Police have so far arrested 779 people in connection with the recent rioting across the UK, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has said.

Of those, 349 people have been charged, it added.

Rioters in England and northern Ireland clashed with police, looted shops and attacked hotels housing asylum seekers, after a false rumour spread that the suspect in the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport on 29 July was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Violence had calmed by Wednesday, when thousands of protesters chanting “refugees are welcome” took to the streets.

On Saturday, thousands of anti-racism protesters again marched in cities across the country, with at least one smaller anti-immigrant protest also gathering.

The NPCC said specialist officers have been tasked with pursuing suspected online offenders and so-called influencers, who they say are responsible for “spreading hate and inciting violence on a large scale”.

Across the country, teams are investigating “hundreds of leads” they said.

The hundreds of arrests and charges for rioters in less than two weeks have been followed by swift sentencing and jail sentences of up to three years.

Cases include a 16-year-old who admitted stealing £15,000 of vapes, assaulting an emergency worker and smashing a police car in Liverpool last weekend.

In greater Manchester, eight people were due in court after being charged with violent disorder on Friday. One was also charged with robbery. The defendants ranged in age from 13 to 46.

In Hull, six people appeared at court on Saturday in connection to disorder. Three were 13-year-old boys and one a 17-year-old girl.

Seven people were also charged on Friday and Saturday after a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Aldershot on 31 July.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he believed increased police presence and fast-moving cases have had an impact, but his message was to stay on “high alert” to “make sure our communities are safe and secure and feel safe and secure”.

The prime minister cancelled plans to go on holiday to Europe this weekend with his family to focus on the response.

In response to recent violence, hundreds of people gathered to support immigrants in Cardiff, Birmingham, Norwich, Penzance, Southampton, Shrewsbury, Carlisle, Hastings, Cambridge and Devon on Saturday.

In Belfast, several thousand people took part in an anti-racism rally that started at Writer’s Square. Some protesters waved signs that read ‘Ulster says no to racism’.

The organisers, United Against Racism, said the event was intended to be a “peaceful response to racist violence of recent days”.

“These are our streets, and we will not concede them to the racist forces who want to divide us,” said the campaign group’s chair, Fiona Doran.

In London, around 5,000 people marched on Whitehall in support of refugees. The march started at the headquarters of political party Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage has advocated for a “freeze” on immigration. Protesters held signs that read “refugees welcome” and “stop the far right”.

Hundreds of anti-racism protesters also gathered in Newcastle, while a small number of anti-immigrant protesters amassed in the nearby Bigg Market area.

Newcastle police said they made 14 arrests, including for possession of an offensive weapon, possession of a Class B drug and failure to comply with some of the orders in place. None of the arrests were for disorder or violent offences.

Police were braced for more possible unrest over the weekend given planned protests.

Liverpool police put in place a dispersal order starting at 16:00 on Saturday following “incidents of disorder”. The order allows police to direct people suspected of or involved in criminal activity to leave an area for 48 hours and arrest them if they return.

Police had already put in place a Section 60 order, which gives officers greater powers to stop and search individuals to prevent violence, from 11:00 to 23:00.

“Both orders are extra tools at our disposal to help keep the public safe, and highly visible police patrols will enforce them in the next 48 hours,” neighbourhood policing inspector Chris Taylor said.

As protests continue, families still mourn in Southport, where Bebe King, six, lsie Dot Stancome, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguair, nine, were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

On Saturday, Bebe’s parents released a statement that described her as “full of joy, light and love”.

They praised her older sister, who had witnessed the attack, and had “shown such incredible strength and courage” since that day.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, an 18-year-old born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, has been charged with the three girls’ murders and also the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.

Additional reporting by Lyndsey Telford and Eimear Flanagan in Belfast, Mark McAlindon in Newcastle, Jen Sugden in Liverpool, Gavin Thomas in Cardiff, and Daniel De Simone and Tom Symonds in London, and Jonny Humphries and Monica Rimmer from North West