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00:00Well, the situation has indeed calmed down.
00:04What's going to happen either later today or over the weekend, let alone in the coming
00:08days, is not clear, of course, and will transpire.
00:12But violent anti-immigration riots during the past week in England and Northern Ireland
00:18have resulted now in 700 arrests.
00:22So that figure, which went from about 400 to 500, has now gone steeply up.
00:28So arrests are continuing already, as police forces around, of course, these riots have
00:33been across England and in Belfast and Northern Ireland.
00:38I understand that some 200 people have been charged.
00:42But British police, to answer your question, are on high alert this weekend because there
00:47are concerns over more disorder breaking out, and police are very much braced for potential
00:53violence.
00:55So in Newcastle, for example, we've got, on the one hand, far-right protesters who've
00:59been gathering, but a much smaller crowd than we've seen previously, I understand up to
01:04about 100 gathered for the, quote, enough is enough protest in Newcastle.
01:09Some were waving Union Jack and England flags.
01:12At least, I understand, three far-right protesters have been detained by police in Newcastle.
01:18One, I understand, had a hammer in his possession, which was confiscated by officers before he
01:23was then placed in handcuffs, and police are searching every person who tries to join either
01:28the far-right protesters or also counter-protesters now, and they're obviously trying to keep
01:35those two groups separate.
01:37So the anti-racism protests are also planned across the country, as we've seen largely
01:43over the last few days.
01:45And as we begin to see those first counter-protests, I understand at least one person has been
01:51arrested in Newcastle for snatching a microphone from another counter-protester.
01:56So we will watch over the coming hours.
01:59One of the big concerns and the reason for clear police presence is the fact that there
02:04are Premier League football matches that are starting again today.
02:09Now, as you mentioned, arrests have been made, jail sentences have been delivered related
02:14to the riots.
02:17But there's a lot of tension, as you mentioned.
02:19Is the government taking firm action quickly enough?
02:22Well, certainly, the police are on high alert, and that is because the Prime Minister Keir
02:29Starmer, I don't know if you remember, actually, he's the former Director of Public Prosecution.
02:37Indeed, he was.
02:39He had that role back in 2011 when there were protests of a different nature back then.
02:44But what the Prime Minister is saying himself, and it seems that the police agree with this,
02:49what we've seen on the one hand is already 200 people charged, more and more people going
02:54through the courts, with what Keir Starmer has underlined as swift justice, rather than
03:00waiting a number of weeks, months or more.
03:04What is happening is that people that were protesting and were arrested, committing various
03:09or charged with various offences, are going through courts already.
03:13So within days of these charges, them being charged, and some are getting two years, two
03:20and a half years, three years, and they're not being given bail.
03:24They're being remanded in custody immediately.
03:27And that, it would seem, and certainly the Prime Minister believes and others believe,
03:30this is acting as a big deterrent.
03:33Interestingly, we've had the French President Emmanuel Macron speaking to Keir Starmer on
03:38the phone, and amongst the subjects, the French President expressed, of course, his
03:42condolences for the victims of that fatal knife attack that killed three young girls
03:46and injured others.
03:47And Mr Macron also firmly condemned the violence and disorder that followed this attack and
03:52gave his full support to the UKPM in this context.
03:57So we'll watch, we'll wait, and we'll see what happens next.