Individuals who cause riots and disorder will have a “jail awaiting them”, the Justice Secretary said, as far-right violence in England and Northern Ireland reached a seventh straight day on Monday.
The unrest began after police officers in Plymouth, Belfast and Darlington were attacked and injured on Monday and nearly 400 people have been arrested since the Southport stabbing a week ago.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We will ensure that anyone sentenced to prison for rioting and disorder has a prison sentence waiting for them.”
Alexander said the government had created 567 additional prison spaces in response to the unrest, which would be made available by the end of this month.
A few weeks ago, the government announced the early release of thousands of prisoners in England and Wales who had served 40% of their sentences to tackle the looming overcrowding crisis.
According to the Justice Secretary, the new prison spaces will be located at Stocken Prison in Rutland and Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution in Kent.
“We believe the prison space will be there so that those who commit this abhorrent behavior on our streets and in our communities are sentenced to serve their time behind bars,” Alexander said.
Chaos continued for a seventh day on Monday, with Plymouth Labor councilor Jemima Laing describing a “pretty grim” night after a police officer in the Devon port city was injured in “continued violence”. Several police officers were slightly injured and two people were taken to hospital.
Lane said it was disturbing to see the city become “one stop on this journey of racism that seems to be happening.” About 150 police officers deployed to the city center tried to keep hostile demonstrations apart, and masked anti-immigration protesters fired missiles at counter-demonstrations, where people held signs saying: “No place for hate” and “Say no to Nazis” ”.
“I’m angry that so many people from outside our city feel it’s okay to come here and cause such destruction and turmoil,” Lane told the “Today” show.
“Last night’s events are not reflective of our city,” Lane said, blaming those who came from out of town to “cause trouble.” “That’s really not what Plymouth is about.”
Devon and Cornwall Police said six people were arrested in Plymouth after bricks and fireworks were fired at officers.
In Belfast, social media footage showed police being hit by missiles in the Donegal Road and Sandillo areas. The violence occurred in the same area where two businesses were attacked on Saturday.
An 18-year-old man was arrested after violent disorder broke out in Darlington on Monday night after he threw a brick at police, according to Durham Police.
Police said two large groups of men gathered shortly after 9pm and dozens of officers were deployed to the North Lodge Park area. This led to “small-scale serious violence, with bricks thrown at police officers who attended the scene,” the report said.
Two dozen people accused of involvement in violent unrest in England and Northern Ireland appeared in magistrates’ courts on Monday after the government promised “swift justice”. The charges include violent disorder, assault, arson and resisting arrest, and the defendants range in age from 14 to 69.
Britain’s former counter-terrorism chief Neil Basu said weekend unrest, in which rioters set fire to libraries, looted shops and stormed hotels housing asylum seekers, should be treated as terrorism.
Asked whether the charges should be more serious, Alexander said that was a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service.
“A series of crimes will be committed,” Alexander said, but he disagreed with Basu’s labeling of the riots as terrorism. “There is no doubt that serious crimes have been committed and will result in significant sentences.”
Asked how long the chaos was expected to last, Alexander said that while she didn’t have a “crystal ball,” the government would “do whatever it takes” to end it.
“We want to get this situation under control as quickly as possible because we cannot continue with what we are seeing,” she said. “We have seen blatant criminality, racist attacks, dangerous extremism and we will not tolerate that in our country.”
