Keir Starmer condemns riots in Northern Ireland

Keir Starmer condemns riots in Northern Ireland – ‘intolerable’

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has described the race-related disorder in Northern Ireland as ‘racist’ and ‘intolerable’.

He was speaking during a visit to the province and meeting frontline officers who dealt with the violence and members of ethnic minority communities targeted.

Keir Starmer noted that many PSNI officers had sustained injuries trying to quell the recent unrest. Totally unacceptable.

“My purpose was to say to them thank you for what they have done. We make big asks of them. They step up and they deserve our thanks,” he told reporters during his visit to the PSNI training college in east Belfast.

“The disorder is intolerable. It is incapable of justification. It’s clearly racist and it does not represent the modern, forward looking Northern Ireland that I know that this place is.”

The prime minister said he would work with the PSNI and all communities to address the disorder and its consequences. Not only in the short term but also the longer term work that is necessary for future of Northern Ireland.