UK riots – live: Police brace for more violence as immigration centres on ‘hit list’

Inquests into the deaths of Southport stabbing victims Bebe King, six, Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, have been opened and adjourned at Bootle Town Hall.

Senior coroner Julie Goulding said it was “impossible to adequately articulate the devastating lifelong effects of the truly tragic events of Monday, 29 July”.

Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick called rioters “morons” and said debates about immigration and integration are “for another day”.

The former immigration minister told Sky News: “There is a separate debate to be had around integration and immigration in this country.

“But I think that is for another day, because we mustn’t allow the legitimate concerns of millions of people on those issues to be tarred by the brush of these criminals, these thugs, these yobs, these morons, frankly, who are out on the streets, causing harm, hurting people, smashing up shops.

“They’re very separate issues, and we shouldn’t see a link between the two.”

The Twitter storm surrounding Elon Musk after he appeared to fan the flames of discontent when he launched a tirade against Sir Keir Starmer has led to calls for reform.

Speaking to LBC News, Adam Leon Smith, Fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said: “There’s got to be a tipping point where a foreign billionaire platform owner needs to take some responsibility for running a toxic bot network that has become one of the main sources of fake news in the UK.”

There are so many more people who want to spread a message of welcome and solidarity to asylum seekers in the UK than spread hate, a charity boss has said, amid an “incredible response” to a campaign to counter violence seen across the country.

Conversation Over Borders, a national charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers, is calling for people to send in welcoming notes which will be delivered to asylum seekers staying at initial hotel accommodation, including those targeted in “far-right violence”.

Chief executive Colette Batten-Turner said since putting the call out the charity received 150 messages by the next day, adding: “We are getting more and more messages come in by the second.”

“People are really rallying around it,” she said. “It’s incredible to see it, I think it’s so important the voices we are hearing, most are the voices of far-right extremism, that it’s actually really not representative of most people in the UK.”

She added: “My message to anyone living in initial accommodation hotels and newly arrived to the UK or feel affected, is… there are so many more people who want to spread a message of welcome and solidarity and compassion, and who will welcome those people to the UK, and feel the UK is a better place because they’re here. We will make this a safe place for them to be, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.”

Conversation Over Borders currently works with 800 refugees and asylum seekers across the country, including visiting people in hotel accommodation.

Ms Batten-Turner said: “People are very, very afraid, even in places not yet targeted by the far-right violence.”

Sharing positive messages to asylum seekers began as part of the charity’s digital inclusion project where a note from the donor would accompany technology such as a laptop to the newly arrived asylum seeker to create a “personal connection”.

“It’s really touched people and really helped,” Ms Batten-Turner said, as the initiative aims to counter a narrative of exclusion and racism, and think about how people who have just arrived are “just human beings like everyone else”.

The charity hopes to start sending out the handwritten notes at the end of the week.

A man has been charged with possessing an offensive weapon during a gathering in Birmingham after TV coverage showed someone apparently holding a sword.

Shehraz Sarwar from Birmingham was arrested and charged by West Midlands Police following the incident in Bordesley Green on Monday.

A number of counter-protesters gathered in the area after social media rumours of a far-right march being staged there.

The 46-year-old was remanded to appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Leading musicians, actors, activists, sportspeople and politicians are among the more than 1,000 people who have joined forces to bring the country together against racism amid the ongoing far-right riots.

Singers Kate Nash, Paloma Faith and Billy Bragg, as well as former England cricketer Azeem Rafiq, and Jerry Dammer, founder of The Specials are among those who have signed the open letter written by anti-fascist group Stand Up to Racism.

The letter states: “The far right are spreading racism, Islamophobia and hatred. [Tommy] Robinson and others are attempting to exploit the horrific knife attack in Southport to stir up Islamophobia and sow division by spreading misinformation about the attacker’s identity. This led to a racist mob rioting in Southport and elsewhere, violently attacking the mosques and police, chanting the same hateful slogans heard on Robinson’s London demonstration.

“Racism and Islamophobia in Parliament is leading to racism and Islamophobia on the streets. When Robinson asked his London protest who voted for Nigel Farage and Reform UK, almost every hand went up. Suella Braverman emboldened this latest iteration of fascist mobilisations, with her claims of an ‘Islamist’ threat, policing ‘double standards’ and refugee ‘invasion’ inflammatory rhetoric.”

It continues: “All those who oppose this must join in a united mass movement powerful enough to drive back the fascists. The majority of people in Britain abhor Robinson and the far right. We are the majority, they are the few. Britain has a proud history of defeating fascists and racists. We can defeat them again. We must Stand Up to Racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism. We must unite and mobilise against the far right and fascism.”

Violent disorder has spread across the country in the wake of the stabbings of three young girls in Southport, after misinformation spread that the killer was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Communities minister Jim McMahon was questioned about a counter-protest staged in Birmingham earlier this week in response to social media rumours that a far-right march was being held.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “There is no grounds at all for anybody in the country to go out there and believe that they have to self-defend either premises or a local community.

“The police force have the resources they need to provide on-the-ground support, there is co-ordination taking place with local councils, as I said, and the local community groups as well.”

He added: “To be clear, it doesn’t matter what the cause or motivation is – if somebody breaks the law and causes damage and intimidation, they will be dealt with.”

He told LBC that, while there is “a lot of provocation” and “a lot of intimidation” taking place, that does not justify violence and intimidation in response.

“We can reflect the intimidation on one side and we can be absolutely clear about breaking the law on the other,” he said.

Amnesty has described the expected targeting of immigration law firms and support services as” the latest appalling development of the racist hate and violence that has erupted over these last few days”.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said: “Targeting immigration services and their providers and users is the latest appalling development of the racist hate and violence that has erupted over these last few days. Access to legal and support services, and the freedom to deliver these are vital to safeguarding our basic rights.

“These are not the first incidents of violence towards immigration lawyers and people seeking asylum in recent years. Decades of anti-migrant rhetoric have created an environment in which racist vitriol, fake news, bigotry and violence all thrive. Serious reflection is now urgently required from political leaders and commentators regarding the language they use and the policies they promote. 

“We need a fresh start, underpinned by basic human rights and a renewed determination to avoid the routine dehumanisation in so much recent public and political discourse.”