Rioting and free speech.
Information from a lawyer
On the riots:
1. There is no justification for rioting, violence, racial harassment or racial violence. None whatsoever.
2. That's why none of those behaviours are protected by the human right to free expression or to assembly, and there is accordingly no defence of free expression to those offences.
3. The police have sufficient powers to deal with the rioting - the original Public Order Act (1936) was enacted to deal with far right processions through Jewish areas. It has been extensively updated.
4. Riot, violent disorder, affray, racial hatred and many more offences all have high penalties, and there are also many ways the police can control public processions and assemblies both under the POA and in other legislation such as relating to antisocial behaviour and serious crime prevention orders (already mentioned by the government).
5. There is certainly a debate to be had over immigration and social cohesion. Violent riots have nothing to do with that debate. These are not protests they are mob violence.
6. If people are anti-immigration there are political parties like Reform and the right of the Tory Party who robustly express those views. The far right (and I mean the real far right - the ones rioting at the moment) are not adding anything except fear and violent carnage.
7. Muslim, asylum seeker and other communities which are being targeted must be protected by the authorities and supported by the wider public. They are vulnerable communities and we need to use every possible resource to keep them safe. The rule of law must prevail.
8. No lawyers should be supporting or justifying these riots nor should they be flirting with far right leaders like Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
9. That said, in the coming weeks and months, plenty of lawyers will be called upon to defend the people accused of riots, violence, assaults, even murders. Those lawyers will be doing what lawyers should do - acting without fear or favour for their clients. They should be commended for doing so and not associated with those clients.
10. Keir Starmer has been here before (though in a different context) with the London riots and will hopefully have a good sense of what to do to contain them. I appreciate the courts are already overburdened but the idea of getting rioters through the system quickly if possible is a good one because it takes them off the streets and also shows others who are considering joining in what is going to happen to them if they do.
11. It's probably going to be rough period for our country because there appear to be enough people willing to cause carnage in many areas. It will be rough for the police and vulnerable communities, and for the still new government. I hope that our authorities are able to get a grip on things, but the people ultimately responsible are the ones who are smashing and burning things, not the authorities, politicians, people on X (though spreading misinformation can do real harm, and nobody should be encouraging this whether online or in person). There will be time later for political point scoring but I don't think it is really helping now.
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