UK riots latest: Belfast city centre at 'complete standstill' as 'significant policing operation' under way (2024)

Police forces across the UK are "better prepared than last weekend" to deal with any further unrest, the head of a policing body has said.

Chief Constable Gavin Stephens told reporters today that leaders have had "days to plan and gear up" their response.

"We spoke about the scale of the national mobilisation, and that being as big as it's ever been, so [we're] definitely better prepared than last weekend," he said.

"I think we also feel that the activity that's happened during the course of the week - in bringing really swift and strong justice - has helped."

He reiterated the "strong message" sent by communities on Wednesday when anti-racism protesters took to the streets and widespread far-right demonstrations failed to materialise.

"I think the mood is different as a consequence of all that," he said.

A suspended Labour councillor has been remanded in custody after being charged with encouraging violent disorder.

Ricky Jones, 57, was filmed addressing a crowd at a London demonstration on Wednesday evening, during which he "appeared to make remarks and a gesture to encourage others to act violently towards far-right protestors", the Crown Prosecution Service said.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court today wearing a Hugo Boss t-shirt. He entered no plea.

Deputy senior district judge Tan Ikram said: "It is alleged that using a microphone you addressed a crowd at an anti-fascist protest and, talking about others you described as 'disgusting Nazi fascists', you said 'we need to cut their throats and get rid of them'."

He was remanded in custody and will next appear at Inner London Crown Court on 6 September.

Hundreds of people have gathered for an anti-racism protest which has brought Belfast city centre to "a complete standstill", our senior Ireland correspondent David Blevins reports.

The demonstration has required a "significant policing operation" with an anti-immigration protest also taking place.

Blevins estimates around 500 people are taking part in the Say No To Racism protest, with anti-immigration protesters significantly outnumbered.

It comes after a fifth night of unrest in Belfast, with the police service (PSNI) receiving reports of criminal damage, including a car being set on fire and a house window being broken.

Armoured police vehicles are "in no mans' land trying to keep the peace" between the two protests, Blevins says.

He adds that those who are opposed to racism are "making their presence felt and their voices heard loudest" at the moment.

A woman who set a wheelie bin on fire and pushed it into a police line before falling over and being arrested has been jailed for 20 months.

Stacey Vint, 34, from Middlesbrough, was sentenced today for her involvement in the riots in the town at the weekend.

The court heard she was part of a group who set a wheelie bin alight and shoved it at police officers who had created a cordon.

Vint then fell to the ground and was immediately arrested.

This video shows the moment of her arrest...

She was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court along with 21-year-old Charlie Bullock, also from Middlesbrough, who was described as the "main instigator" of a large group pushing against a police line.

He wore a black balaclava while throwing stones at police, an earlier hearing was told.

Both Vint and Bullock pleaded guilty to violent disorder at the court today. Bullock was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

More than 150 people have appeared in court in relation to the disorder of the past two weeks and nearly 120 have been remanded behind bars, the Ministry of Justice has said.

In its latest figures detailing the prosecutions against people taking part in the unrest, it said 56 people had also been sentenced or were awaiting sentence.

By Tomos Evans, Wales reporter

A 34-year-old man has become the first person from Wales to be convicted in relation to recent unrest.

Richard David Williams of Flintshire was jailed for three months at Mold Magistrates' Court today.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Williams had posted on social media about participating in a riot and shared a derogatory meme about migrants in a local Facebook group dedicated to protests.

He pleaded guilty to one count of sending menacing messages via a public communication network.

Officers arrested Williams on Wednesday after they identified him as the man behind the online activity.

He was charged by the CPS within 24 hours and sentenced today after his guilty plea.

Jenny Hopkins, chief crown prosecutor for CPS Wales said Williams had used social media "to encourage others to engage in violent behaviour" and hoped the result would send a "clear message".

Nearly 600 arrests have been made in relation to the violence and disorder seen across the country in recent days, a policing body has said.

Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said more than 150 had been charged with "more to come".

He told reporters tomorrow would be "one of the strongest national policing responses that we've ever done".

"We've got a busy weekend with sporting fixtures, big community events and so on," he added.

"The investigations really are only just ramping up."

Mr Stephens said it was "inevitable" that disorder-related arrests would carry on for "months".

"It could be months down the track - it won't stop us dealing with it when we get it," he said.

"They'll still end up getting investigated and arrested."

Over in Northampton, a father-of-three has been jailed for 38 months over a post on social media calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.

Tyler Kay, 26, was convicted of stirring up racial hatred online on the X social media site on Wednesday.

He called for mass deportation and urged protesters to "mask up".

Kay, of Ellfield Court, Northampton, also reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against immigration solicitors in the town.

He pleaded guilty to publishing material intending to stir up racial hatred, and was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court this afternoon.

Judge Adrienne Lucking said Kay posted as he did because he thought there would be "no consequences".

"The overall tone of the posts clearly reveals your fundamentally racist mindset," she said.

"I am sure that when you intentionally created the posts you intended that racial hatred would be stirred up by your utterly repulsive, racist and shocking posts that have no place in a civilised society."

Jordan Plain has been jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to racially aggravated intentional harassment.

Speaking directly to 30-year-old Plain, Judge Guy Kearl said his behaviour was "designed to stir up racial hatred at a time of heightened social tension" and that a custodial sentence "cannot be avoided".

The sentenced was reduced to take Plain's guilty plea into account, Judge Kearl said.

The judge said "racial or religious aggravation was the predominant motive" for his offence.

The female victim of Jordan Plain's actions has been left "anxious" and "traumatised" by his behaviour, says Judge Guy Kearl.

He tells the court she "felt like she didn't belong in her own home city, the city of Leeds, where she has lived for all of her life".

Judge Kearl says the victim was too scared to go to work for four days after the disorder.

"She remains anxious and she remains worried about returning to work and to her university," he says.