LAST UPDATE | 6 Aug
COURTS COULD BEGIN sitting through the night a minister has suggested, as thousands of specialist police officers stand ready to deal with the rioting which continues across the UK.
Disorder has now lasted for a week, with unrest witnessed across England and in parts of Northern Ireland.
Police officers were injured during “sustained violence” in Plymouth last night as disorder continued for a seventh day after the Southport stabbings, with more than 370 arrests made so far.
Devon and Cornwall Police said six arrests were made in Plymouth yesterday after “several officers” suffered minor injuries and two members of the public were taken to hospital.
It came after bricks and fireworks were launched towards officers who had attempted to keep rival demonstrations apart in the Devon port city.
A police van was damaged on Monday evening as masked anti-immigration protesters launched missiles at a counter-demonstration where people held signs saying “No Place for Hate” and “Say No to Nazis”.
Justice minister Heidi Alexander said the British Government will bring more than 500 additional prison places into use to deal with rioting, and some 6,000 specialist police officers were at the ready.
She said courts “could possibly” begin sitting “through the evening, the night, at weekends” in order to swiftly prosecute rioters.
The additional courts protocol, which was created in the aftermath of the 2011 riots, could be invoked in areas where police and prosecuting chiefs feel it is needed, the minister also told LBC.
The courts are now “willing to consider any of those requests”, according to Alexander.
She earlier warned on BBC Radio 4: “We will make sure that anyone who is given a custodial sentence as a result of the riots and disorder, there will be a prison place waiting for them.”
The minister said some 567 additional prison spaces would soon come into use.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister said a “standing army” of specialist police officers was being assembled to crack down on rioting, as he called for perpetrators to be named and shamed.
Keir Starmer vowed to “ramp up criminal justice” after an emergency Cobra meeting was called following disorder over the weekend which saw rioters storm hotels housing asylum seekers.
The PA news agency understands the Prime Minister’s so-called standing army is an expansion of the existing mutual aid scheme, which allows officers to be deployed around the country as needed.
Starmer rejected calls for Parliament to be recalled in the face of the rioting.
The Prime Minister said he was focused on ensuring police can carry out their duties, as MPs from across the political spectrum demanded Parliament return from its summer recess.
Downing Street also criticised X owner Elon Musk for claiming “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, with officials suggesting online misinformation fuelling disorder on Britain’s streets may be being amplified by foreign state actors.
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