UK police arrest nearly 400 since far-right riots began

UK police have arrested 378 people since rioting in English towns and cities began after a deadly knife attack against children one week ago, a top officer said Monday.

"We expect that total to rise each day as forces continue to identify those involved and continue to apprehend those responsible," said Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, who heads the coordinating National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC).

"Work is going on around the clock to do this," he added.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday vowed "swift criminal sanctions" against far-right riots in several cities that have seen widespread damage.

Starmer convened ministers and police chiefs to discuss the unrest that broke out last Tuesday in Southport, northwest England, following a stabbing spree in which three children were killed.

Mobs threw bricks and flares, attacked police, burnt and looted shops, smashed the windows of cars and homes and targeted at least two hotels housing asylum-seekers in a number of cities at the weekend.

The government will "ramp up criminal justice" to ensure that "sanctions are swift", Starmer told the media after Monday's meeting.

He said a "standing army" of specially-trained police was ready to be deployed to support local forces where any further riots break out.

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Clashes erupted in Southport a day after three young girls were killed and five more children critically injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

False rumours initially spread on social media saying the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. The suspect was later identified as a 17-year-old born in Wales. UK media reported he has Rwandan parents.

However, that has not stopped mosques and hotels housing migrants and asylum seekers from being targeted.

Arrests have been made nationwide as anti-immigration demonstrators and rioters face-off against police and counter-protestors, including groups of Muslims.

The prime minister on Sunday warned rioters they would "regret" participating in England's worst disorder in 13 years.

Interior minister Yvette Cooper told the BBC on Monday that "there will be a reckoning".

Cooper also said that social media put a "rocket booster" under the violence, and Starmer stressed that "criminal law applies online as well as offline".

Police have blamed the violence on people associated with the now-defunct English Defence League, an anti-Muslim organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.