Countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East are warning their citizens travelling to the UK to avoid “dangerous” far-right riots targeting “Muslim immigrants or persons of colour”.
Violence erupted across the UK over the weekend, with more than 150 people arrested after anti-immigration rioters attacked mosques and asylum-seeker accommodation and burned down shops, in what Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as “far-right thuggery”.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have all sent out alerts on the violence.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the killing of three girls in Southport, northwest England, had “spawned an anti-immigrant narrative, with particular emphasis on Muslim immigrants or persons of colour”.
The ministry issued a travel alert to citizens planning to visit the UK on Monday, saying there was “an increased risk of violence and disorder occasioned by recent riots”, which had been “large and in some instances unruly”.
Nigerians were warned: “The violence has assumed dangerous proportions as evidenced by reported attacks on law enforcement agents and damage to infrastructure.
“Avoid political processions and protests, rallies or marches, avoid crowded areas and large gatherings, be vigilant and self-aware at all times.”
Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday said Malaysians residing in or travelling to the UK “are urged to stay away from protest areas” and should follow advice from local authorities. Citizens who had not registered with the country’s High Commission in London were “strongly encouraged to do so immediately to ensure they receive timely information and assistance”.
The United Arab Emirates’ Embassy in London urged citizens in the UK to “exercise the necessary precautions and avoid crowded areas in some cities”. It called on UAE nationals to register with its branch providing consular services, and to monitor its social media accounts, sharing emergency phone numbers.
Indonesia’s Embassy in London appealed to citizens in the UK and Ireland to treat the matter with “urgency” and “increase vigilance, especially if you have to travel or do activities outside the home”.
It also warned: “Avoid large crowds and places that have the potential to become mass or group gathering places.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Monday: “Russia calls on London to refrain from any unjustified or unproportionate use of violence against protesters and ensure their right to freedom of assembly.”
Violence has torn through British towns and cities over the past week after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport last Monday.
A 17-year-old boy named as Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Rwandan parents, was arrested and charged with three counts of murder, a further 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possessing a blade.
Misinformation quickly spread on social media claiming the suspect was a radical Islamist illegal migrant who had arrived in the UK via a small boat, with far-right agitators targeting Muslim places of worship and throwing bricks at a mosque on Tuesday night in Southport.
Police in the northern English city of Rotherham struggled to hold back a group of far-right rioters who broke into a hotel believed to be housing asylum seekers on Sunday.
Staffordshire police said a hotel known to have sheltered asylum seekers was targeted in Tamworth, while hundreds of far-right protesters attacked police at Middlesbrough’s Cenotaph, throwing bricks as officers attempted to defend a Holiday Inn hotel housing migrants, before it was stormed and set alight.
Viral clips on social media show people of colour being attacked, while a separate clip showed a mother with her child shouting racist slurs.
Unrest erupted in Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool and Belfast on Saturday, leaving police officers injured, while a riot also occurred in Sunderland on Friday evening.
Mr Starmer has called an emergency “Cobra” meeting on Monday to discuss the Government’s response, with the Prime Minister pledging to “do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice as quickly as possible” amid the violence.
He said: “These thugs are mobile, they move from community to community, and we must have a police response that can do the same.”
He added: “Mosques being attacked because they’re mosques — the far-right are showing who they are. We have to show who we are in response to that.”