‘National conversation needed about respect’ following ‘thuggery on streets’

Demands for a “national conversation” about respect have been made following scenes of “lawlessness and thuggery” on Britain’s streets.

Society must do better, a community representative body said, while an anti-extremism organisation blamed the “explosion of racist violence across the country” on “years of far-right agitation”.

Politicians have roundly condemned the actions of rioters who targeted hotels housing asylum seekers, attacked police officers and looted shops.

Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel, who said she grew up with people using “the p-word against me”, told how she would not feel safe in some of the areas that have seen violent unrest.

Hope not Hate, which describes itself as an organisation working to expose and oppose far-right extremism, said the rioting should not be framed as “outpourings of legitimate anger”.

Joe Mulhall, its director of research, said: “This is racist violence spurred on by far-right hatred. Those directly involved in these horrifying scenes need to face the full force of the law.

“Responsibility also lies with those who have promoted and defended these riots such as Tommy Robinson. This explosion of racist violence across the country is the result of years of far-right agitation.

“However, these events are also the result of a climate of anti-Muslim and anti-asylum seeker hostility stoked by elements of our media and supposedly mainstream politicians.”

Mr Robinson has been accused of stoking tensions as he posted about the unrest on social media while on holiday abroad.

Tell Mama, which monitors Islamophobia in the UK, said work must be done across society, including in politics and media “to challenge and remove scapegoating and stigmatising narratives that collectively link refugees, migrants, Muslims and other minority communities to violence and crime”.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, described as the the voice of the British Jewish community, branded the scenes on the streets in the past week as “lawlessness and thuggery”.

Its president, Phil Rosenberg, said: “Attacks on Muslims, black people, members of other minorities, and our brave police officers, are totally unacceptable, and we stand in solidarity with everyone affected.

“As a society, we have to be better than this. We need a national conversation about how we promote respect for our country and respect for each other, and about how we tackle extremism and build cohesion.”

Amnesty International UK said the Government “must address the root causes of racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia that plagues our society – and this includes actively calling out and addressing the dangerous rhetoric of politicians and commentators on social media and elsewhere”.

Dame Priti told Times Radio: “I would not feel safe in some of the areas and communities where we’ve seen racism and thuggery on our streets.”

Of the “violence, disorder and racism” seen in recent days, she said: “That’s no different to the type of racism that I experienced when I was growing up, and I just think that there’s no place for that in our amazing country.”

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and four fellow independent MPs have criticised Sir Keir Starmer for not going “nearly far enough in identifying the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hatred” behind the riots.

In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, shared on social media, they wrote: “Instead of pandering to those who have helped ferment the ugly racism behind these protests, we expect our Government to call out the bigotry and Islamophobia behind them and stand shoulder to shoulder with its victims.”

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, Sir Keir had vowed rioters would “regret” engaging in “far-right thuggery”, saying they would “face the full force of the law”.

He also condemned those “whipping up this action online and then running away themselves”.