BRITISH PRIME minister David Cameron is considering a raft of new measures in response to the rioting which broke out in the last week in several English cities.
Police may be given powers to shut down social media outlets if it is believed they are being used to plot violence, and will also have powers to force suspected criminals to remove hoods or masks.
Those affected by the riots will be compensated by the government, and those involved in the violence will be tracked down and punished, the prime minister said. “You will pay for what you have done.”
In one of the longest speeches ever given by a prime minister in the House of Commons, Mr Cameron said the police had got their tactics wrong in treating the initial disturbances as a public order issue and not a criminal issue.
He resisted attempts by the opposition parties to revisit the proposed cuts in police numbers across the UK of 30,000 in the lifetime of the present parliament.
Mr Cameron said the cuts were “totally achievable” without harming the numbers on the street or hampering any future “surges” that might be needed to cope with escalating violence.
While he stressed the law and order response to the disturbances, he added there were issues behind the disturbances, most notably criminal street gangs composed of young men “mainly from dysfunctional homes”.
The police could be given powers to shut down communication networks, impose curfews and force people to remove masks, Mr Cameron said as he sought to prevent a repeat of riots across England’s biggest cities.
There was cross-party condemnation of the riots, with Labour leader Ed Miliband making no reference in his speech to claims by his deputy Harriet Harman that government cutbacks were a factor in the disturbances.
“There can be no excuses, no justification. This behaviour has disgusted us all. It cannot be allowed to stand,” he said.
In the same speech he said an inquiry should be far-reaching, and the issues involved could not be “laid at the door of a single cause or a single government”.
An estimated 1,500 people have been arrested in connection with the disturbances which began in Tottenham, north London, on Saturday night over the death of a black man who was shot during a police raid.
They then escalated, spreading throughout London and then to other cities.
Courts in London and Birmingham have been sitting through the night processing those who have been charged with offences.
Among those who were sentenced yesterday were a 12-year-old boy in Manchester whose mother was criticised by judges, and an 11-year-old girl in Nottingham who pleaded guilty to criminal damage.
Three men were arrested yesterday in Birmingham over the deaths of three Asian men who were guarding a garage that had been ransacked by looters.
A fourth man aged 32, who was allegedly the driver of the car involved, was bailed pending further investigations.
The Metropolitan Police executed more than 100 arrest warrants yesterday. They staged a number of high-profile raids in front of members of the media, arresting those suspected of possessing stolen goods. Among the items they recovered were Hugo Boss jeans and handbags.
A saturation police presence on the streets of affected cities will remain in place over the weekend and Mr Cameron said he would be prepared in future to call up the army if it was needed.
He announced £30 million (€34.2 million) in government money to clear up areas affected by the riots, and extended the period for those businesses requiring compensation from 14 to 42 days.
The disturbances have been described in some Middle Eastern media as the British equivalent of the Arab Spring. Concerns about the UK’s image around the world have been expressed by business leaders in Britain.
Business secretary Vince Cable said that the British government would work with the foreign investor community “to restore confidence in the UK as a destination for investment”.
The British Chambers of Commerce said that it was also concerned about the UK’s international reputation following the unrest especially in the retail and tourism sectors.