A summary of today's developments
Far-right rallies and counter-protests took place across several cities in England and in Northern Ireland on Saturday. Groups faced off in Belfast, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, Hull and Stoke-on-Trent. More violent disorder is expected with extra prosecutors called in to work this weekend.
Merseyside police said two officers have been taken to hospital, one with a suspected broken nose and another with a suspected broken jaw, following disorder in Liverpool city centre. Eleven arrests were made.
Avon and Somerset police said it has made multiple arrests while dealing with violent disorder in Bristol city centre.
Keir Starmer said police have the government’s “full support” to take action against “extremists” who attack officers and attempt to “sow hate” as he held talks with ministers over the violence across parts of England. Home secretary Yvette Cooper said she would work with forces to help ensure “consequences, arrests and prosecutions” for those responsible.
Three police officers have been injured and four people arrested amid disorder in Hull city centre. Humberside police said that “at this stage, three officers are believed to have suffered injuries” after a group of people targeted a hotel which houses asylum seekers.
A dispersal notice was authorised across Manchester city centre in order to assist police in dealing with protests, Greater Manchester police said on Saturday.
Twelve people were arrested in Sunderland for offences including violent disorder and burglary on Friday.
Sunderland Central MP Lewis Atkinson said he was “appalled” by disorder in the city centre, which included a police station and a Citizens Advice office being set on fire, as well as a parked car. Some shops were looted. Many people turned out on Saturday morning to help with clean-up efforts.
The former home secretary Priti Patel criticised the government’s reponse to the violent disorder that has taken place since Monday’s Southport attack, and said that that parliament “must be recalled immediately”.
“Mindless violence” by a “minority with an agenda of hate” was on display on Friday night, the deputy leader of Sunderland city council said. Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Kelly Chequer said: “What we saw was totally unacceptable.”
“Violence, looting and vandalism – all of this is not protesting, it’s criminal behaviour,” Northumbria police and crime commissioner Susan Dungworth said on Saturday. She described Friday night’s violent disorder as “inexcusable criminality that targeted Sunderland and its communities”.
Counter-protests took place in Bradford and Liverpool on Friday evening, said the campaign group Stand Up to Racism.
Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Christian leaders were among those calling for calm at any demonstrations this weekend, amid warnings of potential escalation of violent disorder.
“Law and order” isn’t going to be enough to tackle the “undercurrent of Islamophobic hate [and] anti-immigrant hate” of the violent disorder that has spread after the Southport attack, said the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly shared a post on his X account, saying “we cannot let rioting thugs and extremists win”. He urged the government to “back our police to do what is necessary to maintain law and order and stop any further escalation”.
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick condemned “far-right” organising of riots across the country and said “if there is a case” for proscribing the EDL it should be considered. Jenrick criticised Nigel Farage’s remarks about the Southport stabbings, saying they did not “make the situation better”.
Two men have been arrested after objects were thrown and racist abuse was shouted at a demonstration outside a hotel housing migrants in Aldershot earlier this week. Hampshire police said a minority of about 200 people who gathered outside the Potters International hotel became involved in the disruption on Wednesday evening.
There is no intelligence to suggest disorder similar to that in England in the wake of the Southport attack will occur in Scotland, police have said. Police Scotland has stepped up patrols across the country, the force said, in response to scenes south of the border, with crowds rioting on Friday night.
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