London, 8 August 2024 (PA Media/dpa/MIA) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will chair another meeting of the government's top emergency committee, Cobra, on Thursday afternoon as police brace for 20 potential further gatherings.

Starmer will hold the third high-level gathering of its kind in the last week, after threats of further disorder largely failed to materialize on Wednesday evening.

The meeting comes as 20 potential gatherings and three counter-protests are planned for Thursday evening, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

More than 160 demonstrations were planned for Wednesday but only about 36 took place with “minimal disorder and only a handful of arrests,” the body said.

The total number of arrests made relating to violent disorder following the killings of three girls in the English town of Southport on July 29 now stands at 483, the NPCC said.

The policing body also confirmed on Thursday afternoon that 149 charges had been brought so far, with the figure set to “continue to rise significantly.”

Shops were boarded up in many towns and cities over fears of rioting on Wednesday after the stabbings triggered a week of disorder.

Further violence was largely curtailed, but the prime minister insisted it was “important that we don’t let up."

Some rioters have been handed jail terms of more than two years, while others face charges relating to disorder across the country.

Following a visit to a mosque in Solihull, he told broadcasters: “Now it’s important that we don’t let up here and that’s why later on today I will have another Cobra meeting with law enforcement, with senior police officers, to make sure that we reflect on last night but also plan for the coming days.”

Starmer said Wednesday night’s events turned out “much better than was expected,” and suggested the additional deployment of police officers and the quick sentencing of people involved in disorder were the reasons riots did not materialise.

“We were able to demonstrate the criminal justice system working speedily, so yesterday we saw the sentencing of individuals who had been involved in disorder days ago, some of them getting sentences as long as three years.

“That sent a very powerful message,” the Prime Minister said.

At least 156 police officers have been injured so far in the unrest with 71 being taken to hospital, the PA news agency understands.

This is the latest known figure of officer injuries from around half of the 43 forces in England and Wales, according to police sources. The total number of officers injured across all forces is not yet known.

Photo: EPA