Support truly
independent journalism
Shopkeeper Chanaka Balasuryla looks to the sky above Southport at a police helicopter whirring overhead, and says ominously: “They are coming.” In his mind, he is racing against time to barricade his corner store in the next hour.
He has just read a message spreading across social media that claims groups of far-right demonstrators - just a day after rioters broke in and looted his family-run shop - had surrounded the police station and were marching in the store’s direction after proclaiming, “We will be back.”
The father-of-two of Sri Lankan background has lived in this Merseyside community for 28 years after moving from London.
He has been inundated with offers of help and fundraisers to help rebuild Windsor Mini Mart after watching his shop nearly get destroyed while fires spread nearby which could have trapped his partner and child upstairs.
“Have you ever done this before?” he asks the local handyman working for free in the blazing sun, drilling solid metal plates onto his green front door.
“Nah, we just make it up as we go along,” the carpenter replies, half-jokingly. “But we’ll make it safe.”
The social media post turned out to be fake. In reality, the far right was not starting another riot, but the post had already served its purpose of spreading fear yet again through a traumatised community. Right-wing accounts with large followings such as Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson were accused of “whipping up hatred” towards migrants after lies were spread about the identity of the 17-year-old suspect charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.
Far-right riots spread across Southport, London and Hartlepool – believed to be carried out by supporters of the English Defence League – with more planned across the country this weekend.
It was decided during a court hearing on Thursday that Axel Rudakubana could be named after the Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC said he was turning 18 next week and wanted to prevent the further spread of misinformation.
Now the grief-stricken neighbourhood of St Luke’s Road in Southport is left picking up the pieces after the carnage of Tuesday night which saw cars destroyed, shops looted, a mosque vandalised and 22 police officers injured - eight of them suffering fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and concussion.
Tony Hill, 44, volunteered to rebuild the wall of the vandalised Southport Islamic Society Mosque after thugs ripped it down and smashed cars, police shields and members with bricks.
He told The Independent: “You see it on the news and it just doesn’t make any sense. You’ve got a vigil down the road and then you’ve got this going on. These people here have done nothing wrong.
“We just try and get it done before someone makes a mess again. If we have to rebuild it again afterwards, we will rebuild it again afterwards.”
On a thankfully calm night for Southport, an ever-growing sea of flowers, children’s toys and candles were left outside pensioner Mike Ainscough’s home - as close as you can get to the police cordon surrounding The Hart Space, where a Taylor Swift-themed dance class turned into the “worst atrocity in living memory”, according to new Southport MP Patrick Hurley.
The former mountain rescue volunteer’s routine now sees him get up at 2am to pick out all the children’s toys and bring them inside, before placing them delicately in the same position again the next morning.
The 82-year-old said: “People just stand here and cry. One gran said, ‘How do I explain this to my grandchildren? They saw it on TV?’ We ease the grief of people who are feeling it.
“Little ones have donated their own teddies but then get sad and miss them so I let them come and visit them before they go to bed.
“My dining room is a disaster. It is clogged with teddy bears but I can’t bear to leave them out at night in case they get ruined.”
Others are also chipping in to help with the tributes, by topping up water and plant food and removing dangerous candles. Supermarkets have donated buckets to keep flowers alive for as long as possible and police officers - some working back-to-back 14-hour shifts - guard the scene while being offered chocolates by visitors.
Rob Shnak, a worshipper at the mosque, had a message for the rioters: “The far right will hate this seeing us all working together to fix everything. The English Defence League are not protecting anyone. They should call them the English Destruction League; they are destroying their own country. They can’t spread their hate here - it doesn’t work.”
