LONDON, Aug 06 (BBC): The wave of violent unrest and disorder across parts of the UK continued on Monday night as police came under attack in Belfast, Darlington and Plymouth.
Six people were arrested in Plymouth while several officers suffered minor injuries in the violence, Devon and Cornwall Police said.
In South Belfast, riot officers had stones and petrol bombs thrown at them in an area close to a supermarket which was set on fire at the weekend.
Earlier, a vigil was held for the victims of a mass stabbing in Southport last week which sparked the unrest. Nearly 400 people have been arrested since the rioting began.
In Southport, hundreds of people attended the peaceful memorial a week on from the deaths of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
Children blew bubbles and others left flowers and heart-shaped balloons in remembrance of the victims of the stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.
Merseyside Police have since said one child caught up in the incident remained in hospital but all other patients had been discharged.
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire, has been charged with three counts of murder, 10 attempted murders and possession of a curved kitchen knife.
The 17-year-old, who was born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff, moved to the Southport area in 2013.
Police believe the riots and unrest in towns and cities across the UK were fuelled by false rumours that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the riots as "far-right thuggery" and on Monday he vowed to "ramp up" the law to deal with the violence. Despite his calls for calm, the violence spread to Plymouth.
Devon and Cornwall Police said specialist officers had been deployed on Monday to the Guildhall area at 15:30 BST to deal with a far-right demonstration and a counter protest.
Later in the evening, scenes in the city turned violent as a police van was damaged and several officers were injured, the force said. Supt Russ Dawe said a number of arrests had been made for a "range of public order offences and assaults".
Speaking at a media briefing, he said he wanted to reassure the community the force was "fully resourced at this time, with a strong police presence". Supt Dawe added that those intent on committing crimes and public order would be "dealt with robustly".
In South Belfast, PSNI officers came under attack as riot teams were deployed to Sandy Row. The Law Society has demanded the right support and resources for courts dealing with offenders.
After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting of ministers and senior police chiefs, Sir Keir announced a "standing army" of specialist officers to tackle the disorder. A Downing Street spokesperson said later there were no plans for the military to be involved.
The government was working with social media companies to ensure misinformation and disinformation is removed, the spokesperson said. But, the prime minister rejected calls for Parliament to be recalled from its summer recess in the face of the riots.
The Northern Ireland Assembly has been recalled to Stormont early following violent protests in Belfast last weekend. Sir Keir said: "My focus is on making sure that we stop this disorder, that the criminal sanctions are swift and be seen to be followed."
Downing Street also criticised X owner Elon Musk for claiming "civil war is inevitable" in the UK, with officials suggesting online misinformation fuelling disorder on Britain's streets might be amplified by foreign state actors.
Sir Keir posted a video on X saying the unrest "is not protest, it is pure violence". He added: "We will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities."
Mr Musk replied: "Shouldn't you be concerned about attacks on all communities?"
Elsewhere, Neil Basu - former head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police - told the BBC he felt some of the rioting over the past week had "crossed the line into terrorism".
