Rioters after Southport attack ‘largely racially motivated thugs’, Met chief says

Sir Mark Rowley says summer disorder was ‘brutal and difficult time’ and rebuts far-right claim of two-tier policing

The people behind the violence in England this summer were “largely racially motivated criminal thugs”, the Metropolitan police commissioner has said, as he revealed that some of those arrested in London had previous convictions for violent offences.

Sir Mark Rowley said data about those arrested after a supposed protest in Whitehall, in central London, in late July supported his view.