Sir Keir Starmer has said “action will be taken” following “violent disorder” in parts of England in the wake of the Southport stabbings.
The Prime Minister summoned police chiefs to Downing Street on Thursday afternoon following scenes of violent unrest in London, Hartlepool and Manchester overnight, while a demonstration in Aldershot saw a tense stand-off with riot police.
At the meeting, he told the senior officers: “I wanted to send a message to each of you and, through you, your officers to say that this Government supports the police, supports what you are doing, and to be absolutely clear: This is not protest, this is violent disorder and action will be taken.
“This Government will make sure you have got the powers you need and will back you in using those powers.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson also attended the meeting with the police leaders.
They included Scotland Yard Deputy Commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, National Crime Agency chief Robert Jones, director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson and His Majesty’s Chief Inspector Andy Cooke.
Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy told the meeting by videolink that the force is “determined to get justice” for the deadly attack on Monday, and to identify all those who took part in rioting on Tuesday in the seaside town.
Sir Keir is also set to hold a press conference to address the disorder at around 4pm on Thursday.
In London on Wednesday, more than 100 people were arrested after protesters in Whitehall launched beer cans and glass bottles at police and threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.
Demonstrators wearing England flags and waving banners saying “enough is enough” and “stop the boats” had congregated outside Downing Street in the wake of the killing of three young girls in the Southport knife attack, which social media posts had wrongly claimed was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat.
The angry scenes also included loud chants of: “We want our country back” and: “Oh Tommy Robinson,” referring to the right-wing activist. One man wore a shirt with the slogan: “Nigel Farage for Prime Minister, Tommy Robinson for Home Secretary.”
The Met arrested 111 people for alleged offences including violent disorder, assaults on police officers, possession of knives and offensive weapons and breach of protest conditions.
Confrontations continued late into the night in Hartlepool, where demonstrators set fire to a police car and pelted officers with missiles, including glass bottles.
Cleveland Police have so far made eight arrests, with more expected.
Police in Manchester confronted another demonstration outside the Holiday Inn on Oldham Road before dispersing the crowd after protesters started throwing beer bottles at officers and members of the public.
The string of violent incidents followed similar scenes in Southport on Tuesday, where demonstrators attacked police and set cars on fire.
The meeting in Downing Street came after a 17-year-old charged with the murder of three girls in the knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class appeared at Liverpool Crown Court and was named as Axel Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire.
He is charged with the murder of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in Southport on Monday.
He is also charged with the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as with possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.
He was remanded to youth detention accommodation and will next appear in court in October.
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