Immigration lawyers have been warned to take extra security measures or stay away from work amid far-right threats to target their firms, with legal groups blaming political attacks on the profession for fuelling abuse.
The Law Society and Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) said their members were at risk, after a list of up to 60 immigration advice centres was circulated on Telegram with a message suggesting they should be the target of protests on Wednesday.
Several prominent lawyers said the political rhetoric of Conservative politicians over the years, from Boris Johnson to Suella Braverman demonising “lefty lawyers” for working on asylum cases, had contributed to the far-right threat.
After a week of violent disorder in areas across England and Northern Ireland, police chiefs said on Tuesday that an extra 2,200 riot-trained officers would be deployed to combat the unrest.
Keir Starmer held another Cobra meeting to coordinate the government’s response with police chiefs, while Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, said some of those causing the violent disorder could be charged with terrorism offences.
Violence so far has targeted mosques, community buildings such as libraries, hotels housing asylum seekers, and shops.
But attention turned to immigration law and advice centres after a list of up to 60 of them was circulated this week. Some of the addresses on the list were later found to be wrong – with one occupied by an elderly woman.
Politicians such as Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Sarah Sackman raised concerns over centres being named in their constituencies of Walthamstow and Finchley in London, saying they were in touch with police about the safety of residents.
The Community Security Trust, which monitors and investigates antisemitism in Britain, has also warned that the Jewish community might be targeted and raised concerns over attacks.
The Law Society of England and Wales has written to Starmer and Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, warning that a “direct assault on our legal profession is a direct assault on our democratic values”.
Its president, Nick Emmerson, saidthat immigration lawyers were providing an accessible service and were frightened about “a very real frontline threat”.
“There is an atmosphere of intimidation that has gone beyond this list. This list itself is gaining momentum but people who give immigration advice are at risk,” he said.
He said political attacks on lawyers under the previous government had “contributed to the atmosphere of intimidation”, and that the current threat was “an extension of that, and it is a physical manifestation of that”.
“Who knows if it is going to last more than one day? People are being asked to mask up on one day. That’s distressing enough but if this is a way of doing business going forward that is not sustainable. This fundamentally should not be happening at all,” he said.
Mahmood, the lord chancellor, said: “Every day, across the country, solicitors uphold the rule of law. Inciting mobs to attack their offices, or threatening them in any way, is unacceptable. Those found doing so will face the full force of the law. They will join the hundreds of others who have already been arrested by police within the last week.”
Dominic Grieve, a former Conservative attorney general, said: “I’m afraid that immigration lawyers being targeted does suggest to me this is one of the consequences of politicians having attacked them in the past … I think it would be a very good thing to do to say lawyers uphold the rule of law.”
Jacqueline McKenzie, a lawyer for Leigh Day, who was previously the target of a Tory dossier attacking her work for migrant clients, said the political attacks on immigration lawyers had put them at risk.
“It all started with the attacks on ‘lefty lawyers’ … to bring us into the fray has put a target on our backs,” she said.
Starmer, she said, should do more to counter the toxic narrative around immigration and that the current response had been “mealy mouthed” from the government.
“Governments are just going to keep on making the same mistakes; allowing people to attribute all problems to migrants will fuel a race war, and put all black and brown people, not just immigration lawyers, at risk,” McKenzie said.
Hazar El-Chamaa, the chair of trustees at the ILPA, said the group stood in solidarity with migrants and called on the government to support lawyers performing their professional duties by “representing and upholding the human rights of migrants and those targeted based on their appearance, without fear for our safety”.
“Where our security is threatened as a result of carrying out our essential and proper function in a democracy, the government and law enforcement agencies should investigate and monitor threats to our safety,” he said.
“We urge Sir Keir Starmer’s government to take urgent steps to bring an end to the violence and to foster a society which welcomes and cares for our communities and all those in need of protection. We call on the government to stand with us.”
Police chiefs have decided to dramatically increase the number of riot officers deployed, after violence over the weekend continued on Monday and Tuesday.
They are also braced for potentially 30 different demonstrations planned for Wednesday, and are assessing the credibility of an online document listing targets, many of which are connected to immigration and asylum.
Almost 4,000 riot officers have already been deployed across England and Wales. Some faced violence in their own force area, and some were sent to help out other forces that were under strain over the weekend.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, told chief constables in a call on Tuesday that their forces would receive support for overtime pay and any other resources they required when dealing with public disorder
In total there are 18,000 specially trained public order or riot officers in England and Wales. The decision to increase the number deployed means 30% of the total will be deployed. A police source said the number would be adjusted up or down, as the situation developed. Preparations were under way to deal with more potential trouble later on Tuesday and on Wednesday.
After the Cobra meeting on Tuesday evening, Starmer said 400 people have been arrested and 100 have been charged, some in relation to online activity.
“I’m now expecting substantive sentencing before the end of this week,” he said. “That should send a very powerful message to anybody involved, either directly or online, that you are likely to be dealt with within a week, and that nobody but nobody should be involving themselves in this disorder.”
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, has been criticised for questioning whether the police were being transparent about the murder of three girls in Southport, after the suspect was wrongly named on social media as a Muslim migrant. A Cardiff-born 17-year-old was later charged. However, anti-migrant riots spread from Southport over the following week.
On Tuesday, Farage insisted he had “nothing to do with any form of street violence now or at any point” in his career and claimed the riots after the Southport murders “were as bad as they were because we weren’t told the truth” by the police.
He claimed the “level of incitement against me has led to a huge increase in my security uptick”.
The Reform MP for Clacton told LBC “there were stories online from some very prominent folks with big followings, Andrew Tate etc. suggesting the man [attacker] had crossed the English [sic] Channel in a boat in October 2023, other suggestions that he was an active Muslim and much of this led to the riots we saw”.
“There were thousands of fake reports everywhere … I didn’t believe any of it”, he said before insisting he posed a “legitimate” question.
