00:006,000 police have been mobilised because of fears of more riots across the country.
00:04There are reports up to 30 protests are planned for Wednesday.
00:08Prime Minister has promised communities will be kept safe.
00:12Keir Starmer said he had assurances that there were adequate officers in place to
00:16cope if violence flared up. Here's our political correspondent Damian Grammaticus.
00:23It's just over a week since these riots began.
00:26Violence, first in Southport, spreading to other parts of England.
00:31Now for those who've taken part, the legal consequences are starting to be felt.
00:36This morning in Liverpool, three men who've all pleaded guilty to violent disorder
00:41are due to be sentenced. Yesterday, police chiefs were summoned to Downing Street
00:46for the second emergency coordination meeting in two days.
00:49The Prime Minister says more sentences will be handed out in the coming days.
00:54Over 400 people now have been arrested, a hundred have been charged,
00:59some in relation to online activity and a number of them are already in court
01:04and I'm now expecting substantive sentencing before the end of this week.
01:09That should send a very powerful message to anybody involved, either directly or online,
01:15that you are likely to be dealt with within a week and that nobody,
01:20but nobody, should be involving themselves in this disorder.
01:24Some have already appeared in court. This was 20-year-old Liam Gray,
01:29arrested in Rotherham on Sunday. He denied the charge against him.
01:36A list circulating online has suggested more than 30 locations could be targeted by rioters today.
01:43Police in London issued a warning saying,
01:46we know about the events planned by hateful and divisive groups across the capital.
01:51They've made their intention to cause disruption and division very clear.
01:55We will not tolerate this on our streets.
02:00After the rioters targeted hotels housing asylum seekers,
02:03some groups who work with refugees have been told they are at risk.
02:07One organisation in Merseyside says it has closed its offices,
02:10but will try to protect the premises today.
02:14We will also be creating, I suppose, what I would call a peace line,
02:24for want of a better expression, so that we and the local community and the priest from
02:29the local church, which is part of our building, that we can all come together
02:34to demonstrate that we believe that we should have hope in the future rather than putting up with hate.
02:43A force is about to be used against violent individuals.
02:47Sakia Starmer last night said those who felt threatened would be kept safe,
02:52but it's a severe test for a government that's been in office for just a month.
02:56Damian Grammaticus, BBC News, Westminster.
03:00Well, our correspondent Chi Chi Usundu is outside Scotland Yard and she explained
03:04what the police in London are doing to reassure communities.
03:08Well, the Metropolitan Police, in a lengthy statement that they issued yesterday,
03:12said that they plan to use every power, every tactic and every tool at their disposal to try
03:18and keep people safe. And it's not just Londoners that they're concerned about.
03:23Some 6,000 officers, riot-trained police officers, are going to deploy across various locations.
03:321,200 of them, we do believe, will be helping colleagues regionally and locally.
03:38And we do believe they'll be stationed around motorways so that they can get to some of the
03:44sites if violence does flare up.
03:47They have said that if people are concerned, they should stop and speak to a police officer
03:53and that local communities will see a larger increase of police presence in their areas.
04:01As Damian said in his report, they say they are not tolerating anything that could cause
04:06people to feel unsafe. Their job is to keep law and order and they plan to do so.
04:12In their statement, they say they know about the events planned
04:16by hateful and divisive groups across the capital and they've made their intention
04:21to cause disruption and division clear and they will not be tolerating that.
04:28Thanks to Chi Chi for that. Let's speak now to Helen King,
04:31former Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police.
04:34Thank you for coming on the programme.
04:36No problem, Lewis.
04:37So just talk us through, with this intelligence, it seems, around 30 potential
04:43locations that could see activity today,
04:47what kind of preparations will police and police forces be undertaking right now?
04:54Well, there'll be a huge structure by now put in place.
04:59As you say, the intelligence is really important, so there will be specialist intelligence staff
05:04gathering that together to work out the locations, to try and get ahead of who's
05:09going to be involved so preventative action can be taken. But as well as the public order
05:15trained officers that we're seeing in TV reports all pitted up, there are also a lot of other
05:21teams at work and logistics teams, people arranging the rosters so they know who's on
05:27duty when, briefing teams, dispatch teams in the radio rooms, command teams to support that
05:36operation. Even people like the vehicle maintenance units will be working overtime
05:41to make sure that the public order equipped vehicles are ready and out on the road.
05:47And then we've also seen this big investigative effort, so people getting arrested,
05:53being interviewed, being kept in custody, files of evidence being prepared so they can be put
05:59before the courts really quickly. So this is a huge logistical operation and the police are
06:06clearly making sure that they're as ready as they can be to respond to whatever happens tonight and
06:12in the days to come, as well as carrying out all the normal 24-7 policing that needs to be done to
06:19keep communities safe. I think most people appreciate that resources will be stretched
06:24of course and this does put extra strain on everyone involved. But when you look at the
06:29level and amount of violence on the streets over the last week, is there an argument that police
06:34could have done more to stop it earlier? I think it's very difficult to see how that could have
06:42happened. From what I've seen in the reporting, the police have got there quickly, they've acted
06:47with great courage and professionalism to keep people safe and no one should underestimate the
06:53challenges of gathering evidence and getting people before the courts as quickly as they
06:59currently are. This will be having a knock-on effect on of course the levels of tiredness
07:07and resourcing in policing. There will be officers working 12-day shifts, having rest days cancelled
07:14and so on and there will be some work that is either having to be put to one side or slowed
07:19down so that this can be prioritised. The role of social media of course is frequently
07:25raised, what's your view on it? Clearly the different platforms, there's a range of responses
07:35and levels of helpfulness towards the police. I would like to see them, once this is over,
07:43in slower time really thinking about how those online platforms can put more of the skills,
07:51more of the algorithms, more of the artificial intelligence in place so it can be proactive
07:58in preventing the spread of incitement to violence, incitement to racial hatred. Other industries,
08:06I think of the car industry, it's through the security technological developments that have
08:13reduced the ease by which cars can be stolen now. I would like to see the online platforms acting as
08:20responsible global businesses and thinking about how they can design and set themselves up to
08:27prevent some of the very negative sides that we're seeing coming out at the moment. Okay, Helen King,
08:33thank you very much for coming on the programme. Thank you.
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