2024-08-07 14:39:47
As far-right violent protests in the UK intensify following a stabbing attack that left three children dead, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that he will use special police as a “standing army” to respond to violence. He is signaling a strong response, meaning that special police will continue to be deployed to suppress protests. The Prime Minister’s Office also believes that there is a possibility of “intervention by foreign governments” in the online spread of false information that has amplified the protests.
Prime Minister Starmer held an emergency security meeting (COBRA) at the Whitehall Government Building on the 5th, involving ministers from each department, police, and intelligence agencies. He defined this incident as “violence, not protests” and announced that “we will respond by operating a special police force comprised of public order officers.”
The nationwide protests were triggered by a stabbing attack in Southport, northwest England, on the 29th of last month that left three children dead. After the incident, some far-right influencers on social media spread lies that the perpetrators were illegal Muslim immigrants, sparking anti-Islam protests. The authorities have also revealed that the perpetrator is a 17-year-old British male named Axel Rudakubana, but the protests are not dying down. Rudakubana’s parents are from Rwanda and he is known to be a Christian.
As of the morning of the 5th, the number of people arrested by the police during this protest has reached 378. British media evaluated it as “the worst violent protest in 13 years since the protests sparked by the police shooting death of black man Mark Duggan in 2011 spread into nationwide riots and resulted in the prosecution of over 2,000 people.”
The British government has also warned of strong punishment for online incitement of violence, and is particularly investigating whether there was any foreign intervention in the spread of this misinformation.
The British government has not named a specific country, but local media outlets have focused on similar cases involving Russia in the past. King’s College London’s Institute for Policy Studies said, “Since the attempted poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018, Russian state-run media RT and Sputnik have been at the forefront of spreading misinformation by reporting various conspiracy theories.”
Reporter Kim Yun-jin [email protected]
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2024-08-07 14:39:47