Far-right rioters have been deterred by the administration of “swift justice”, the policing minister has said as she warned there would be further arrests and charges brought against suspects.
Diana Johnson said the de-escalation of violence on Wednesday night was “just the start” and argued that the speedy mobilisation of police officers had had a deterrent effect.
Shops were boarded up across the country in response to the threat of more than 100 planned anti-immigration protests, but in most places these failed to materialise after thousands of peaceful anti-racism demonstrators turned out.
Johnson told BBC Breakfast that the counter-demonstrations showed the UK’s “tradition of peaceful protest”.
“The police response, the numbers, the mobilisation that we’ve seen to get the police officers on to our streets and to be available if disorder occurs is really important and has had a good effect.
“The response then of the police in terms of arresting people who were involved in criminal acts over the last week, bringing them into police stations, getting them charged, getting them then in front of a court … people are now going to prison for the acts they carried out on our streets in our last few days,” the policing minister said.
“We saw one case yesterday of a man who punched a police officer going to prison for three years. So I think that swift justice is really important.”
She added: “Over 400 people have been arrested, I’m hoping and I know that number will increase today. We’ve got over 140 people charged, that number will go up as well. We will start to see again today more people going into court and receiving sentences.”
More of those arrested in the unrest of the past week will appear on court on Thursday, including some likely to be jailed on live television. Three men were jailed on Wednesday for up to three years after admitting violent disorder after riots in Liverpool city centre.
Johnson said: “It’s not just those physical acts on the street that we are going to make sure people are brought to account for, but it’s also what’s happening online.
“If you do stuff online we will come for you just as much as we will come for you for what you do on the streets of our country, if you are carrying out criminal disorder and violence.”
Speaking to Sky News, Johnson welcomed the de-escalation of violence on Wednesday but said she was “cautious” about the days ahead. “Obviously this is just the start. There is now further intelligence of events during the next few days and we need to see what happens there.”
Asked about a report in the i newspaper that far-right rioters could be banned from football matches, Johnson told LBC that “all options are being looked at”.
The head of the Metrpolitan police, Sir Mark Rowley, said his officers had been conducting early morning raids on Thurday targeting people suspected of causing disorder in Whitehall last week.
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“We have been out doing some dawn raids this morning, the people who were most violent in the Whitehall protests and violence last week … about 70% of them have got criminal backgrounds,” Rowley told BBC Radio 4.
“We’ve got criminal damage, violence, weapons offences, football banning orders. These are criminal thugs. Any suggestion that they are patriots, or they’ve got a cause that they’re protesting about is nonsense, and frankly, most of them are going to be charged with violent disorder and most of them are going to go to prison for a few years.”
Responding to the events on Wednesday night, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said on X: “To those who came out peacefully to show London stands united against racism and Islamophobia last night – thank you.
“To our heroic police force working round the clock to keep Londoners safe – thank you. And to those far-right thugs still intent on sowing hatred and division – you will never be welcome here.”
According to the Stand Up to Racism campaign group, about 25,000 people took part in the counter-protests on Wednesday. This included about 8,000 in Walthamstow, 7,000 in Bristol and 2,000 in Liverpool, with similar numbers in Brighton and Newcastle.
The Metropolitan police said about 50 people gathered in North End Road, Croydon, south London, and had “made clear their intention is to cause disruption and fuel disorder”. There were 10 arrests after some of those gathered threw objects down the road and bottles at police officers. The Met said “this is not linked to protest, this appears to be pure antisocial behaviour”.
Dozens of police officers in Aldershot separated opposing groups after tempers flared on Wednesday evening. In Bristol, Avon and Somerset police said officers made an arrest after a brick was thrown at a police vehicle during a “largely peaceful” protest.