British police boost presence after night of rioting in Sunderland
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British police boost presence after night of rioting in Sunderland
SUNDERLAND, England (Reuters) - British police are putting more officers on the streets amid warnings of more violent disorder this weekend and mosques have tightened security after anti-immigration protesters torched cars following the murder of three young girls.
Riots involving hundreds of people - or thousands in one protest in London - have erupted this week, after false information spread rapidly online that the suspect in the killings in the northwest town of Southport was a radical Muslim migrant.
Police have said the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, is a 17-year-old who was born in Cardiff, Wales.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, facing his first big test since being elected a month ago, has condemned the "far-right" for the violence, met police chiefs and backed forces to take strong action.
He has travelled twice to Southport since the attack, meeting community leaders and thanking the emergency services.
The last time major widespread violence erupted in Britain was in 2011 when thousands took to the streets for six nights after police shot dead a Black man in London.
On Friday night a few hundred anti-immigration demonstrators gathered in Sunderland, northeast England, where they 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.
