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Louise Thomas
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Anti-immigration rioters have been accused of “defiling” the Union flag by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Most Reverend Justin Welby’s comments were in response to violent protesters seen waving Union Flags in street demonstrations across Britain.
Hundreds of people have been arrested after riots linked to the far right rocked major cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Hull, with violent mobs setting fire to hotels housing refugees and clashing with the police.
Asked what his message was to such people, the Archbishop said: “This is not British, it is not English. They defile the flag they wrap themselves in.
“Violence and swearing in the face of police from two feet is never going to convince anyone.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, he condemned the “appalling manipulation” of people on social media, adding: “They talk about defending this country’s Christian values. When Jesus was asked what you should do in life to have a good life he said ‘love God, love your neighbour and love your enemy.’”
The Archbishop also said that while living in a run down area was no excuse for violence, wealth had to be shared more fairly between rich and poor in the UK.
“Social deprivation does not in any way justify this violence. But we need to relook at how the benefits of our economy are shared right across everyone in need. Everyone needs to gain from being British – one of the seven richest countries on Earth.
“I am not saying being marginalised – which a lot of people are in historic areas of high unemployment – justifies violence: quite the reverse.”
He also spoke movingly of the grief of the parents of the three young girls killed in Southport that triggered the riots.
Father of six Archbishop Welby recalled the death of his own daughter Johanna, who was killed in a car accident aged seven months in 1983.
He said he and his wife Caroline had “gone through losing a child – as a child”.
“It is the most overwhelming, dominating thing that could happen to you. The whole world changes. The last thing you want is for this to be instrumentalised by people far away choosing to turn this into a cause of criminality and rioting.”
His comments came after he joined forces with Muslim and Jewish leaders to denounce the violent protests.
The Archbishop, the Chief Rabbi and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster joined two of Britain’s most prominent Sunni and Shia Muslims to condemn the violence and praise those who volunteered to repair damage caused by the disorder.
In a letter to The Times, they said the “hatred, violence and vandalism” seen during riots across the country are a “stain on our national moral conscience”.
“Over the last few days, we have watched in horror as a small minority has brought hatred, violence and vandalism to towns and cities across the country.
“We have seen anti-Muslim hatred and the targeting of mosques; asylum seekers and refugees attacked; violence directed towards the police and private property, all of which are a stain on our national moral conscience”, the letter reads.
It was signed by Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the Most Rev Justin Welby, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Qari Asim, who chairs the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, and Dr Sayed Razawi, director-general of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society.
Such a strongly worded show of unity is especially rare in light of the continuing conflict in Israel and Gaza.
Violence broke out across the UK following the killing of three young girls in Southport last week, after social media posts falsely claimed the suspect of the Southport stabbing attack was a Muslim immigrant.
On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said social media had put “rocket boosters” under far-right groups when it comes to the “organisation, the attention and the misinformation” surrounding the riots.
A large crowd gathered outside a mosque in Middlesbrough on Sunday night and others have since been targeted.
In Rotherham, anti-immigration rioters smashed the windows of the Holiday Inn Express before starting fires.
In response, Sir Keir Starmer on Monday ordered a new “standing army” of specialist police officers to be set up to bring an end to the disorder after chairing an emergency Cobra meeting in the morning.
Meanwhile, mosques are being offered greater protection with new emergency security as a result of the disorder seen across the UK.
The new measures, announced by the government on Sunday, build on the existing Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, speeding up the process in which they can apply for additional security personnel to be deployed.
On Tuesday, justice minister Heidi Alexander said that UK courts could sit through the night in order to swiftly see rioters in the dock.
She told LBC Radio: “The additional courts protocol is something that could possibly be invoked in different regions of the UK if the chief police officer and the chief prosecutor in that area decide that they want it.
“They make an application to the judiciary and so the judiciary indicated yesterday that they would be willing to consider any of those requests.
“It would mean that in the magistrates courts there could be longer sittings, sittings through the evening, the night, at weekends.”
