters would receive “substantial punishment before the end of this week.”
“This will send a very powerful message to everyone involved, whether directly or online,” he said in televised remarks.
Several countries have warned their citizens about the dangers of travelling to the United Kingdom, due to the worst unrest in Britain since the 2011 London riots.
In riots in several cities, protesters threw bricks and flares at police officers, burned cars and attacked mosques and at least two hotels used to house refugees.
Several alleged offenders appeared before judges on Tuesday, some of whom pleaded guilty.
A 19-year-old man became the first person to be sentenced to jail related to the unrest, being sentenced to two months on Tuesday, PA Media reports.
Another man was convicted on Sunday after admitting assaulting a police officer outside a hotel for refugees in Rotherham, northern England.
On Saturday a 15-year-old boy in Liverpool pleaded guilty to violent nuisance after he was identified in a TikTok video, while a man in Leeds admitted posting threatening words on Facebook to incite racial hatred.
The government, barely a month old, has vowed to take a tough stance on the unrest.
“99.9% of people across the country want their streets to be safe and to feel safe in their communities, and we will take all the action necessary to end this chaos,” Starmer said on Tuesday.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio 4 the Government had freed up 500 extra prison places.
Police have blamed the riot on people linked to the now-defunct English Defence League, a right-wing Islamophobic organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.
These rallies have been advertised on right-wing social media channels under the banner “Enough is enough”.
Interior Minister Yvette Cooper said perpetrators would be “brought to justice”, adding that social media had given a “rocket booster” to the violence.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday escalated a row with the UK Government by comparing Britain to the “Soviet Union”. A spokesman for Starmer said there was “no justification” for Musk’s previous comment that “civil war is inevitable” in Britain.