Countries Issue Safety Warnings to Citizens in UK Over Protests

Police officers walk past a burnt out vehicle as they are deployed on the streets following a protest in Hartlepool, England, on July 31, 2024. Owen Humphreys/PA

Several countries have issued safety advisories to its citizens in the UK following a week of demonstrations and riots against high levels of immigration.

India became one of the latest nations to issue safety advice to its citizens, with its High Commission in London posting on social media platform X on Tuesday that Indians visiting the UK should “stay vigilant and exercise due caution while travelling in the UK” and to avoid areas where protests are underway.

The country joins Nigeria, Malaysia, and Australia, among others, that in the past two days have advised their citizens planning to travel to the UK or who are already in the country to avoid demonstrations and remain alert.

The unrest across England and Northern Ireland was initially sparked by a knife attack that claimed the lives of three young girls at a dance class in Southport, near Liverpool, on July 29. Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana has been charged with the murders.

Advised to Avoid Large Gatherings

Nigeria’s High Commission in London issued a statement via X on Monday saying it was closely monitoring ongoing demonstrations, warning that riots and violence “may spread across the country.”

“To this end, the Nigerian Community is advised to be extra vigilant, stay away from protests [sic] areas and avoid large gatherings,” the High Commission advised.

Malaysia, Indonesia, and the UAE issued similar advisories on social media, with the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying it “strongly encouraged” citizens in the country to register with the High Commission to “receive timely information and assistance.”

Australia issued a warning via their government’s travel advisory platform that their nationals should “avoid areas where protests are occurring due to the potential for disruption and violence” and to “monitor the media for information and updates.”

This is not the first time countries have issued travel advice to their citizens following major protests in the UK.

The United States, Denmark, and Germany had issued similar warnings during riots in England in the summer of 2011, which had broken out following the fatal shooting of a black man, Mark Duggan, by a police officer in London.

Additional Prison Places for Rioters

Serious disorder continued to take place over the weekend in towns and cities across the country, including Liverpool, Hull, and Middlesborough which saw riots, looting, and attacks on police.

Pro- and anti-immigration demonstrators clashed in cities on Saturday. On Sunday, masked rioters sprayed fire extinguishers and threw lengths of wood at officers outside of a Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham housing asylum seekers.

Justice Minister Heidi Alexander said on Tuesday that the government had brought in 567 additional prison places for convicted rioters.

Alexander told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme: “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.

“What we have been able to do in the last week since the problems have arisen is that we have been able to bring forward some additional prison places that we had been due to bring on stream later in the month.”

She also separately told LBC that courts “could possibly” begin sitting “through the evening, the night, at weekends” in order to expedite the prosecution of rioters.

Accusations of ‘Two-Tier Policing’

Nigel Farage MP, leader of the Reform Party, had suggested that recent riots had been handled more harshly than clashes in Leeds last month or pro-Palestinian marches that had been going on in London since October 2023.

In a statement, Farage said the “impression of two-tier policing” had “become widespread.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said following an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday that the idea of two-tier policing was “a non-issue.”

Starmer said: “There is no two-tier policing. There is policing without fear or favour, exactly as it should be, exactly what I would expect and require.”

Farage has joined other MPs from across the political spectrum in pushing the prime minister to recall parliament to discuss the unrest. The Reform Party leader had said the country needs to have “a more honest debate” about immigration, integration, and policing to “give people the confidence that there are political solutions that are relevant to them.”

Starmer has so far rejected the request, saying that his focus was on “making sure that we stop this disorder, that the criminal sanctions are swift and be seen to be followed.”

PA Media and Chris Summers contributed to this report.