As riots continue to escalate in the United Kingdom, far-right agitators have targeted hotels housing asylum seekers, setting them ablaze. On Sunday, the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Tamworth, northern England, was set alight, and rioters gathered near another Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham used for asylum seekers.
The protests, led by far-right groups, have spiraled into violent clashes with police across multiple towns, fueled by xenophobia and misinformation surrounding the tragic stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in Southport last week. Approximately 400 people have been arrested in connection with the unrest.
“I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, either directly or by whipping up this disorder online,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a televised address on Sunday. He characterized the riots as “organized illegal thuggery” by a minority.
As the violence entered its sixth day, Downing Street convened a Cabinet Office Briefing Room (Cobra) emergency meeting. Last week’s stabbing incident involved a 17-year-old suspect, Axel Rudakubana, born in Cardiff to Christian Rwandan parents. False information on social media falsely claimed the suspect was a Muslim immigrant, inciting hatred and violence against immigrants and Muslims.
Rosa Freedman, a professor at the University of Reading, told Al Jazeera that the riots result from the former Conservative government’s complicity with “racist” far-right groups. “Instead of hiding their faces, they have now been coming out … we cannot blame a Labour Party that has [only] been in government [for] the past four weeks,” she said.
Far-right agitators like Tommy Robinson, born Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon and co-founder of the English Defence League (EDL), have been stoking tensions by posting inflammatory video rants to his 800,000 followers on X, decrying Muslims, migrants, the political establishment, and police. Robinson is reportedly posting from Cyprus, where a High Court judge issued an arrest warrant for him after he failed to appear for a hearing in a contempt of libel case he lost against Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi.
Influencer Andrew Tate and MP Nigel Farage have also been accused of stirring division. Farage, the leader of the populist movement Reform UK and a sitting MP, recently suggested Muslims do not share British values and justified the riots as a reaction to widespread fear and unease.
Violence has been reported in Manchester, Liverpool, Belfast, and other cities, in addition to Southport, Rotherham, and Tamworth. Social media posts suggest further planned far-right events, though Al Jazeera could not independently verify these claims. Prime Minister Starmer condemned the “far-right thuggery” and warned of severe consequences for those involved.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper emphasized the government’s commitment to punishing those responsible, stating, “There will be people who were thinking they were going on their summer holidays this week, and instead they will face a knock on the door from the police.”
Neil Basu, the UK’s former head of counter-terrorism policing, accused Farage of not condemning the violence strongly enough. “Has Nigel Farage condemned the violence? Has he condemned the EDL? Fomenting discord in society is what these people seem to exist for,” Basu stated.
Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson promised action against those responsible for the disorder, stressing that looting and violence are unrelated to genuine protest. South Yorkshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield assured the public that perpetrators of violence would be held accountable.
Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott called for recalling Parliament, while Dame Sara Khan, an independent adviser on social cohesion and resilience against extremism, warned that “extremist and cohesion threats are worsening” and emphasized the need for stronger legislation to combat these threats.
