Counter-terror expert claims 'legitimate right-wingers' should 'step forward and condemn violent thugs' after Southport riots

Counter-terror expert claims 'legitimate right-wingers' should 'step forward and condemn violent thugs' after Southport riots

Anti-terror expert claims Nigel Farage should 'step forward and condemn violent thugs'

GB News
Gabrielle Wilde

By Gabrielle Wilde


Published: 02/08/2024

- 15:06

Updated: 02/08/2024

- 16:04

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plans to deploy facial recognition technology more widely in a bid to tackle disorder

"Legitimate right-wingers" should "step forward" to condemn the "violent thugs" at the Southport riots, a counter-terror expert has claimed.

The riots broke out following the Southport stabbings, where three young girls died on Monday after being stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.



On Tuesday, violent riots erupted outside a mosque in the Merseyside seaside town which saw 53 police officers and three police dogs injured.

On Wednesday evening, more than 100 protesters were arrested on Whitehall, where bottles and cans were thrown at police, and violence broke out in Hartlepool, County Durham.

Anthony Glee

Anthony Glee slammed protesters as "violent thugs"

GB News

Speaking about the violent demonstrations to GB News, National security and counter-terrorism expert, Anthony Glees said: "I think to refer to all these violent thugs as right-wing or far-right requires a response from those people who regard themselves as being legitimately on the right.

"I would expect people, including your own Nigel Farage, to step forward and utterly condemn this sort of violence.

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"People are throwing things at the cops, that is not what right-wing or centre-right-wing people think you should do.

"When it comes to CCTV I think it's very important to realise that CCTV is nothing you need be afraid of if you have done nothing wrong.

"But it is good that you are afraid of if you have done something wrong, whether it's breaking into somebody's house or creating serious public disorder which is a threat to our national security.

"We live in the Internet age. That's a big difference from the London riots in 2011."

Nigel FarageNigel Farage is the leader of Reform UKNigel Farage

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage did speak out against the violence yesterday and said he "does not support street violence or thuggery".

Yesterday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned "far-right hatred" in the wake of the Southport stabbings as he announced a new "national" response to the violent disorder.

In a statement after the riots, Sir Keir Starmer condemned a "tiny, mindless minority in society", whom he labelled "a gang of thugs, coordinated... and bent on violence" after the riots, adding that the Southport community "had to suffer twice" following the stabbings.

The PM blasted the "far-right" for "showing who they are" by attacking mosques - and vowed that "we have to show who we are in response to that".

Starmer

Starmer addressed the nation from Downing Street yesterday

PA

He continued: "Mosques targeted because they’re mosques, flares thrown at the statue of Winston Churchill, a Nazi salute at the Cenotaph.

"And so I've just held a meeting with senior police and law enforcement leaders, where we resolved to show who we are: A country that will not allow understandable fear, to curdle into division and hate in our communities and that will not permit under any circumstances, a breakdown in law and order on our streets.

"Because - let's be very clear about this - it's not protest. It's not legitimate. It's crime - violent disorder. An assault on the rule of law and the execution of justice."

Speaking on Liverpool Crown Court's decision to name the suspect in the stabbing, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, Starmer said: "I remind everyone that the price for a trial that is prejudiced is ultimately paid by the victims and their families, who are deprived of the justice that they deserve."

Referencing the Southport attack, the PM vowed: "There will be a time for questions and we will make sure that the victims and families are at the heart of that process."

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