U.K. far-right riots spread, triggering emergency security meeting
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened an emergency security meeting Monday after far-right riots spread over the weekend.
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened an emergency security meeting Monday after far-right riots fueled by misinformation spread over the weekend and residents across the country awakened to scenes of buildings set on fire and hotels housing asylum-seekers stormed by angry mobs.
Two hotels were targeted Sunday night in what has turned into the worst disorder the United Kingdom has seen in years. Almost 150 people were arrested over the weekend, the U.K.’s National Police Chiefs’ Council said.
The violence followed a week of unrest after a stabbing attack that killed three young girls in the northern city of Southport. False claims about the attacker’s ethnicity and origin quickly spread online, fueling the outbursts of violence.
Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul who owns X, weighed in on the violence, writing on the platform that “Civil war is inevitable” in response to video allegedly showing rioters clashing with British police.
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