New riots sweep British cities after child murders

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND/BELFAST — Violent disorder erupted in several British cities on Saturday, injuring police and damaging property in the country’s most widespread rioting in 13 years following the murder of three young girls in northwest England.

Riots involving hundreds of anti-immigration protesters have erupted in cities after false information spread rapidly on social media that the suspect in the knife attack at a children’s dance class in Southport on Monday was a radical Muslim migrant.

Police said the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was born in Britain, but protests by anti-immigration and anti-Muslim demonstrators continued, resulting in violence, arson and looting.

Violent riots broke out in Liverpool, Bristol, Hull and Belfast — four cities located in different corners of the UK — with fights breaking out and bricks and bottles being thrown as anti-immigration protesters clashed with groups opposing racism.

Scores of police officers were injured as they tried to stop hundreds of rival protesters — mostly young men shouting slogans — from clashing.

In Liverpool, two officers were in hospital with suspected facial fractures while another was pushed from his motorbike and assaulted in the mayhem that involved about 750 protesters and a similar number of rival demonstrators, said Merseyside Police, the force that oversees the northwestern city.

At least two shops in Liverpool were vandalised and looted, police added.

Similar scenes were seen in the south-west city of Bristol, although anti-racist protesters outnumbered anti-immigration groups, with TV footage showing them clashing with police in riot gear.

In Belfast, some businesses reported property damage and at least one was set on fire, police said.

“I have no reason for them to attack us,” said Rahmi Akyol, standing outside the broken glass doors of his Belfast cafe, which he said was attacked by dozens of people with bottles and chairs.

“I’ve lived here for 35 years. My children, my wife are from here. I don’t know what to say, it’s terrible,” he said.

Across Britain, police have arrested dozens of individuals for crimes ranging from violent disorder to theft and criminal damage.

Extra police have been deployed in several cities while mosques across the country have been advised to beef up security following an attack on a mosque in Southport on Tuesday.

‘Unforgivable violence’

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, facing his first major test since his election a month ago, condemned the “far right” for the wave of violence and backed police to take strong action. He discussed the disorder with senior ministers on Saturday, his office said.

The last time rioting occurred in Britain was in 2011, when there was a much larger outbreak of violence, with thousands of people taking to the streets for five nights after police shot dead a black man in London.

On Friday night, hundreds of anti-immigration protesters in Sunderland threw stones at riot police near a mosque, before overturning vehicles, setting a car on fire and starting a fire near a police station.

“This was not a protest. This was inexcusable violence and disorder,” Mark Hall, chief superintendent of Sunderland police, told reporters on Saturday.

Several more protests were planned for Sunday.