Thugs “hijacked” Nangang, family members are grief-stricken – MP

The Southport MP said “thugs” were responsible for the violence, which left 39 police officers injured.

Riot breaks out in Merseyside town hours after vigil Remembering the victims of a knife attack at a dance school on Monday in which three girls were killed.

Merseyside Police said officers were attacked with bricks, a police car was set on fire and eight officers were seriously injured.

Councilman Patrick Hurley called the violence, which took place near the mosque, “appalling.”

Hurley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the “riots” were “led by people from outside the city”.

Police said the violence was believed to involve supporters of the English Defence League.

Hurley condemned the “thugs who used a train to kill three children” to “serve their own political agenda.”

Merseyside Police released the names of the three girls killed during a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop at Hart Space Studios in Hart Street on Tuesday.

They are Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.

A peaceful vigil was held outside the Atkinson Gallery on Lord Street at around 6pm local time, with an estimated 1,000 people in attendance.

However, throughout the day, rumours circulated online that a demonstration was planned near a mosque on St Luke’s Road.

At around 19:45, demonstrators began to gather and confront the police.

As the unrest escalated, officers donned protective gear and used riot shields to fend off bricks, wheelie bins and other objects thrown at them.

A police car was also set on fire.

Hurley said it was “reprehensible” that police officers were “being hit with bricks by these thugs” while they were treating injured victims the day before.

The councillor said they had “held the grief of towns and families hostage”.

“These people have absolutely no respect for the families of the dead and injured, and absolutely no respect for this town,” he said.

The ambulance service said a total of 27 officers were taken to hospital, 12 of whom were treated at the scene and released.

A section 60 24-hour order was put in place, giving police additional stop and search powers.

A section 34 order was also put in place, allowing police to direct those engaging in anti-social behaviour or “likely to engage in such behaviour” out of the area.

Merseyside Police said additional officers would remain in the area “to provide a visible police presence and reassure the community”.

Assistant Chief Superintendent Alex Goss said it was “disgusting” that such a thing could happen in a “devastated” community.

He said police had faced “serious incidents of violence” and “I am very proud to see off-duty officers returning to support colleagues who have shown courage in the face of ongoing attacks.”

ACC Goss also thanked officers from Greater Manchester Police, Cheshire Police, Lancashire Police and North Wales Police for their mutual help and support.

He added that many of the people involved in the unrest “do not live in the Merseyside area and do not care about the people of Merseyside”.

He said: “Unfortunately, criminals damaged the garden wall, attacked our officers with bricks, set fire to members of the public’s cars and damaged cars parked in the mosque’s car park.”

“This is not the way to treat a community, especially a community that is still recovering from the events of Monday.”

‘Concerned about safety’

A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder following Monday’s attack.

ACC Goss said: “There has been a lot of speculation and assumptions about the status of a 17-year-old male currently in police custody, and some have taken advantage of this to create violence and chaos in the streets.

“We have already said the person arrested was born in the UK and speculation now is not helpful to anyone.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on TVX that people in Southport were “shocked” after “yesterday’s terrorist attack”.

He said those who “hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and brutality” were an affront to the community and would “feel the full force of the law”.

Families living nearby told the BBC they feared for their safety as stones flew and police hurriedly donned riot gear and took up shields.

A young woman screamed in front of a car as she tried to drive her daughter away: “I can’t believe this is happening in Southport.”

The riots began when hundreds of people gathered near a local mosque and attacked the front of the mosque, throwing bricks, bottles, fireworks and stones, many wearing hoods and covering their faces with scarves.

Merseyside Police said those behind the violence were provoked by social media posts that falsely suggested Islamists were involved in Monday’s stabbings.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has previously warned against false information being spread in relation to the attack.

It is not clear what links the suspect has to Islam.

Mr Cooper later said it was “appalling” that police officers in Southport were attacked by “street thugs who have no respect for a grieving community”.

“I think everyone should show respect to the grieving community and also to the police officers who are urgently conducting a criminal investigation and who showed heroism and bravery in the face of these horrific attacks yesterday,” she said.

Emily Spurrell, Merseyside’s police and crime commissioner, also said in a statement from X that she was “utterly appalled by these disgraceful scenes of violence”.

“This community has experienced unimaginable tragedy and people are grieving.

She added: “This behaviour is abhorrent and will only cause further harm and distress.”

Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy posted on X that more than 1,000 Southport residents gathered for a vigil to remember the little girls who died, those who remain dying in hospital and all those who witnessed and were traumatised by yesterday’s events.

“That’s what we should be focusing on,” she said.