Anti-immigration protests backed by far-right groups in the UK and Northern Ireland took place as rioters clashed with police and carried out arson and looting in many places.

UK Prohibition: Police across the United Kingdom have arrested at least 100 rioters as anti-immigration protests backed by far-right groups took place over the weekend in parts of the UK and Northern Ireland, even as Prime Minister Keir Starr offered his full support. Police forces directed them to take strict action against “extremists”.

Protesters clashed with police in several places in the UK, often leading to arson, vandalism and stone-throwing.

Scenes of clashes in Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, Leeds saw bricks thrown, firecrackers thrown, asylum seekers smashing hotel windows, shops attacked and set on fire, and several clashes between crowds and police. Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Belfast, Nottingham and Manchester on Saturday.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper warned the crowd that they would “pay the price” for such “criminal disorder and violent thuggery”.

“Addressing the scenes of chaos we have seen, the Prime Minister said we have our full support for the police to take action against the extremists on our streets who are attacking police officers, disrupting local businesses and trying to sow hatred by threatening communities,” Downing said on Saturday after a high-level meeting of ministers convened by Starmer.

“The Prime Minister ended by asserting the right to freedom of expression and the violent distortions we have seen are two different things. He said there is no excuse for any kind of violence and reiterated that the government is backing the police to take all necessary action to keep our roads safe.

Groups monitoring anti-Muslim incidents across the UK have said there has been an increase in reports from British Muslims expressing concerns about their safety, with many afraid to visit their local mosques.

UK Policing Minister Diana Johnson told the BBC: “People are particularly scared because of the color of their skin and that can't be right and this government will do everything in its power to deal with that.”

“When I saw people looting some shops in the city center, it had nothing to do with a real protest or people having different views on immigration. It is about criminal behavior that needs to be dealt with,” she said, warning that there was “enough prison space” for such “criminal behavior” for criminals.

Officials at Britain's Ministry of Justice are said to be in talks with the judiciary, as well as police chiefs and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), to open magistrates' courts for longer hours. Custody for riot related offences.

Welsh-born Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, from Lancashire, is accused of a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed children's dance workshop in Southport, north-west England, which was the first scene of unrest earlier in the week.

It began after false claims circulated online that the suspect, who is of Rwandan heritage, was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat. Since then, misinformation has continued to spread on social media and resulted in violent protests in various parts of the country, with protesters carrying anti-immigrant slogans.

Merseyside police in Southport publicly identified the English Defense League (EDL) as a key element – a group that does not exist in a formal sense but whose founder, Tommy Robinson, has been associated with promoting right-wing sentiment using the social media space. .

Stand Up to Racism, one of the groups organizing some of the counter-protests, warned that the activities of extremist mobs should not be “unopposed”.

(with PTI input)