Far-right protesters clash with police in UK cities as unrest spreads
Al Jazeera
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned the far right for the unrest and backed police to take strong action.
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.
