South Yorkshire police have been accused of a “serious failure” in their handling of the violent scenes in Rotherham on Sunday which saw a hotel were asylum seekers are housed attacked.
A counter-terrorism director accused South Yorkshire’s leadership team of “serious failure” and said he is disappointed of how the force handled the violence in the streets of Rotherham.
He said that he has an “intelligence” report that is two days old that warned of an “extreme” right wing protest at the same location at 12pm on Sunday.
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Nick Aldworth, from Carlisle Support Services, told Sky News on Sunday evening, “I have an intelligence document dated two days ago that highlighted an extreme right-wing protest at this location at 12pm today.
“[With] two days’ preparation time, I wouldn’t expect protesters to be able to get to the venue like this.
BREAKING: Brits are smashing up the Holiday Inn hotel in Rotherham where
asylum seekers are being housed on their dime. pic.twitter.com/YNipgnhZaZ— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) August 4, 2024
“Those poor officers with their backs to the wall having items thrown at them… I would suggest there’s been a really serious failure by the planners and senior leadership team in South Yorkshire Police.
“This is just not good enough.”
He stressed that he was not targeting “those individual brave officers who are there taking the full force of these violent thugs.
“But clearly this should not have been allowed to happen in this way. “It’s so predictable, it’s so preventable. It’s frankly appalling.”
Aldworth added, “What I want to see over the next few days is police pre-empting and securing premises, making sure people in those premises feel safe and actually taking early and pre-emptive action.”
The Holiday Inn Express was targeted by hundreds of rioters on Sunday and Sky News Nothern England correspondent Shingi Mararike said they were throwing “stones and planks of wood” at police.
More devastation from rioting, this time in Rotherham, where people attacked a hotel housing asylum seekers. 10 police officers hurt including one who was knocked unconscious. @LBC @LBCNews pic.twitter.com/KgaCSZaAkE
— Alex Taylor-Brown (@alex94wxm) August 5, 2024
He said, “Earlier on today we saw police officers with riot shields running towards that group as they threw stones and planks of wood at them.
“We know the asylum hotel was targeted in the day and what seems to have happened is other people have joined.
“The crowds of people seem to have quietened down but the incitement seems to happen when there is a police car heading in this direction and a group of people see them.”
He added he saw “officers being targeted.”
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