Police commanders announce the deployment of an additional 2,200 riot officers, while a list of 60 immigration centers circulates online.
Immigration lawyers have been told to take extra precautions or stay away from work amid far-right threats to their firms, with legal groups blaming political attacks on the profession for fueling abuse.
The Law Society and Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) stated its members were in danger after a list of up to 60 immigration assistance facilities was shared on Telegram with a message implying they would be the target of protests on Wednesday.
Several notable lawyers claimed that the political language of Conservative politicians ranging from Boris Johnson to Suella Braverman demonizing “lefty lawyers” for working on asylum cases contributed to the far-right danger.
On Tuesday, police officials in England and Northern Ireland announced the deployment of an additional 2,200 riot-trained policemen to confront the ongoing violence that began last week.
Keir Starmer convened another Cobra conference to coordinate the government’s response with police chiefs, and Stephen Parkinson, director of public prosecutions, stated that some of those responsible for the violent disruption could face terrorism charges.
So far, violence has targeted mosques, communal buildings like libraries, hotels that house asylum seekers, and shops.
However, emphasis has shifted to immigration law and advisory clinics after a list of up to 60 of them was distributed this week. Later, it turned out that some of the addresses on the list were false, including one that belonged to an elderly woman.
Politicians such as Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Sarah Sackman expressed worries about centers being named in their constituencies of Walthamstow and Finchley, stating they were in contact with police concerning people’s safety.
The Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, has warned that the Jewish community may be targeted and expressed fears about threats.
The Law Society of England and Wales has written to Starmer and Shabana Mahmood, the justice minister, saying that a “direct assault on our legal profession is a direct assault on our democratic values.”.
Its president, Nick Emmerson, stated that immigration attorneys were providing an accessible service and were concerned about “a very real frontline threat.”.
“There is an attitude of intimidation that extends beyond the list. This list is gaining traction, but those who provide immigration assistance are at risk,” he stated.
He claimed that political attacks on lawyers under the previous administration had “contributed to the atmosphere of intimidation” and that the current danger was “an extension of that, and it is a physical manifestation of that.”
“Who knows whether it will survive more than a day? People are being asked to wear masks for one day. That is distressing enough, but if this is the way business will be done in the future, it is unsustainable. This should not be happening at all,” he explained.
The Lord Chancellor, Mahmood, stated that attorneys uphold the rule of law every day across the country. Inciting mobs to attack their offices, or threatening them in any way, is not appropriate. Those caught doing so will face the full weight of the law. They will join the hundreds of others arrested by police in the last week.
Dominic Grieve, a former Conservative attorney general, expressed concern that immigration attorneys are being targeted as a result of previous political attacks. I believe it would be a really wonderful thing to state, “Lawyers uphold the rule of law.”
Jacqueline McKenzie, a lawyer at Leigh Day who was previously the subject of a Tory dossier criticizing her work for migrant clients, said political attacks on immigration lawyers put them in jeopardy.
“It all started with the attacks on ‘lefty lawyers’… to bring us into the fray has put a target on our backs,” according to her.
Starmer, she added, should do more to dispel the negative narrative surrounding immigration, and the government’s present answer was “mealy-mouthed.”
“Governments are just going to keep on making the same mistakes; allowing people to attribute all problems to migrants will fuel a race war and put all black and brown people, not just immigration lawyers, at risk,” McKenzie said.
Hazar El-Chamaa, the ILPA’s chair of trustees, stated that the organization stood in solidarity with migrants and urged the government to assist lawyers in carrying out their professional duties by “representing and upholding the human rights of migrants and those targeted based on their appearance, without fear for our safety.”.
“Where our security is threatened as a result of carrying out our essential and proper function in a democracy, the government and law enforcement agencies should investigate and monitor threats to our safety,” according to him.
“We encourage Sir Keir Starmer’s administration to take immediate action to put an end to the violence and create a society that welcomes and cares for our communities and all those in need of protection. We call on the government to join us.”
Police officials have decided to drastically boost the number of riot officers deployed following weekend violence that continued on Monday and Tuesday.
They are also preparing for up to 30 distinct demonstrations scheduled for Wednesday and are evaluating the reliability of an online document identifying targets, many of which are related to immigration and asylum.
Nearly 4,000 riot officers have already been deployed throughout England and Wales. Some experienced violence in their own force area, while others were dispatched to assist other forces that were under strain during the weekend.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, informed chief constables in a teleconference on Tuesday that local forces would receive help for overtime pay and any other resources they needed when dealing with public disorder.
In total, England and Wales have 18,000 specially trained public order or riot officers. The decision to expand deployment means that 30% of the total will be deployed. According to a police source, the number will be changed upward or downward as the situation develops. Preparations were underway to deal with any potential disruption later on Tuesday and Wednesday.
More than 400 arrests have been made thus far, and a police source stated that while some of the violence was organized, many of those involved were locals who decided to participate after hearing about the disorder.
Nigel Farage, Reform’s leader, has been chastised for asking if the police were being truthful about the murder of three girls in Southport when the suspect was incorrectly identified on social media as a Muslim migrant. A 17-year-old from Cardiff was later charged. However, anti-migrant rioting expanded from Southport during the next week.
On Tuesday, Farage asserted that he had “nothing to do with any form of street violence now or at any point” in his career, claiming that the riots following the Southport killings “were as bad as they were because we weren’t told the truth” by the police.
He mentioned that the “level of incitement against me has led to a huge increase in my security uptick” .
Muslim,The Conservative MP for Clacton stated to LBC that “there were stories online from some very prominent folks with big followings, Andrew Tate etc suggesting the man [attacker] had crossed the English [sic] Channel in a boat in October 2023, other suggestions that he was an active Muslim and much of this led to the riots we saw” .
“There were thousands of fake reports everywhere.” “I didn’t believe any of it,” he claimed, believing he was asking a “legitimate” question.