Kay Oliver: UK correspondent on the rioting sweeping through Britain following Southport stabbing

There's calls for the army to be deployed in the UK, where violent demonstrations are escalating for a seventh day.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has labelled the outbreaks as 'far-right thuggery'.

They've continued to escalate since last week's stabbing rampage at a dance class left three children dead and several injured.

This morning, 10 police officers have been injured trying to stop a group storming a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers.

UK correspondent Kay Oliver says politicians from all sides agree this is violence, rather than protests.

"We've got Hamza Yousaf, he's a former First Minister of Scotland, saying this situation is so out of control now that the army should be brought in."

More than 140 people have been arrested across Britain so far.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kay Oliver's with us our UK and europe correspondence. Kay,
thank you for being with us. Violent outbreaks. This is
continuing in Southport, but also now Belfast and other places
around the UK.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Absolutely, Ryan, We've got a Britain in the middle of
a summer of chaos. Here, we've got a new labor
government and Sir Keir Starma, the new Prime Minister, has
just said this is violence, not protests. We have seen
riots on the streets here. We've got people in Rotheram, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol.

(00:34):
The latest breaking news is that lots of the media
have been urged on these streets to put their cameras away.
It is a dangerous place. We've had protesters attempting to
get into the holiday in Express in Rotherham where asylum
seekers are being housed. That's just been confirmed by the
Home Secretary of At Cooper. They've gone through and they

(00:56):
are trying literally to break up this hotel. The asylum
seekers are hiding in their bedrooms. They're a chance of
stop the boats. We want our country back. We've got
Hamza Yusuf. He's a former First Minister of Scotland saying
this situation is so out of control now that the
army should be brought in. We've got politicians from all

(01:16):
sides saying this is actual violence. They're condemn it, condemning
it and saying that it has to be brought under control.
We've got a second man has been charged with a
city center violent disorder in Liverpool. He's been remanded in custody,
but there are around about one hundred people now who've
been arrested. They obviously are going to have to go

(01:39):
through the legals and the legal and prison system which
is quite overstretched here anyway, and move. They're going to
have to be made to clear clear the decks so
that these people can be processed. But basically it's a
situation where Malaysia has become the first country to actually
advise its citizens over to the UK. I mean, all

(02:02):
this violent protests, so it really is building up to
be something unimaginable. We haven't seen riots here since twenty eleven, Ryan,
and this really is actually the lid has come off here.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
I'm just looking at a live feed from Rotherham where
the police are being vetted by projectiles. They're trying to
hold the line. This is in front of the hotel
with these poor asylum seekers are being housed. I mean
this is unreal.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, absolutely, the police have become the targets. They're in
the middle of this. You've got on one side, you've
got the far right. On the other side, you've got
the anti racist protesters. The police are in the middle
and they're getting it from all sides. A number of
police officers have been taken to hospital. We've seen a
female police officer officer who literally had a table hurled

(02:51):
into her face. So they really are taking a battering
here and it's getting worse. The situation is not dying down.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
No, it's certainly not. Thank you very much for your report.
K all Over our UK and Europe correspondent. The violent
outbreaks in Southport now spreading across the UK, Belfast, you
name it. Honestly, these images that we're seeing, it's shocked.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
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Speaker 1 (03:20):
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