Protests and riots have erupted across the U.K. against the nation’s open-borders immigration policies, following the stabbing of three girls in Southport, England. Last week, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, the son of Rwandan immigrants, entered a dance class in Southport and stabbed to death three girls, ages six, eight, and nine, and injured others.

The following day, anti-immigration protests were orchestrated in Southport, which escalated into violence when police showed up. Since then, protests, counter-protests, and riots have sprung up across Britain, from Liverpool, England, to Belfast, Northern Ireland. But instead of addressing clear concerns over immigration and rising crime, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has instead blamed the violence on “far-right thuggery.”

“Be in no doubt: Those who have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law,” Starmer said in response to the wave of anti-immigration protests. “I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves. This is not protest[ing]. It is organized, violent thuggery.”

The prime minister also derided anti-immigration protestors as a “tiny mindless minority,” pledging to increase police force and use of surveillance equipment in response to the protests and riots. Starmer promised to “establish a national capability, across police forces,” including “shared intelligence, wider deployment of facial recognition technology, and preventive action — criminal behavior orders to restrict [protestors’ and rioters’] movements before they can even board a train…” He also called on social media companies to censor or suppress those who “whipped up” the protests and riots online.

Starmer has been broadly criticized for responding to anti-immigration demonstrations so stringently while he encouraged the Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots of 2020. One social media user compared Starmer’s 2020 speech regarding the BLM riots to his speech condemning “far-right thuggery.” As BLM rioters in the U.S. looted and burned down cities across the country, Starmer claimed that “the response of President Trump and the U.S. authorities to the peaceful protests, to people rightly demanding justice, has been an affront to humanity.” He added at the time, “The last week has shone a spotlight on the racism, discrimination and the injustice experienced by those from black and minority ethnic communities in the U.S., in the U.K., and around the world.”

On Monday, investigative reporter Andy Ngô shared video footage of a group of about 300 armed men calling themselves the “Muslim patrol” attacking a pub in Birmingham, England. Police stood by, reportedly saying that they were prepared to deal with “right-wing protestors,” not the “Muslim patrol.” In response, billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk coined the social media tag “TwoTierKeir,” referring to Starmer’s lax response to violence perpetrated by immigrants and ethnic minorities and stringent reaction to native British protests.

Former Brexit leader and current Member of Parliament (MP) Nigel Farage also criticized Starmer’s response to the protests and riots. “His conclusion, very simple, ‘It’s all the far-right,’ as if they’re causing all of the problems,” Farage said. “No, the far-right are a reaction to fear, to discomfort, to unease that is out there shared by tens of millions of people,” he continued. “But I’m worried not just about the events in Southport, but about societal decline that is happening in our country. … This prime minister hasn’t got an earthly clue how to deal with it.”

In a written statement, Farage explained, “Ever since the soft policing of the Black Lives Matter protests, the impression of two-tier policing has become widespread. The Prime Minister’s faltering attempts to address the current crisis have only added to that sense of injustice.” He continued:

“The majority of our population can see the fracturing of our communities as a result of mass, uncontrolled immigration, whether legal or illegal. Yet to attempt to debate this in the public arena leads to immediate howls of condemnation. A population explosion without integration was always going to end badly. … We must have a more honest debate about these vital issues and give people the confidence that there are political solutions that are relevant to them.”

Given his open-borders policies, the rise of violent crime, his support for the BLM riots in 2020, and even his history as a prosecutor, Starmer has been compared to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. One social media user even quipped, “Kamala Harris is just Keir Starmer in a pantsuit.” Like Starmer, Harris has supported open-border immigration policies, resulting in skyrocketing violent crime rates. Although she was appointed “border czar” by President Joe Biden in 2021, Harris’s tenure as vice president has seen approximately 10 million illegal immigrants enter the U.S. Like Starmer, Harris also supported the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, even establishing a fund to bail violent rioters out of jail, but has targeted Americans for being pro-life or Catholic.

Experts in the U.S. have already warned that the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies make the nation vulnerable to terrorist attacks. A congressional report this week confirmed that “at least 99” illegal immigrants on the government’s terror watchlist were released back into the U.S. under the Biden-Harris administration.