More than 420 people were arrested in the UK during several days of riots
Photo: REUTERS.
For a week now, riots associated with anti-immigrant protests have been taking place in many cities across Britain. They broke out after a 17-year-old stabbed three girls and seriously injured several other children and adults during classes at a children’s dance school on June 29 in Southport. Even after it became clear that the attacker was not a refugee at all, but a native of Wales from a Rwandan family, the unrest did not subside. More than 420 people have already been arrested as the riots hit major cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Hull.
In recent days, police have stopped attempts to set fire to hotels in Rotherham and Tamworth where migrants are believed to be staying. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in an address to the nation that the rioters would regret their actions. Elena Ananyeva, director of the Centre for British Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke to KP.RU about the causes and possible consequences of the current unrest in Britain.
– The government’s COBRA emergency committee will meet today to discuss how to deal with unrest during anti-immigrant protests. Is the situation so serious that emergency measures are required?
– Yes, the last time COBRA met, in my opinion, was during the pandemic. What decisions can be made? First, they will arrest all those involved on both sides. As Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, prisons are ready and waiting for offenders, and the courts will work 24/7 to get all the troublemakers off the streets. They will sort it out later. But since the Liberal government has a large majority in parliament, a vote of no confidence will not be announced. Labour will, of course, say that it was the Conservatives who started the situation because they did not solve the problem of the influx of illegal immigrants into the country who crossed the English Channel on boats. And the Conservatives will counterattack, reminding them that it was Labour who voted against the export of illegal immigrants to Rwanda.
– So the situation did not arise spontaneously?
– We must not forget that in 2016, in the referendum on Britain’s membership in the EU, emigration was almost the main topic. One of the goals of Brexit was to restore order through emigration. After all, the slogan of the supporters of leaving the EU was “Let’s take back control of our laws, our money and our borders.” Since Britain, even after leaving the EU, remained a member of the European Convention on Human Rights, it had to process asylum applications on its territory. The Conservatives, when they were in power, proposed sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda, which was recognized as a safe country by the British Parliament. There they were supposed to wait for their fate to be decided in temporary accommodation centers. But the European Court of Human Rights declared this decision illegal. And London was faced with the question of whether or not to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which, of course, would undermine the image of the country as a defender of human rights. Labour was against the Rwandan plan because it violated humanitarian law. So the problem arose a long time ago and now, as they say, it has broken through.
– Authorities point to the little-known “English Defence League” as the organiser of the riots. What kind of league is this?
– It does not have a rigid organizational structure and grew on the basis of the football fans’ movement. But then, in its name, calls to participate in riots began to circulate on the networks, such as invitations to flash mobs. So, how can it be banned if it is not registered organizationally in any way?
– Isn’t that why Britain agreed that it was Russia that was causing the unrest? Home Secretary Yvette Cooper herself announced on social media that “hostile states” were involved in inciting unrest.
– And even before this, the government’s adviser on political violence and unrest, Lord Walmy, argued that far-right figures were helped by hostile states to create and plan disinformation and spread fake news.
– The enemy, of course, is Russia?
– Russia and Iran. They are accused of running troll factories that portray Russian and Iranian citizens as British and promote extremist views (whether far-right or far-left) whose sole purpose is to misinform people. Elon Musk is also accused because the Twitter he bought, which he renamed X, had a team of censors who, they say, blocked extremist statements. Musk, declaring that he was against any censorship, dissolved this division.
