The government has said it will do “whatever it takes” to ensure those who engage in criminal activity during violent riots across the UK are dealt with, including the courts that sit overnight.
This comes as the government’s adviser on political violence and disruption warned that far-right actors are “almost certainly” being “aided and abetted by hostile states in creating and spreading disinformation”.
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Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson told Sky News the government will ensure the “necessary” resources are made available so those who have been arrested can be prosecuted quickly.
Asked if this includes the courts at night, she said: “The Prime Minister has made it very clear that we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that people can get through the justice system,” she said.
“We already have people arrested and detained in custody. It’s very clear that we want to send this message to people: if you engage in this type of criminal violence on our streets, you will be held accountable.”
She said that the Prime Minister was the director of the Public Ministry during the 2011 riots when the courts sat overnight and are therefore “very well versed… in ensuring that we have available what is needed”.
She also confirmed that there was prison capacity to incarcerate those convicted.
“We cannot allow people to feel that they are not safe on their streets, especially communities that do not feel safe because of the color of their skin,” he added.
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Dozens of people were arrested following violent riots in England and Northern Ireland on Saturday, with police warning that more violence is likely in the coming days.
Police officers were attacked and injured, but clashes also occurred between anti-immigration protesters and counter-protesters.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said those involved in the clashes “will pay the price”, adding that “criminal violence and disorder have no place on the streets of Britain”.
Police arrest a man during a protest in Liverpool. Photo: PA
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told ministers that “the entire judicial system is ready to issue convictions as quickly as possible”.
Protests this week erupted following the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport – which was followed by a wave of online misinformation about the suspect spread by far-right activists and agitators.
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Lord Walney, the government’s adviser on violence and political disruption, told Sky News that the Southport tragedy was “taken advantage of by far-right actors, almost certainly aided and abetted by hostile states in creating and engineering disinformation to spread false narratives”.
He said the government should “do more” to pursue accounts that spread false information and that he recommended in his recent review of the government that intelligence and security sources should be given more resources.
“We will have troll factories in places like Russia and Iran, full of Russian or Iranian citizens pretending to be British, with far-right or far-left extremist views, whose sole purpose is to create misinformation and foment it,” he said.
“That could have a very significant effect in this environment.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
