LONDON - After days of violent rioting set off by disinformation around a deadly stabbing rampage, authorities in Britain had been bracing for more unrest Wednesday. But by nightfall, large-scale anti-immigration demonstrations had not materialised, and only a few arrests had been made nationwide.
Instead, streets in cities across the country were filled with thousands of antiracism protesters, including in Liverpool, where by late evening, the counterdemonstration had taken on an almost celebratory tone.
Over the weekend, the anti-immigration protests, organised by far-right groups, had devolved into violence in more than a dozen towns and cities. And with messages on social media calling for wider protests and counterprotests Wednesday, British authorities were on high alert.
With tensions running high, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Cabinet held emergency meetings to discuss what has become the first crisis of his recently elected government. Some 6,000 specialist public-order police officers were mobilised nationwide to respond to any disorder, and authorities in several cities and towns stepped up patrols.
Wednesday was not trouble-free, however.
In Bristol, police said there was one arrest after a brick was thrown at a police vehicle and a bottle was thrown. In the southern city of Portsmouth, police officers dispersed a small group of anti-immigration protesters who had blocked a roadway. And in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where there have been at least four nights of unrest, disorder continued, and the police service said it would bring in additional officers.
But overall, many expressed relief that the fears of wide-scale violence had not been realised.
Here is what we know about the turmoil in Britain.
Where has the unrest taken place?
Protesters over the weekend took to the streets of a dozen cities across Britain, most of them in England. Trouble broke out from Aldershot in the south to Sunderland in the north and Liverpool in the west. Belfast, in Northern Ireland, was also drawn into the fray.
In some cases, the protesters were merely unruly, but in others the violence was more pronounced.
On Sunday, rioters set upon a hotel that was housing asylum-seekers in the town of Rotherham, in northern England, breaking windows before surging inside as police struggled to control them. No guests were injured in the melee, police said.
In Middlesbrough, a group of rioters, some masked, hurled bottles and rocks at officers. Cars were set on fire, and at least nine people were arrested. On Saturday, a library and a food bank were set ablaze in Liverpool as groups damaged and looted businesses, and in Hull, fires were set, and storefronts smashed in the city centre.
Dozens of police officers were injured, including some who required trips to the hospital.
What set off the protests?
The unrest began after a teenager wielding a knife attacked a children’s dance class early last week in the seaside town of Southport, which is near Liverpool. Three children were killed, and eight were wounded.
The suspect was born and raised in Britain, but online rumours soon circulated that he was an immigrant in the country without legal authorisation. To counter those false claims, authorities took the unusual step of publicly identifying him. The BBC has reported that the suspect’s parents are from Rwanda. Police have not disclosed a motive for the stabbing attack.
But with migration a flashpoint issue in Britain, especially on the far right, the rumours were all it took to set off violence.
Extremist groups urged their followers to take to the streets, and on the day after the stabbings, they began to do so, starting in Southport.
How have authorities responded?
The weekend riots prompted a heavy police response. Nearly 4,000 additional officers were deployed, a law enforcement association said. And a government order gave officers in some places special powers to disperse any gatherings or "antisocial behaviour," police said in a statement.
Police officers stand watch as antiracism protesters gather in Liverpool, England, on Wednesday. (Photo: New York Times)
More than 400 people have been arrested, and about 100 have been charged, Starmer said after an emergency Cabinet meeting Tuesday — the second in two days.
The prime minister, who has characterised the riots as "far-right thuggery," encouraged prosecutors to name and shame those convicted to dissuade others from joining the violent rampages.
"I'm now expecting substantive sentencing before the end of the week," Starmer said. "That should send a very powerful message to anybody involved, either directly or online, that you are likely to be dealt with within a week and that nobody, but nobody, should involve themselves in this disorder."
BJ Harrington, the head of public order for Britain's National Police Chiefs' Council, said that online disinformation had been "a huge driver of this appalling violence."
Intelligence teams, detectives and neighbourhood officers, Harrington said, were working to identify the people fomenting the violence.
"They won't win," he said.
How are authorities handling online incitement?
Social media has acted as an accelerant throughout the protests, with disinformation fuelling far-right and anti-immigrant groups. Britain and other democracies have found that policing the internet is legally murky terrain, with individual rights and free speech protections balanced against a desire to block harmful material.
In his remarks Tuesday, Starmer said that some arrests involved people accused of inciting violence online.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (Photo: Reuters)
The first person to be convicted over online posts since the riots, according to the Crown Prosecution Service, was a 28-year-old man from Leeds who posted messages on Facebook about attacking a hotel that housed asylum-seekers. It said that the man, Jordan Parlour, had pleaded guilty and was convicted of using threatening words or behaviour to stir up racial hatred.
Starmer has also called out social media companies over misinformation on their platforms but holding them accountable could be tricky. Britain adopted a law last year that requires social media companies to introduce protections for child safety and to prevent and quickly remove illegal content such as terrorism propaganda and revenge pornography. The law is less clear about how companies must treat misinformation and incendiary language.
What are the political implications?
The riots are the first political crisis for Starmer, who took office a month ago after his Labour Party defeated the Conservatives, who had been in government for 14 years.
While in power, the Conservatives tried to capitalise on public unhappiness over immigration, vowing to reduce it (though failing to do so). But in recent days they joined Labour in condemning the violent protests.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, now the opposition leader, said the unrest had "nothing to do with the tragedy in Southport." Police, he said, have "our full support to deal with these criminals swiftly."
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.