Keir Starmer vowed ‘action will be taken’ today as he held crisis talks with police over the outbreak of rioting following the Southport knife attack.
After summoning chiefs to No10, the PM told them that ‘marauding mobs’ must not be allowed to cause chaos.
He condemned those involved in violent disorder as ‘thugs who have no interest whatsoever in the raw pain’ of the community.
Sir Keir is set to hold a press conference at 4pm amid fears of more trouble, after ugly scenes spread to London, Hartlepool and Manchester overnight.
The premier said: ‘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.
‘So, this Government will make sure you have got the powers you need and will back you in using those powers.’
In the capital, more than 100 people were arrested after crowds in Whitehall launched beer cans and glass bottles at police and threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.
People wearing England flags and waving banners saying ‘enough is enough’ and ‘stop the boats’ congregated outside Downing Street.
Violence flared after social media posts wrongly claimed the killing of three young girls in a knife attack in Southport was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat.
Keir Starmer has summoned police chiefs to No10 as thugs again took to the streets in London, Hartlepool and Manchester
Scotland Yard’s Deputy Commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, National Crime Agency chief Robert Jones and chief constables from Merseyside and West Yorkshire Police all attended the No 10 meeting
HARTLEPOOL: An angry mob set fire to a police car
LONDON: Violence erupted on the streets of the capital as a flag-waving crowd clashed with police
MANCHESTER: Protesters were seen launching glass bottles at a police van
Scotland Yard’s Deputy Commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, National Crime Agency chief Robert Jones and chief constables from Merseyside and West Yorkshire Police all attended the No 10 meeting.
Sir Keir, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson spoke with the officers.
There were 19 attendees in total, including director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, HM Chief Inspector Andy Cooke and police chiefs Serena Kennedy and John Robins from the Merseyside and West Yorkshire forces.
Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside Police, spoke to the meeting via video link.
She told the assembled ministers and police chiefs that the force was ‘determined to get justice’ for the attack on Monday and to identify all those who took part in rioting on Tuesday in Southport.
The angry scenes in London last night 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’.
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.
Manchester police 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.
According to the Manchester Evening News, this incident also saw chants of: ‘We want our country back’, while a group of men were seen jumping in the path of a bus, smashing its wing mirror and assaulting a passenger.
Aldershot appears to have escaped the violence seen in other parts of the country, but a demonstration there was still met by riot police.
The string of violent incidents follows similar scenes in Southport on Tuesday, where demonstrators attacked police and set cars on fire.
Lord Walney, the Government’s independent adviser on political violence, said he hoped the meeting would examine powers to ‘refuse and prevent further so-called ‘protests’ that are being used by far right activists as a vehicle for serious disorder and violence’.
He said: ‘There is a right to protest in the UK but that is not a right to riot.’
The meeting comes as a 17-year-old boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – has been charged with the murders of the three girls.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were fatally stabbed on Monday when a knifeman entered a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Hart Street in Southport, Merseyside.
Eight other children suffered knife wounds – with five of them in a critical condition – while two adults were also critically injured.
HARTLEPOOL: Rioters break down a fence as violence erupted in Britain for the second night running
HARTLEPOOL: One person was live streaming the chaos when an Asian man was punched by a thug as he tried to walk past in what appeared to be a racially motivated assault
MANCHESTER: Video shows protesters clashing with riot police with parts of the UK at boiling point
HARTLEPOOL: Protesters run towards riot police as chaos unfolded on the streets
HARTLEPOOL: Firefighters try and put out a blaze which completely destroyed a police vehicle
HARTLEPOOL: A protester clashes with riot police officers as violence broke out for a second night running
