Rioters in England and Wales could be charged with terrorism offences, prosecutor says | BBC News

the prime minister is about to hold the second emergency Cobra meeting in 2 days after another night of violence and unrest on the streets in parts of the UK the top prosecutor in England and Wales says he is willing to consider charging some people involved in the disorder with terrorism offenses Steven Parkinson the director of public prosecutions said he would look at organized groups that had planned really serious disruption for the purposes of advancing an ideology our UK Affairs correspondent Sanford reports the wave of disorder that swept across the UK for the last week washed into Plymouth last night the violence was not as bad as elsewhere at the weekend but the stretched Riot police still made several arrests will not accept violence on the streets here and we are going after other people who have committed criminal offenses public order offenses and there will be further arrests today the rioting which began in the aftermath of the mass stabbing in Southport spread across England to places like Ram where a hotel housing Asylum Seekers was targeted there's been a concern that the violence is being incited on social media a former senior counterterrorism officer has pointed to Steven yaxley lenon also known as Tommy Robinson currently in Cyprus and the head of the crown prosecution service said he'd consider extraditing anyone who met the threshold of incitement we would certainly consider extradition they must know that they they they are not safe and there is nowhere to hide and if it takes weeks or not months we will bring them home and they will face Justice some of those arrested at the roam riots were appearing in Sheffield magistrates court today including 20-year-old Liam gray who denied a charge of violent disorder as the deputy District Judge worked through the list of all of those accused of violent disorder at Sunday's Riot all of the adults were remanded in prison even though they pleaded not guilty only the two teenagers aged 16 and 17 were given bail one man Joshua Simpson admitted assaulting a police officer he was also remanded in prison ahead of his sentencing the disorder in Middlesboro on Sunday led to 28 people appearing in court at teeside magistrates today the Justice secretary said she'd brought forward plans to create 500 more prison places to handle the surge of cases going through the courts unusually greater Manchester police released pictures of two men charged after a protest in Bolton but who've not yet faced trial Dominic stanbridge is accused of violent disorder and James Nelson of criminal damage there was also the first charge of stirring up racial hatred linked to the week of disorder at lead's magistrates 28-year-old Jordan paror pleaded guilty to using threatening abusive or insulting words in posts on Facebook he was also REM landed in custody and in that BBC interview the director of public prosecution said that prosecutors would consider terrorism charges where there's evidence of planning to cause really serious disruption and all these cases come against a background of concerns about some 40 protests planned for tomorrow the Metropolitan Police said it would use every Power tactic and Tool available to prevent further scenes of disorder Daniel sford in Sheffield thank you in Belfast police say an assault on a man in his 50s last night has being investigated as a racially motivated hate crime Witnesses reported seeing attackers stamp on his head while members of the public tried to Shield him masonry and Bricks were thrown towards police during a second night of violence from Belfast Chris Page reports some visible signs of violence are being removed from the streets here but the sense of fear and tension hasn't lifted last night police faced a group throwing bricks metal rods and petrol bombs the should dispersed immediately as force is about to be used against violent individuals officers fired two baton RS and arrested a 15-year-old a man in his 50s suffered serious injuries when attacker stamped on his head detectives are treating the assault as a racially motivated hait crime the scenes we have witnessed over the past few days have been horrendous there's been violence racist assaults damage to property arson racist slurs unashamedly uttered on our streets this is not who we are as a society the latest disturbances happened close to this Supermarket which was set on fire on Saturday a manager says he's frightened about the future we don't need talk only from the governments we need actions we need a solution immediately to make everything to calm down tomorrow you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow and that's the thing most of the troubles been in South Belfast which is the most diverse part of this city Northern Ireland's generally had a low level of immigration compared with the rest of the UK there's never before been Street violence on this scale against members of ethnic minority communities the owner of this restaurant didn't want to appear on camera because she's concerned for her safety most of my staff Muslim I am Muslim but this is not not reason like to attack people because they are religion or their background yeah I am 11 years here like my kids from here like I don't take anybody job I create a job here damaged businesses are set to get financial help from the local Council but victims say that in many ways they can't afford more disruption or destruction Chris Page BBC News Belfast the unrest in some areas of the UK over the past week has in part been fueled by misinformation circul circulating online the government has said social media companies have a moral responsibility to clamp down on any misinformation the Prime Minister has criticized Elon Musk who owns X formerly known as Twitter who yesterday said the UK was heading for civil war and today Elon Musk has directly challenged sakir stama on his social media platform again Daniel desimon has been looking at the significant role social media is playing in the ongoing disorder how is the information spreading online it's spreading on open social media platforms like Tik Tok and X the telegram messaging app which has long hosted extreme material is being used to share list of targets including hotels believed to be used by migrants as well as immigration solicitors many users hide behind online personas rather than using their real identities and more closed encrypted apps like WhatsApp are also being used which are even harder to police or monitor false information or the identity of a Target location can start on one platform and quickly spread to others now who is behind it Tommy Robinson real named Steven yaxley lenon is arguably the most prominent far right voice with over 900,000 followers on X since last week he's written a stream of false and inflammatory posts including this one while the hotel was being attacked and set a light in rotheram Elon Musk who handed Tommy Robinson back his ex account after buying the firm has joined in saying Civil War in the UK is inevitable and directly challenging prime minister saki stama suggesting only some communities are being protected but a whole range of people are involved from long-term far-right activists some seeking racial Warfare to people who have never been involved before so what can be done the government has expressed concern about material being hosted on social media platforms and says companies shouldn't wait for new legislation regulating Tech Giants to come into full force before acting there are a range of criminal measures that can be used to tackle the disorder from public order offenses potentially all the way to terrorism charges but some voices have said the government could legislate further to create new offenses relating to hateful extremism and also to force social media companies like X to behave responsibly Daniel disimone there well let's talk to our political correspondent Nick erley who's in Downing Street the second Cobra emergency meeting in just two days it's about to get underway what are we expecting there another sign of how worried the government is Sophie about further disruption in the next few days particular concern about what might happen tomorrow night so that will no doubt be high on the agenda over the past 24 hours the Prime Minister has been focusing on deterrence saying that people who are suspected of crimes should be named publicly hoping that that will put other people off taking part in some of these demonstrations but there has also been a lot of talk about online activity the government thinks there is already significant scope to tackle things like incitement online but it's also held talks with the social media companies Daniel was just talking about to try and urge them to go further to work with the government to try and tackle disinformation and misinformation which has been spreading and many think has been Fanning the Flames of these riots the problem the government has though is achieving consensus with those companies can often be tricky and there's no better reminder of that than those messages posted by Elon Musk on Twitter over the past few days talking about Civil War in the UK being inevitable that's something the government has said is irresponsible it's condemned but I think it is a reminder that trying to get those social media companies on board for a Crackdown on false information is difficult and when it comes to legislating for stronger rules that's proved extremely hard for governments in the past too Nick edley thank you