British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has convened police leaders for an emergency meeting following a second night of violent far-right protests after a stabbing spree in the town of Southport earlier in the week.
Starmer called the meeting at Downing Street on Thursday to demonstrate the government’s “full backing” for police amid “multiple high-profile incidents of extreme violence and public disorder on our streets”, said an official statement.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Starmer would tell police leaders that “while the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs”, he would make it clear that criminals exploiting that right to “sow hatred” and carry out violent acts would “face the full force of the law”.
The country is reeling since the stabbing on Monday at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the English seaside town of Southport, which killed three girls – Bebe King, six; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine. Eight other children and two adults were also wounded.
The 17-year-old suspect, named as Axel Rudakubana, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, facing three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder following the killings.
Prior to his court appearance, the suspect’s identity had been withheld owing to his age, but Liverpool judge Andrew Menary allowed the details to be released, justifying the decision on grounds of him turning 18 next week.
Even though little was previously known about the suspect other than that he was born in Britain, the stabbing had been used by far-right activists spreading misinformation online to stoke anger at immigrants and Muslims.
Protests led by the far-right on Wednesday night took place in three cities – London, Hartlepool and Manchester.
In London, crowds massed outside Starmer’s 10 Downing Street official residence in London, throwing beer cans and bottles and chanting “Shame on you”, launching flares at a nearby statue of wartime leader and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill. More than 100 people were arrested.
In Hartlepool, demonstrators set police cars on fire and threw bottles and eggs at the officers, with police saying eight arrests were made.
A smaller disturbance was reported in Manchester.
The previous night, more than 50 police officers were injured in violent clashes in Southport, in which bricks were thrown at a mosque and rubbish bins and vehicles were set on fire, hours after a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims. Fifty-three police officers were injured.
Police have blamed members of the far-right English Defence League grouping, an Islamophobic organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.
