London: More than 400 people have now been arrested in connection with riots and disorder around the country, PA has reported, citing police sources. The number is expected to continue to rise in the coming days. There were 46 charges on Monday and 18 overnight, PA understands.
About The Riots
Police are aware of six potential events on Tuesday, while Wednesday is expected to be a busy day, with officers monitoring reports of at least 30 possible gatherings. Meanwhile, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, another night of rioting saw people stamp on a man’s head in an attack that police are treating as a hate crime. Members of the public attempted to shield the man, who is in his 50s, during the disturbances in the Donegall Road and Oban Street area on Monday night, police said. He has been hospitalised.
“His condition is described as serious and we are treating his attack as a hate crime,” said the statement.
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The crowd, several dozen-strong, threw bricks and petrol bombs, set a police Land Rover alight, and attempted to burn the remains of a supermarket that had been torched during a riot on Saturday. It is owned by an immigrant.
“Officers were able to douse this small fire before it developed,” said the statement.
Police said they fired two Attenuating Energy Projectiles (AEPs), striking a rioter on the hand, and arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of riotous behaviour.
“There is never any justification for this type of violent behaviour,” Gordon Lyons, Stormont’s community minister, told the BBC.
“There is no justification for the attack on the police it needs to stop and it needs to stop straight away.”
The Stormont assembly is to be recalled on Thursday to discuss the disturbances and race relations.
