Downing Street has confirmed there will be an emergency response meeting on Monday after more than 150 people were arrested following violent disorder in UK towns and cities over the weekend.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer condemned an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and promised those involved in unrest would face “the full force of the law”.
Police responded to violent scenes in Rotherham, Middlesbrough, Bolton and other parts of the UK on Sunday.
The Cobra meeting will come after a sixth day of escalating violence following the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport last week.Cobra meetings, or Cobr meetings as they are often also called, are named after Cabinet Office Briefing Room A on Whitehall.
It is an emergency response committee, a get together of ministers, civil servants, the police, intelligence officers and others appropriate to whatever they are looking into.
Monday’s meeting of the emergency committee will be intended to provide the government with an update on the violence over the weekend and the response in the coming days. It will involve relevant ministers and police representatives.
Sources have suggested this should be seen in the context of meetings that have already taken place, such as one between the prime minister and police chiefs last Thursday, and a meeting of senior ministers on Saturday.
During the prime minister’s televised address on Sunday, he warned those involved that they will “regret” taking part.
“People in this country have a right to be safe, and yet we’ve seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques,” the prime minister said.
“Other minority communities singled out, Nazi salutes in the street, attacks on the police, wanton violence alongside racist rhetoric, so no, I won’t shy away from calling it what it is: far-right thuggery.”
In a statement, the Home Office offered mosques greater protections as part of a new process, under which it said “rapid security” deployment can be requested in order to allow a return to worship as fast as possible.
Some members of the group smashed windows to gain access to a Holiday Inn Express and a large bin was set alight.
The officer knocked unconscious suffered a head injury, the force said, adding that at least two others had suspected broken bones.
Hotel employees and residents, some of whom are asylum seekers, were “terrified”, but no injuries were reported, police said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called the scenes “utterly appalling” and said police have government backing to take “the strongest action”.
At a second hotel in Tamworth, Staffordshire, officers said they had to deal with “violent acts of thuggery” on Sunday evening.
One officer was injured at the site as people threw missiles, smashed windows, and started fires, Staffordshire Police said.
Meanwhile, a group of rioters in Middlesbrough smashed the windows of houses and cars and hurled objects at officers.
