People involved in violent riots on the streets in the past week “defile the flag that they wrap themselves in”, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Justin Welby condemned the “criminal violence” seen in parts of the UK, which has involved attacks on mosques, assaults on police officers, and looting of shops.
The Church of England leader spoke of “manipulation” through social media and “by people abroad”, which he said must be “strongly resisted”.
He did not mention names but several other critics have condemned former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, for stoking tensions online while out of the country.
Mr Welby said people are being used in a “ridiculous, appalling and immoral” way as he spoke of the misinformation which had spread around the identity of the suspect in the Southport stabbings on July 29.
Asked what he would say to rioters, Mr Welby told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This (violence) is not the United Kingdom. It’s not British. It’s not English. They defile the flag that they wrap themselves in.”
Calling on people to air concerns peacefully, he said: “Violence and swearing in the face of police from a distance of two foot is never going to convince anyone.”
He said: “Protest is good and is right and is fundamental to all our freedoms. But peaceful protest will have 1,000, 10,000 times the impact that this violence is having.
“This violence turns people away from your cause, whatever you’re protesting about, and it is just criminal violence.
“Peaceful protest, peaceful statements will convince, will change people’s mind, will – at the very least – cause them to listen.”
Asked what he thinks is behind the incidents of the past week, he said “there are a lot of reasons”, noting “significant deprivation” in some areas.
But he added that this “does not in any way justify this violence”.
He said: “We do need to re-look at how the benefits of our economy are shared right across everyone in need, and everyone in the country needs to gain from being one of the seven richest countries on Earth.
“I’m not saying that being marginalised, which a lot of people are in historic areas of high unemployment, justifies violence – quite the reverse. It does justify peaceful protest, and that will make people listen.”
Amid scenes of community clean-ups following some of the disorder, Mr Welby praised the “extraordinary cohesion and caring for neighbours that is going on all around the country in the wake of these riots”, adding that he believes trouble will die down “very shortly”.
He said the Government has been “responding extremely well” through policing and clamping down through law and order, but called for “medium and long-term reflection” in the aftermath.
He added that “some of our politicians will always take an opportunity to cause trouble, but that’s very, very few and far between”.
