After the Southport knife attack that left three children dead, protests involving Muslim migrants have erupted across the UK.
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents and moved to the Southport area, carried out a brutal knife attack on three girls during a Taylor Swift-style yoga class on 29 July that left all the girls dead. The attacker arrived in Southport town centre in a taxi without paying the fare and was wearing a mask.
The murder sparked riots and protests in a number of towns and cities across the United Kingdom. On Tuesday night in Southport, a rump of protesters threw bricks at a mosque, set fire to cars and police vehicles and clashed with police just an hour after a peaceful vigil in memory of Bebe King (6), Elsie Dot Stancombe (7) and Alice Dasilva Aguiar (9).
Southport, Merseyside
Clashes with the police occurred throughout the city of Southport. Migrants took to the streets to protest against the local English people, who are resentful of the migration policy and are demanding stricter entry rules, which currently do not guarantee the safety of the country’s natives. The protesting migrants armed with various weapons such as bats, machetes and hammers and have announced a hunt for football fans and frustrated people who are demanding stricter migration laws. The police favour the position that protesters against migration policies also face detention and also use force against them.
Liverpool
In Liverpool, near Southport, where a knife attack took place earlier in the first wave of protests and the attacker appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, protesters this weekend have been burning cars and using petrol bombs to confront police, who have taken steps to reduce tensions and detain any protesters. Local media in Liverpool predict the scale of the riots will only increase as protesters use stones and Molotov cocktails.
Jenny Sims, the assistant chief constable for the Merseyside Police, stressed: “The behaviour we have seen today in Liverpool city centre is completely unacceptable. What should have been a sunny Saturday on the historic waterfront to be enjoyed by people of all ages turned into an afternoon of unashamed disorder and violence, which potentially put decent members of the public, including children, at risk.”
Footage posted on social media showed crowds of anti-immigrant protesters gathered along Liverpool’s waterfront, shouting slogans such as “Stop the boats,” a reference to the boats used by asylum seekers to cross the Channel to mainland Britain. The Metropolitan Police meanwhile said several officers injured dealing with “serious disorder.”
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Extra police units deployed to tackle protesters in Northern Ireland’s capital Belfast after demonstrators set off projectiles and fireworks outside City Hall. Cars and buildings in the city came under fire on Saturday night after a group of rioters moved on a Muslim community centre. The counter-protest set up outside City Hall, with hundreds of people shouting pro-immigration slogans, further angering protesters demanding restrictions on migration, according to Irish media.
The anti-immigrant protesters from both communities gathered in significant numbers on Saturday, waving English and Irish national flags and anti-immigrant placards. Others waved Palestinian flags and trade union banners. During the event, a number of anti-immigration protesters gathered on the other side of the road and verbal abuse exchanged between them. The group chanted “Islam out!” and unfurled Union flags.
Police from Northern Ireland in protective gear moved out to form a physical barrier to separate the groups. The standoff continued for some time, with more law enforcement firings continuing. Police officers made arrests and an ambulance treated one casualty.
Blackpool, Blackburn, Manchester
Some of the biggest riots of the day took place in Blackpool, where fighting and throwing objects at police officers reportedly took place near the Winter Gardens, but there were no particularly large protests in Blackburn. Ten people arrested and four police officers injured during protests in Sunderland, north-east England, on Friday. Those detained face charges for a range of offences, including disorderly conduct and burglary. Hundreds of rioters pelted police with stones, shouted anti-Islamic slogans and attacked a local mosque, PA Media reported. Police called the actions “totally unacceptable.”
In Britain’s third-largest city, Manchester, crowds of protesters marched through the city centre on Saturday carrying placards with slogans such as “Save Our Children.” They were also met by a counter-protest by anti-racism campaigners who carried placards with slogans such as “No to fascism and no to racism.”
According to the respective police departments of each city and county, there were at least 20 arrests in Hull, at least 11 arrests in Liverpool, at least 12 arrests in Sunderland, two arrests in Belfast in Northern Ireland and several arrests in Bristol on Saturday. More than 90 people have been arrested after officers were injured in violent protests across the UK as the Prime Minister Keir Starmer backs police in their bid to “keep the streets safe.”
