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Violent outbreaks spread across the UK on Saturday with far-right thugs hurling bricks, bottles and chairs at the police as demonstrations broke out in more than half a dozen cities.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper condemned the “thuggery” and “criminal disorder” that has followed in the wake of the tragic Southport stabbings, warning that anyone involved in the ongoing violence “will pay the price”.
“Criminal violence and disorder has no place on Britain’s streets,” she said on Saturday afternoon following clashes in cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Hull, Nottingham and Belfast.
“We’ve been clear to the police that they have our full backing in taking the strongest possible action against perpetrators, including making sure that there are more prosecutors, there are sufficient prison places and also that the courts stand ready because anyone who engages in this kind of disorder needs to be clear that they will pay the price,” the Labour MP added.
Ms Cooper said perpetrators face arrests, prosecution, financial penalties, imprisonment and travel bans to ensure that communities can feel safe.
However, she stopped short of recalling Parliament, a demand made earlier in the day by Tory leadership hopeful Priti Patel, who described the government’s response to disorder in the UK as “troubling and inadequate”.
Ms Cooper attended emergency talks with prime minister Keir Starmer on Saturday, who said the police have his full support to take action against the “extremists” on the street who were trying to “sow hate” by intimidating communities.
But shadow home secretary James Cleverly urged the government to “do more” to restore public order and “send a clear message to the thugs”.
The growing political row over the response comes as Britain was engulfed in another day of violence. In Liverpool, far-right thugs pelted officers with bricks and bottles who in return used tear gas as they struggled to keep apart protesters and counter-protesters.
Merseyside Police said a number of officers were injured during the confrontations and condemned the “despicable behaviour”.
The force said that 11 people have been arrested and two officers had been hospitalised, one with a broken jaw and another with a broken nose.
Spellow Hub, a library which reopened last year and provides support for people of all abilities to gain education and a path to employment, was also lit on fire, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
Bricks were thrown at officers in Stoke-on-Trent, fireworks were thrown in exchanges between an anti-Islamic group and an anti-racism rally in Belfast and windows of a hotel which has been used to house migrants were smashed in Hull.
Scuffles broke out as opposing groups faced each other in Nottingham, with bottles thrown from both sides, and chants of “England ’til I die” and “Tommy Robinson” drowned out by boos from the anti-racism counter-protesters.
Around 150 people carrying St George’s flags shouting “you’re not English any more” and “paedo Muslims off our street” were greatly outnumbered in Leeds by hundreds of counter-protesters shouting “Nazi scum off our streets”.
In Hull, four people were arrested after three officers were hurt during a protest in which a group of people targeted a hotel which houses asylum seekers.
Humberside Police Chief Superintendent Darren Wildbore said officers faced eggs and bottles being thrown as windows were smashed at the hotel which has housed migrants.
In Bristol, police made 14 arrests because of violent disorder in the city centre which Avon and Somerset Police described as “completely unacceptable”.
Further protests are planned for Sunday and more trouble is likely in the coming days, police said.
“We know people will try and do this again and policing has been and will continue to be ready,” said Chief Constable BJ Harrington, who speaks on public order for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
“There are 130 extra units in place across the country, meaning almost 4,000 extra public order-trained officers to deploy.
“So if you’re planning to cause trouble and disorder our message is very simple - we’ll be watching you.”
The weekend protests followed a night of “unforgivable” violence in Sunderland, which saw a Citizens Advice Bureau office burned down and a police centre looted. Four police officers were injured in clashes with far-right protesters and 10 arrests were made.
A priest at Sunderland Minster said yobs tried to smash a gravestone to use as missiles during widespread violence in the city, adding that they were guilty of “an act of sacrilege”.
More than 35 “Enough is Enough” protests are planned across the UK this weekend along with several counter-protests led by groups such as Stand Up to Racism.
The widespread disruption has torn through the country this week in the wake of the Southport stabbings, where three young girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Merseyside on Monday.
False claims spread on social media that the suspect was an asylum seeker, with police forced to make the unusual move of denying the supposed name of the suspect that was circulating online.
Amid continued fears over the threat from the far-right, a judge on Thursday named the stabbing suspect as Axel Rudakubana, 17, in an attempt to counter false information on social media.
However, it has done little to dissuade far-right groups in the UK who are utilising the false online information to push anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Chair of Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, Qari Asim, said the Muslim community is “deeply worried and anxious about the planned protests by the far-right groups across the country”.
He said: “This intimidation and violence is the inevitable, devastating, outcome of rising Islamophobia that has been enabled to fester on social media, in parts of the mainstream media and by some populist leaders.”
Thousands of people had turned out to pay their respects to Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, at a vigil in Southport on Tuesday.
Violence later erupted outside a mosque in the town and 53 police officers and three police dogs were injured.
On Wednesday, 100 people were arrested in Whitehall as the disorder descended onto the capital as far-right protesters threw flares towards Downing Street and the Cenotaph. Further violence broke out in Manchester, Aldershot and Hartlepool.
Communities in Sunderland, blighted with far-right violence on Friday evening, started a clean-up operation in the city on Saturday.
Brett Redmayne, 43, saw the aftermath of the violence on Saturday after a police office was looted and photos on social media show a blackened Citizens Advice Bureau office which appeared to have been set alight.
Mr Redmayne said: “The atmosphere around the city with the hundreds that showed up was one of support and unity.
“These people who rioted don’t speak for Sunderland and we are ashamed and embarrassed. This morning, though, we all wanted to show support and help clean the city.
“I saw smashed windows and glass, but the council had worked hard as well through the night to clean a lot up, credit has to go to Sunderland Council.”
