Good morning. If there was any expectation that the far-right violence that has spread across the UK since the killing of three young girls in Southport might fizzle out, it was dashed over the weekend.
There was disorder on Saturday in Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool and Belfast, and then yesterday in Rotherham, Tamworth, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Hull and Weymouth. In total, police attended 56 gatherings of the far right or counter-protesters over the two days. There were assaults on police officers and bystanders, missiles thrown, shops ransacked, and – amid flagrantly racist chanting – smashed windows and the lighting of fires at hotels housing asylum seekers.
