LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that a “standing army” of specialist police would be set up to deal with rioting and that the justice system would be ramped up to handle hundreds of arrests after violent disorder rocked cities across the nation over the past week.
Starmer convened an urgent meeting after lawlessness he blamed on “far-right thuggery” that was driven in part by misinformation on social media that whipped up anger over a stabbing rampage at a dance class that killed three girls and wounded 10 people. False rumors spread online that the suspect was a Muslim asylum-seeker led to attacks on immigrants and mosques.
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Police officers watch members of the public outside the Town Hall during a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
Members of the public place gather outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, ahead of a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Members of the public take part in a vigil outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Children form bubbles outside the Town Hall during a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
Members of the public take part in a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
Children form bubbles outside the Town Hall during a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
People look at the floral tribute at the Atkinson arts centre in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club last week. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
People look at the floral tribute at the Atkinson arts centre in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club last week. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
Members of the public place and look at the tributes outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, ahead of a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Members of the public place and look at the tributes outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, ahead of a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire Mayor, speaks to the media outside the Holiday Inn Express where anti-immigration rioters smashed the windows before starting fires on Sunday, in Rotherham, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Lawlessness has swept the country over the past six days as right-wing activists used social media to spread misinformation to whip up anger over a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded. (Dave Higgens/PA Wire/PA via AP)
Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, centre, arrives at Downing Street, where Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee following ongoing unrest across parts of the country, in London, Monday Aug. 5, 2024. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)
“Whatever the apparent motivation, this is not protest. It is pure violence and we will not tolerate attacks on mosques or our Muslim communities," Starmer said. "The full force of the law will be visited on all those who are identified as having taken part in these activities.”
On Sunday, angry mobs attacked two hotels used to house asylum-seekers, breaking windows and lighting fires before police dispersed the crowds and residents were evacuated. Dozens of police officers have been hospitalized for injuries in the past six days after being struck with bricks, bottles and large wooden posts.
More than 375 people have been arrested in the mayhem so far and more are expected, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said.
Many made court appearances Monday and found themselves facing at least several weeks behind bars awaiting their next court hearing.
Deputy District Judge Liam McStay in Belfast Magistrates’ Court refused bail for two men who had participated in a march that trashed businesses and set a supermarket on fire in the capital of Northern Ireland. He said he couldn't allow that to be repeated and “visited on other people.”
“The events at the weekend were absolutely disgraceful: a concerted and deliberate attempt to undermine public order and to then domineer the community and there were racist elements to it," McStay said. "The message has to be if you allow yourself to become involved in these matters for whatever reason, then you will face the consequences.”
Starmer’s plan to beef up the criminal justice system and deliver quick justice faces significant challenges as courts are already backed up and prisons are so overcrowded that plans were already in the works to release inmates early, said Cassia Rowland, a senior researcher at the Institute for Government think tank.
“That’s not a problem you can fix overnight and it’s going to be difficult, I think, for the system to cope with the influx of demand that we’re likely to see as a result of this disorder," Rowland said.
Starmer has dismissed calls to reconvene Parliament to deal with the crisis or send in the army. His office said police can handle the disorder.
In the meeting with ministers and top law enforcement officials, Starmer said social media companies have not done enough to prevent the spread of misinformation that has fueled far-right violence and vowed that anyone who stokes the disorder — online or on the streets — could face prison, a spokesperson said. Some of that false and misleading information has come from foreign states.
“The disinformation that we’ve seen online attracts amplification from known bot activity, which, as I say, can be linked to state-backed activity,” a Starmer spokesperson said in a read-out of the meeting.
Starmer’s office condemned Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, for responding to a post of footage of the violence by saying: “civil war is inevitable.”
“There’s no justification for comments like that,” the spokesperson said. “We’re talking about a minority of thugs who don’t speak for Britain.”
Near Rotheram, in Northern England, where a violent mob on Sunday stormed a Holiday Inn Express where migrants were housed, throwing chairs at police and setting a fire, a crowd of volunteers showed up Monday to help clean up the mess.
Police guarded the building as glass from broken windows was swept up. A wooden fence behind the building had been destroyed by men who tore off planks of wood and hurled them at police.
“I’m horrified. I’m appalled by the violence that we saw yesterday,” Oliver Coppard, the mayor of South Yorkshire, said. “We saw a violent far-right mob come down to attack 240 of the most vulnerable people in our society and try and burn them in the hotel in which they were living. That is not OK and there is no excuse for it.”
In Southport, where rioting first broke out July 30 — the day after the horrific stabbing there — police said only one child remained in the hospital. The seven other children and two adults who were seriously injured had been discharged.
A vigil was held Monday to remember the three girls killed at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class: Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9.
Hundreds of parents and children gathered around bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals outside The Atkinson arts center in memory of the girls. As a piano played, children blew iridescent bubbles that hung and swirled in the air before they were gone.
Police officers watch members of the public outside the Town Hall during a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
Members of the public place gather outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, ahead of a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Members of the public take part in a vigil outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Children form bubbles outside the Town Hall during a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
Members of the public take part in a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
Children form bubbles outside the Town Hall during a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
People look at the floral tribute at the Atkinson arts centre in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club last week. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
People look at the floral tribute at the Atkinson arts centre in Southport, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club last week. Violence and unrest erupted in cities and towns across Britain, ostensibly in protest of last week's stabbing. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
Members of the public place and look at the tributes outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, ahead of a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Members of the public place and look at the tributes outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Monday Aug. 5, 2024, ahead of a vigil to remember the victims of the stabbing attack last Monday. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)
Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire Mayor, speaks to the media outside the Holiday Inn Express where anti-immigration rioters smashed the windows before starting fires on Sunday, in Rotherham, England, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Lawlessness has swept the country over the past six days as right-wing activists used social media to spread misinformation to whip up anger over a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded. (Dave Higgens/PA Wire/PA via AP)
Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, centre, arrives at Downing Street, where Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee following ongoing unrest across parts of the country, in London, Monday Aug. 5, 2024. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)
What's in a name change, after all?
The water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba will be critical to shipping lanes and vacationers whether it’s called the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been for four centuries, or the Gulf of America, as President Donald Trump ordered this week. North America’s highest mountain peak will still loom above Alaska whether it’s called Mt. Denali, as ordered by former President Barack Obama in 2015, or changed back to Mt. McKinley as Trump also decreed.
But Trump's territorial assertions, in line with his “America First” worldview, sparked a round of rethinking by mapmakers and teachers, snark on social media and sarcasm by at least one other world leader. And though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the Trumpian “Gulf of America” on an official document and some other gulf-adjacent states were considering doing the same, it was not clear how many others would follow Trump's lead.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahead with the renaming, her country would rename North America “Mexican America.” On Tuesday, she toned it down: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”
Map lines are inherently political. After all, they're representations of the places that are important to human beings — and those priorities can be delicate and contentious, even more so in a globalized world.
There’s no agreed-upon scheme to name boundaries and features across the Earth.
“Denali” is the mountain's preferred name for Alaska Natives, while “McKinley" is a tribute to President William McKinley, designated in the late 19th century by a gold prospector. China sees Taiwan as its own territory, and the countries surrounding what the United States calls the South China Sea have multiple names for the same body of water.
The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps. Many Arab countries don’t recognize Israel and instead call it Palestine. And in many official releases, Israel calls the occupied West Bank by its biblical name, “Judea and Samaria.”
Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
Trump's executive order — titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — concludes thusly: “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”
But what to call the gulf with the 3,700-mile coastline?
“It is, I suppose, an internationally recognized sea, but (to be honest), a situation like this has never come up before so I need to confirm the appropriate convention,” said Peter Bellerby, who said he was talking over the issue with the cartographers at his London company, Bellerby & Co. Globemakers. “If, for instance, he wanted to change the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean, we would probably just ignore it."
As of Wednesday night, map applications for Google and Apple still called the mountain and the gulf by their old names. Spokespersons for those platforms did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
A spokesperson for National Geographic, one of the most prominent map makers in the U.S., said this week that the company does not comment on individual cases and referred questions to a statement on its web site, which reads in part that it "strives to be apolitical, to consult multiple authoritative sources, and to make independent decisions based on extensive research.” National Geographic also has a policy of including explanatory notes for place names in dispute, citing as an example a body of water between Japan and the Korean peninsula, referred to as the Sea of Japan by the Japanese and the East Sea by Koreans.
In discussion on social media, one thread noted that the Sears Tower in Chicago was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009, though it's still commonly known by its original moniker. Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, renamed its Market Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard and then switched back to Market Street several years later — with loud complaints both times. In 2017, New York's Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed for the late Gov. Mario Cuomo to great controversy. The new name appears on maps, but “no one calls it that,” noted another user.
“Are we going to start teaching this as the name of the body of water?” asked one Reddit poster on Tuesday.
“I guess you can tell students that SOME PEOPLE want to rename this body of water the Gulf of America, but everyone else in the world calls it the Gulf of Mexico,” came one answer. “Cover all your bases — they know the reality-based name, but also the wannabe name as well.”
Wrote another user: “I'll call it the Gulf of America when I'm forced to call the Tappan Zee the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which is to say never.”
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)