Keir Starmer says Southport rioters will feel ‘full force of the law’ | UK news

Governor Keir Starmer said those who rioted in Southport on Tuesday night “will feel the full force of the law” after a police vehicle was set alight and missiles were hurled at officers.

This came after far-right protesters hurled glass bottles and bricks at police and stormed a mosque after a knife attack that left three children dead.

The Prime Minister said they had “hijacked a vigil for the victims with violence and assault” and “offended a grieving community”.

Merseyside Police said 22 officers were injured during the night of rioting, eight of them with “serious injuries” including fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and concussion.

Three police dogs were also injured, two of them with injuries to their legs from hurled bricks and a third with burns to his hind legs.

As officers from five police stations struggled to quell the unrest, police introduced 24-hour section 60 orders, giving officers enhanced stop and search powers, and section 34 dispersal orders, which allow them to seize any items, including vehicles used in anti-social behaviour, and order people to leave the area.

Deputy Chief Superintendent Alex Goss said: “Sadly the offenders breached a garden wall and used the bricks to attack officers, set fire to a member of the public’s car and damaged a car parked in the mosque car park.”

“This is a poor way to treat a community, particularly one that is still reeling from Monday’s incident.”

“I urge anyone with information or video footage of those involved in this shocking act to come forward so that those responsible can be identified and arrested,” he said.

The protest was scheduled to start at 8pm but people began gathering in the streets before then and the situation quickly turned violent.

Protesters dragged bins out of pubs and factories and built barricades in side streets to secure more weapons to throw at police.

Others attacked a nearby mosque, throwing bricks at its windows, and then, after dark, a group of men dug up a driveway to pick up stones to throw at police, while across the road another group tried to break into a corner shop.

As night fell, small groups scattered and roamed the streets, setting fires to the roads, destroying residents’ walls and fences, using bricks as missiles and wooden planks to fuel the fires.

Police from four nearby police stations were deployed as officers struggled to control the situation.

Three children were stabbed to death in Monday’s attack – Alice DaSilva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancomb, 7. Eight other children suffered stab wounds, five were in critical condition, and two adults were seriously injured.

In the aftermath of the attack, for which a 17-year-old boy was arrested, several false accusations were circulated on social media, falsely naming the perpetrator. The only details released by police about the suspect are described as a 17-year-old born in Cardiff, but from the village of Banks, Lancashire.

Online misinformation has previously been condemned by Home Affairs Minister Yvette Cooper, who on Tuesday night said it was “terrible” that police officers in Southport were facing attack from “street thugs who have no respect for a grieving community”, adding that it was “an utter disgrace”.

Hundreds of people took part in a peaceful vigil outside Southport’s Atkinson Arts Centre on Tuesday night, many leaving flowers, tribute cards and tears, but the vigil was followed by a far-right protest outside a local mosque that quickly turned violent.

Demonstrators gathered in the area of ​​Hart Street where Monday’s killing took place, where a crowd of several hundred could be heard chanting Islamophobic slogans and chants such as “We will not tolerate surrender,” “English until death” and “We want our country back” as a police helicopter circled overhead.

A police vehicle was set on fire and others damaged before riot police charged into the protests, using tear gas on the angry crowd, many of whom, mostly men, had their faces covered.

Several police officers were injured when flower pots and empty boxes were among the missiles hurled at officers and at the Southport mosque building. A group of people attempted to overturn a riot vehicle. Some men pulled down a crumbling wall to use bricks as weapons to throw at officers. Others tore open black garbage bags looking for objects to throw.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s awful,” said passers-by, some of whom watched from the forecourt. “This isn’t going to accomplish anything,” said others.

Southport MP Patrick Hurley said he condemned any attacks on emergency services, adding: “These are the same services that responded to yesterday’s horrific attack.”

“I want to thank our community for coming together in support of all those affected by Monday’s tragic attack,” he said. “Nowhere was that more evident than in the solidarity, mourning and sympathy heard at today’s vigil.”

The violence was so severe that Merseyside Police was forced to call in reinforcements, who were rushed in from North Wales, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Merseyside Police said on Twitter that “officers who had finished their shift today are returning to work to support their colleagues in Southport.”