6,000 police at the ready to quell UK riots
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00:00In Belfast, Northern Ireland, rioters threw rocks at police while fires burned in the streets
00:06as the U.K. saw its seventh straight day of violent anti-immigration protests.
00:11This force is about to be used against violent individuals.
00:15In Plymouth, on the southwest coast of England, six people were arrested
00:19and several officers injured by projectiles and fireworks launched by far-right crowds.
00:25Police are warning that anyone participating in the riots will face prison time.
00:43Prime Minister Keir Starmer says a standing army of 6,000 specialist officers has been put on duty
00:49to confront the unrest. Officials say much of it has been instigated by disinformation
00:54and hate speech being spread online.
00:57It's spread out across telegram channels, many of which were actually created
01:00in the aftermath of COVID-19, where you saw anti-lockdown movements mobilizing
01:04and have really been repurposed in recent years, in particular to target migrants.
01:09The riots broke out last Tuesday in the town of Southport, near Liverpool,
01:13after internet users falsely blamed a mass stabbing attack that killed three young girls
01:18on a Muslim asylum seeker. Breaking protocol in a bid to counter the misinformation,
01:24British court identified the arrested suspect as a 17-year-old citizen born in the U.K.
01:30to Christian parents from Rwanda.
01:33That disclosure failed to quell the violence. On Sunday, angry mobs attacked two hotels
01:39used to temporarily house asylum seekers, breaking windows and setting fires.
01:44More than 375 people have been arrested so far, with more arrests expected.
01:50And what has become the worst episode of civil unrest to hit the U.K. in more than a dozen years.