Large-scale protests have broken out in Hartlepool and London, with demonstrators throwing bricks and other objects at riot police.
Protests in London
Hundreds of far-right protesters clashed with police in central London late Wednesday, a day after similar clashes in Southport, England.
The incidents in Southport, a seaside town in the northwest, occurred Tuesday after false reports, widely circulated by extremist far-right social media accounts, that the suspect in Monday’s knife attack in Southport that killed three little girls and injured several other children at a children’s dance class was an asylum seeker.
Police later said in a statement on website X that more than 100 people had been “arrested for offences including violent disorder, assaulting an emergency services worker and breaching protest conditions. Some police officers sustained minor injuries.”
Wednesday’s incidents followed riots in Southport, where hundreds of protesters instigated by members of the English Defence League (EDL), an anti-Muslim xenophobic fascist group, clashed with police after attacking a local mosque with projectiles. The incident was widely condemned by politicians after more than 50 police officers were injured.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer labelled the riots “thuggery” and promised that those involved would face the “full force of the law.”
Protests in Hartlepool
Copycat riots also occurred in the town of Hartlepool in north-east England, where far-right protesters were seen on social media throwing missiles.
The incidents took place in and around Murray Street, which is home to Muslims and a mosque. Local police said in a Facebook post:
There remains a policing presence in the Murray Street area while officers deal with disorder after responding to a protest – several arrests have already been made. The road is still closed, and people are advised to avoid the area.
The rioting continued into the early hours of Thursday morning. Rioters set a car on fire and also published footage shows a man of Asian appearance being punched in the face.
Misinformation
Following the incident, far-right groups immediately began spreading misinformation that the Southport attacker was a Muslim immigrant.
Far-right groups such as the EDL and Britain First, as well as convicted far-right fascist activist Tommy Robinson, played an active role in spreading rumours about the identity of the knife-wielding attacker. Since the attack, more than 100,000 social media posts under the hashtag #enoughisenough have been viewed millions of times.
Authorities said on Thursday morning that a 17-year-old boy arrested after the stabbing in Southport has been charged with three counts.
