Children among more than 1000 arrested over UK unrest

Riot police officers push back protesters outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham...
Riot police officers push back protesters outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham earlier this month. Photo: Getty
British authorities have now arrested more than 1000 people following days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants, a national policing body says.

The riots, which followed the killings of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport, began after the July 29 attack was wrongly blamed on an Islamist migrant based on online misinformation.

Violence broke out in cities across England and also in Northern Ireland, but there have been fewer instances of unrest since last week after efforts to identify those involved were ramped up.

Many have been swiftly jailed, with some receiving long sentences

The National Police Chiefs' Council said in an update on Tuesday (local time) that 1024 had been arrested and 575 charged across the UK.

Those arrested include a 69-year-old accused of vandalism in Liverpool.

A 13-year-old girl pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court, prosecutors said, having been seen on July 31 punching and kicking the entrance to a hotel for asylum seekers.

"This alarming incident will have caused genuine fear amongst people who were being targeted by these thugs – and it is particularly distressing to learn that such a young girl participated in this violent disorder," prosecutor Thomas Power said.

The last time Britain witnessed widespread rioting was in 2011, when the fatal shooting of a Black man by police triggered several days of street violence.

Fast and tough judicial action was viewed as helping quell the unrest in 2011, when around 4000 people were arrested over several weeks.