UK travel warning: Smartraveller warns Australians on ‘threat of terrorism’ as UK PM Keir Starmer clears jail spots for rioters

Smartraveller has warned Australians travelling in the UK to exercise a ‘high degree of caution’ as violent riots escalate and jail spots are cleared to house over 400 people arrested so far.

Smartraveller updated its messaging, advising travellers to be vigilant with the ‘threat of terrorism’ heightened and to avoid areas where protests are occurring, monitoring the media for information and following the instructions of local authorities.

The advice includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where the national terrorism threat level is at “substantial” meaning an attack is “likely”.

The British government has increased its prison capacity to help tackle violent, week-long anti-immigrant riots sparked after a violent attack that left three young girls dead at a Taylor Swift park party in Southport in the north of England.

False messaging on social media wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant which stirred up hundreds of protesters across the UK.

In the first widespread outbreak of violence in Britain for 13 years, hundreds of men, some women and children have attacked hotels housing asylum-seekers from Africa and the Middle East, chanting “Get them out” and “Stop the boats”.

They have also pelted mosques with rocks, unverified videos online have shown some ethnic minorities being beaten up and one man photographed at a protest in Sunderland on Friday had a swastika tattooed on his back.

The government has said riots in recent days were not a proportionate response to concerns about immigration, but violence whipped up by far-right agitators and supported by football hooligans and young people.

“My message to anyone who chooses to take part in this violence and thuggery is simple: the police, courts and prisons stand ready and you will face the consequences of your appalling acts,” Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says sufficient police will be on the streets to handle anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots in the coming days as he seeks to reassure communities braced for more violent protests.

Speaking after an emergency meeting with ministers and police chiefs on Tuesday, Starmer said police would be in place to cope with any further disorder.

“Our first duty is to ensure our communities are safe,” he told broadcasters.

“They will be safe. We are doing everything we can to ensure that where a police response is needed, it is in place, where support is needed for particular places, that is in place.”

He said the fact that protests were being held in multiple locations made it difficult, but he had received the assurance he needed that police could cope with any disorder.

The government has increased prison capacity to cope with the large number of arrests made during the riots, which have prompted a growing number of countries to warn their citizens about the dangers of travelling in Britain.

Starmer said more than 400 people had been arrested, 100 had been charged, and he was expecting sentencing to start soon.

“Anybody involving themselves in this disorder is going to feel the full force of the law,” he said.

Three people will be sentenced on Wednesday in Liverpool, northwest England, after pleading guilty to violent disorder, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

The justice department, which is due to release some prisoners early as it battles a jail overcrowding crisis, said nearly 600 prison places had been secured to accommodate those engaged in violence.

Saminata Bangura, a 52-year-old support worker in a care home in Liverpool said she had felt so welcome in Britain after she moved from Sierra Leone. But she was now scared and largely staying at home.

“I’m so scared, even when I’m walking now, because everywhere, we’re scared, especially, we Blacks,” she said, describing how a library was vandalised near where she lives.

Police on Tuesday charged a 28-year-old man with stirring up racial hatred over Facebook posts linked to the disorder. A 14-year-old pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

On Monday night, trouble flared in Plymouth, southern England, and again in Belfast in Northern Ireland, where hundreds of rioters threw petrol bombs and heavy masonry at officers and set a police vehicle on fire.

with Reuters.