UK examines role of foreign states, criticises Elon Musk for ‘civil war’ post as riots rage
- Keir Starmer says riot offenders will face the ‘full force of the law’ as cities across Britain are hit by a wave of anti-immigrant protests
Foreign states may be involved in fuelling a wave of riots that’s hit the UK in the past week, Keir Starmer’s government said, as the prime minister promised to crack down on perpetrators with the “full force of the law”.
The prime minister on Monday held a so-called Cobra meeting of senior ministers, police and prison chiefs to coordinate the response to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim riots that led to hundreds of arrests over the last week.
Afterward, he told broadcasters that authorities agreed to mobilise a “standing army” of police officers to deal with the disorder.
Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, told reporters that social media firms must do more to respond to online hate, and also condemned a post on X by Elon Musk that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, saying there was “no justification” for the billionaire’s remark.
Musk made his post in response to a video showing footage of rioting and remarks from another poster that it was the result of “migration and open borders”.
