Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has demanded that all non-British rioters be deported from the country following two nights of unrest in a multicultural area of Leeds.
The ethnically diverse Harehills area of Leads saw another evening of chaos on Friday as hundreds of residents from the Roma community took to the streets demanding the return of four children who were taken from their families by state social services.
The removal of the children sparked riots on Thursday evening as angered residents set multiple fires — including burning a double-decker bus to a crisp — threw stones at law enforcement officers, and overturned police cars.
Responding to the chaotic scenes in Leeds, Reform MP Richard Tice said: “These riots are wholly unacceptable. The full force of the law must be applied. British citizens should be punished. Non British citizens should be deported never to be allowed to return.
“We must create respect for Britain and our values,” Nigel Farage’s deputy added.
Former Conservative government minister Andrea Jenkyns also called for a hardline approach to the rioters, while declaring that the violent scenes demonstrated that multiculturalism “is not working”.
“You cannot force people to adapt to the British way of life. I believe in the old adage when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” Jenkyns told GB News.
“If people are left to get away with this, which they have been because we’ve got a Labour West Yorkshire mayor who is more focused on waving rainbow flags and hate crimes than serious crimes like this.
“If it was me, I would have got the army in there with the police in riot gear. I would have dragged them off the street to have stopped it.”
In its latest statement, the local West Yorkshire Police said that they were “continuing to attend to a serious disorder incident in the Harehills” on Friday evening.
The police force vowed that the “full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible” for criminal damage during the riots.
However, the West Yorkshire Police have come under heavy criticism on social media after footage emerged seeming to show multiple officers arresting what appeared to be a native British woman who had reportedly come out to protest against the riots.
The police force said that it has arrested several people and that “further arrests will be made over the next few days”.
New Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Friday: “The scenes of criminality and disorder in Leeds last night were disgraceful, including attacks on police vehicles and public transport, and will have been very distressing for local residents.
“Those responsible must face the full force of the law and West Yorkshire Police have my support in pursuing the perpetrators and taking the strongest possible action against them.”