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More than 1,000 Arrested Following UK Riots

An anti-immigration protester is detained by police officers, in Newcastle, Britain August 10, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
An anti-immigration protester is detained by police officers, in Newcastle, Britain August 10, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
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More than 1,000 Arrested Following UK Riots

An anti-immigration protester is detained by police officers, in Newcastle, Britain August 10, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
An anti-immigration protester is detained by police officers, in Newcastle, Britain August 10, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

British authorities have now arrested more than 1,000 people following days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants, a national policing body said on Tuesday.
The riots, which followed the killings of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport, began after the July 29 attack was wrongly blamed on a migrant based on online misinformation.
Violence broke out in cities across England and also in Northern Ireland, but there have been fewer instances of unrest since last week after efforts to identify those involved were ramped up, Reuters said.
Many have been swiftly jailed, with some receiving long sentences
The National Police Chiefs' Council said in its latest update that 1,024 had been arrested and 575 charged across the UK.
Those arrested include a 69-year-old accused of vandalism in Liverpool.
A 13-year-old girl pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court, prosecutors said, having been seen on July 31 punching and kicking the entrance to a hotel for asylum seekers.
"This alarming incident will have caused genuine fear amongst people who were being targeted by these thugs – and it is particularly distressing to learn that such a young girl participated in this violent disorder," prosecutor Thomas Power said.
The last time Britain witnessed widespread rioting was in 2011, when the fatal shooting of a Black man by police triggered several days of street violence.
Fast and tough judicial action was viewed as helping quell the unrest in 2011, when around 4,000 people were arrested over several weeks.

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Greece Tackles Last of Wildfire Near Athens, Assesses Damage

A drone view shows smoke rising in a charred forest area following a wildfire, in the village of Varnavas, Greece, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Fedja Grulovic
A drone view shows smoke rising in a charred forest area following a wildfire, in the village of Varnavas, Greece, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Fedja Grulovic
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Greece Tackles Last of Wildfire Near Athens, Assesses Damage

A drone view shows smoke rising in a charred forest area following a wildfire, in the village of Varnavas, Greece, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Fedja Grulovic
A drone view shows smoke rising in a charred forest area following a wildfire, in the village of Varnavas, Greece, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Fedja Grulovic

Firefighters battled on Wednesday to extinguish the remnants of a wildfire near Athens that killed a woman, torched buildings, devoured woodland and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
Most of the fronts had eased three days after the inferno had first taken hold, but officials warned against complacency, said Reuters.
"The fire is still in progress. It has not been brought under control yet," a fire brigade official said.
State inspectors started assessing damaged buildings as fire-stricken residents returned to their scorched properties, hoping to find some belongings amidst the debris.
Hundreds of firefighters assisted by 12 aircraft have been tackling the blaze since Sunday as it barrelled from a forest off the town of Varnavas, 35 km (22 miles) from the capital, into Athens' northern suburbs.
Greece's National Observatory said the fire had damaged around 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of land. The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined.
Greece is on high fire alert until Thursday, with temperatures forecast to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) raising concern about possible flare ups.
Wildfires have been a common feature of Greek summers for years, but climate change has brought hotter weather and less rain, heightening the risk.
The country, which has recently tightened penalties for arson, has dealt with over 3,500 fires since May, a nearly 50% increase from the same period in 2023 when it recorded 2,300 blazes, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis chaired a meeting about the latest blaze on Tuesday evening.
"We are trying to improve every year. But conditions are only becoming tougher," he told ministers according to a government official.
Sunday's fire broke rapidly across several fronts reaching within hours the seaside area of Nea Makri, the historic town of Marathon and suburbs on the slopes of Mount of Penteli, which is considered one of Athens' last green lungs.
A woman was found dead inside a burned local business in the suburb of Vrilissia, about 10 km from central Athens, on Monday.
The government has announced compensation and relief measures for those impacted by the disaster.
Some experts said the fire had managed to spread so fast because of a phenomenon called spotting, where wind whirls transfer burning matter across long distances. That led to the constant creation of new fronts which later merged.