Government calls emergency Cobra meeting in wake of sixth day of violence

The Government called an emergency Cobra meeting while courts stood ready to take cases as a sixth day of disorder saw rioters storm hotels housing asylum seekers.

Police clashed with crowds as the escalating violence – one week on from the Southport stabbings – continued over the weekend across the country.

More than 300 people have been arrested in less than a week.

Several suspects faced charges in court on Monday, as ministers and police chiefs descended on Westminster for the meeting setting out the response for the coming days in a bid to clamp down on further unrest.

Calls for the army to be brought in have so far been dismissed, with the Government insisting the police already have the resources needed to respond.

It comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addressed the nation on Sunday amid the biggest challenge to his premiership so far, telling perpetrators they would “regret” engaging in “far-right thuggery” and promising those involved in unrest that they would “face the full force of the law”.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the courts are on “stand-by” to ensure “swift justice”.

Defendants were being brought before magistrates in Belfast, Sheffield, Liverpool and South Tyneside in the latest wave of court appearances.

Judges condemned the “disgraceful” and “large-scale mob violence” while some courts heard how defendants took advantage of the disorder to commit crime.

A woman admitted pushing over a large bin towards police in Sunderland, after getting involved when the pub where she had been drinking closed, and a man said he stole vapes from a shop that had been damaged during the violent scenes in the town after “socialising with friends”.

A 30-year-old man accused of swinging a stick at a woman during disorder outside Sheffield City Hall sobbed in the dock as he denied the charges against him.

But despite vows to handle cases quickly, it emerged those accused of being involved in unrest in Bristol are not due to face court until September.

Meanwhile, former home secretary Dame Priti Patel said she would not feel safe in some of the areas where violence unfolded and that the racism on display was no different from that of the 1970s and 1980s.

The Home Office brought in urgent measures on Sunday to make sure mosques were offered extra protection so any threats of more attacks on places of worship could be responded to quickly.

A mosque in Middlesbrough was the latest of several to be targeted.

Organisation Tell Mama, which monitors anti-Muslim attacks, said it had called the police after it “identified more far-right threats on Telegram that seek to target immigration solicitors and refugee services” in more than 30 locations across the country on Wednesday.

Dame Priti, the Conservative MP for Essex constituency Witham, also rejected claims there was “two-tier policing” in Britain, where right-wing protests are dealt with more harshly than left-wing ones. Something the Prime Minister also denied as he insisted policing was “without fear or favour”.

The most senior police officer in the country, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, appeared to grab a reporter’s microphone and throw it on the ground when he was asked about two-tier policing as he left the Cobra meeting. Asked about the incident, the force said he was “in a hurry”.

Among the latest scenes of widespread and continued disorder, which broke out in the wake of a knife attack last week which left three girls dead, anti-immigration rioters smashed the windows of the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham at the weekend before starting fires.

Masked men hurled lengths of wood, chairs and bottles with some spraying fire extinguishers at police officers amid the 700-strong crowd.

At least 10 officers were injured, with one knocked unconscious, South Yorkshire Police said. One arrest had already been made and others involved should “expect us to be at their doors very soon”, the force warned.

On Sunday evening, a similar incident played out at a Holiday Inn hotel in Tamworth, Staffordshire, where reports suggested asylum seekers were also being housed, in a scene which saw fires, smashed windows and missiles being thrown at officers, Staffordshire Police said.

Earlier in the afternoon, a group of rioters in Middlesbrough smashed the windows of houses and cars and threw objects at officers, with one seen shouting a racial slur and another telling police: “It’s our f****** country.”

There were 43 arrests, with crown court and university buildings sustaining significant damage, Cleveland Police said.

Meanwhile, Greater Manchester Police used powers amid disturbances in Bolton to order people to “remove face coverings used to disguise or conceal their appearance”.

The unrest has prompted some MPs to demand Parliament is recalled so the problems can be debated in the Commons, as it was during the 2011 riots.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews called for a “national conversation” on promoting respect for the country and each other, as it condemned the “lawlessness and thuggery”.