Liverpool, England/Belfast: Violent disorder spread across several British cities on Saturday, injuring police and damaging property, in the country's worst riots for 13 years after the killings of three young girls in northwest England.
Riots involving hundreds of anti-immigrant protesters have spread across towns and cities after false information quickly spread on social media that the suspect who stabbed a children's dance class in Southport on Monday was a radicalized Muslim immigrant.
Police said the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was born in the UK, but anti-immigration and anti-Muslim protesters have continued to demonstrate in violence, arson and looting.
Violent disorder broke out in Liverpool, Bristol, Hull and Belfast – four cities located in different corners of the UK – as clashes broke out and anti-immigration protesters threw bricks and bottles after confronting groups protesting racism.
Several police officers were injured as they tried to prevent hundreds of rival protesters – mostly youths who chanted slogans – from clashing.
In Liverpool, two officers were in hospital with suspected facial fractures while another was pushed off his bike and attacked in disorder involving about 750 protesters and a similar number of rival protesters, said Merseyside Police, the force overseeing the northwestern city.
At least two stores in Liverpool have been vandalized and looted, police said.
Similar scenes were seen in the southwestern 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 sustained property damage and at least one was set on fire, according to police.
“I have no reason why they attacked us,” said Rahmi Akyol, standing outside the shattered glass doors of his cafe in Belfast, 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 the UK, police have arrested dozens of people for offenses ranging from violent disorder to theft and criminal damage.
Extra police have been deployed in cities to beef up security at mosques across the country following the attack on a mosque in Southport on Tuesday.
'unforgivable violence'
Prime Minister Keir Starr, facing his first major test since his election a month ago, has blamed the “far-right” for the wave of violence and backed tougher police crackdowns. According to his office, he discussed the disorder with senior ministers on Saturday.
The last time riots erupted in Britain was in 2011 when a much larger outbreak of violence took place, with thousands of people taking to the streets for five nights after the shooting death of a black man in London.
On Friday night, hundreds of anti-immigration protesters in Sunderland threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque, before overturning vehicles, torching cars and starting fires near a police station.
'This is not a movement. It was unforgivable violence and disorder,” Sunderland Chief Superintendent Mark Hall told reporters on Saturday.
More protests are planned for Sunday.
