London: The Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom on Tuesday issued an advisory for Indian travellers and advised them to "stay vigilant" and exercise due caution as anti-immigration protests have swept the country after the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport last week. The incident has led to violent protests by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups which was amplified by disinformation and inflammatory remarks by high-profile figures.
"Indian travellers would be aware of recent disturbances in some parts of the United Kingdom. The High Commission of India in London is closely monitoring the situation. Visitors from India are advised to stay vigilant and exercise due caution while travelling in the UK. It is advisable to follow local news and advisories issued by local security agencies, and to avoid areas where protests are underway," the Indian High Commission in London said.
The violence erupted last Tuesday after social media posts said the suspected attacker in Southport was a radical Islamist who had just arrived in Britain and was known to intelligence services. However, police said the 17-year-old suspect was born in Britain and they are not treating it as a terrorist incident. The suspect's parents had moved to Britain from Rwanda.
British PM Keir Starmer on the ongoing protests
Protests, mostly involving a few hundred people, have continued across the country, with shops looted and mosques and Asian-owned businesses attacked. Cars have been set on fire and some unverified videos on social media have shown ethnic minorities being beaten up. Police chiefs said they had arrested 378 people since the start of the unrest and warned of "lengthy prison terms" for those found guilty of violent disorder.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said violent protesters who had targeted Muslim communities would swiftly face the "full force of the law" as the unrest refused to abate. "Whatever the apparent motivation, this is not protest, it is pure violence and we will not tolerate attacks on mosques or our Muslim communities," Starmer said on Monday after an emergency meeting with police and prison chiefs.
The previous day, Starmer had vowed that the authorities would do their best to bring the perpetrators of "far-right thuggery" to justice. Interior minister Yvette Cooper said rioters had felt "emboldened ... to stir up racial hatred" and that the protests were not a proportionate response to concerns about near-record levels of immigration.
Several countries issue travel warnings
On Monday evening, protests spread to Plymouth in southwest England. Several hundred anti-immigration protesters wearing English and British flags faced off against a greater number of counter-protesters, kept apart by police in riot gear. Protesters threw bricks and fireworks and scuffled with police.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson and previously the leader of the defunct anti-Islam English Defence League, has been blamed by media for spreading misinformation to his 875,000 followers on X. "They are lying to you all," Yaxley-Lennon said. "Attempting to turn the nation against me. I need you, you are my voice."
Australia and Nigeria were among the countries to issue warnings on Monday to citizens resident in or travelling to Britain. Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, was accused of being a Muslim immigrant and a radical Islamist behind the fatal stabbings of three girls outside a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29. However, police said he was born in Wales in 2006 and moved to the Southport area in 2013.
(with agency inputs)
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