UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hit out at "far-right thuggery" in a television address, reacting as riots continued over a fatal knife attack in Southport.
"I promise you this, you will regret taking part in this disorder, either directly or those whipping up this disorder online," he warned in his Sunday statement.
The tragedy went down during a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in Southport the Monday before, killing three children and leaving others injured, according to Xinhua news agency.
A 17-year-old, Axel Rudakubana, of Cardiff, with Rwandan heritage, has been charged with murder.
Yet misinformation about Rudakubana's nationality and religion has fueled hostility toward Muslims and immigrants, resulting in violent clashes between far-right protesters and police across the UK. Those protests intensified over the weekend .
Yet misinformation about Rudakubana's nationality and religion has fueled hostility to the Muslims and immigrants, with violence across the UK between far-right protesters and police. Those intensified the protests over the weekend.
Those protests intensified over the weekend as misinformation grew about Rudakubana's nationality and religion, coinciding with an increase in hostility to Muslims and immigrants.
"Disinformation is a huge driver of this appalling violence, and we know a lot of those attending these so-called protests are doing so in direct response to what they've read online," Harrington said.
Riots broke out in cities including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Sunderland, and Belfast over the weekend. The violence later spread to towns such as Middlesbrough, where gangs pelted officers with flaming wheelie bins, and Rotherham, where a cop was injured in a violent attack on a Holiday Inn Express believed to be sheltering migrants. In Bolton, the police were given greater powers after bottles and missiles were thrown at them.
Speaking about the attack on a hotel in Rotherham, Starmer commented, "Well, this has to stop, and there is no excuse for taking this action."
The Prime Minister called the violence "far-right thuggery" and urged social media companies to take part in combating misinformation and disinformation during a news conference on Friday.
The former UK Prime Minister and former leader of the Conservative Party, Rishi Sunak, condemned the violence and described it as "violent and criminal behaviour that has no place in our society."
"The shocking scenes we're seeing on the streets of Britain have nothing to do with the tragedy in Southport," Sunak said, expressing full support to the police to deal with these criminals.
The former first minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, came out to react to it on X and said the situation had been handled awfully by the police, calling for military intervention.
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