(Web Desk) - Far-right protesters have clashed with police at several rallies as unrest linked to misinformation about the murder of three young girls in a stabbing attack spread across the United Kingdom.
Riots involving hundreds of far-right anti-immigration protesters have erupted in several towns and cities in recent days after false information spread rapidly on social media that the suspect in Monday’s knife attack at a dance class for children in Southport was a Muslim immigrant.
Police have said the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was born in Cardiff, Wales, but protests by anti-immigration and anti-Muslim demonstrators have continued, descending into violence and rioting, including in the northeastern city of Sunderland on Friday evening.
Demonstrators threw chairs, flares and bricks at officers in the northwestern English city of Liverpool, while scuffles between police and protesters broke out in nearby Manchester.
Merseyside Police said “a number of officers have been injured as they deal with serious disorder” in Liverpool city centre.
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, fireworks were thrown amid tense exchanges between an anti-Muslim group and an anti-racism rally.
Some businesses in the city reported damage to property.
“I have no reason why they attacked us,” said Rahmi Akyol, standing outside his cafe in Belfast, whose glass doors were shattered after being attacked by dozens of people throwing bottles and chairs.
“I’ve lived here 35 years. My kids, my wife is from here. I don’t know what to say; it’s terrible,” he said.
In Leeds, approximately 150 people carrying English flags chanted, “You’re not English any more” while counterprotesters shouted “Nazi scum off our streets”. Opposing groups of protesters also faced off in the central city of Nottingham.
Authorities in the eastern city of Hull said four people were arrested and three officers were injured while dealing with protests where bottles were thrown.
At protests in London, police arrested several people including one for making a Nazi salute towards a counter-protester.
Mosques across the country have been advised to strengthen security, while police have deployed extra officers.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, facing his first big test since being elected a month ago, has condemned the “far right” for the violence and backed police to take strong action.
Starmer held talks with senior ministers on Saturday and said there was “no excuse for violence” at the protests.
The last time major widespread violence erupted in the UK was in 2011 when thousands took to the streets for five nights after police shot dead a Black man in London.
On Friday night, hundreds of anti-immigration demonstrators in Sunderland threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque, before overturning vehicles, setting a car alight and starting a fire near a police station.
Four injured police officers were taken to hospital and 12 people were arrested, Mark Hall, chief police superintendent of the Sunderland area, told reporters on Saturday.