As the situation in Southport remains tense after violence last night, police are dealing with another protest outside Downing Street. It follows false reports that the suspect in Monday’s knife attack was an asylum seeker. The Southport MP, Patrick Hurley, has said rioters must face the “full force of the law” after 39 police officers suffered serious injuries during violent protests following a vigil for the victims of Monday’s knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.
Merseyside police said those involved in the violent unrest in the north-west seaside town on Tuesday evening – who they believe included supporters of the English Defence League – set alight cars, threw bricks at a local mosque, damaged a local convenience store and set wheelie bins on fire.
The violent protests, which began at about 7.45pm, followed a peaceful vigil for the victims of the attack outside Southport’s Atkinson arts venue attended by hundreds of people, with many in tears as they laid flowers and cards of remembrance.
The mother of one of the three girls killed in the knife attack made an impassioned plea to “stop the violence”.
Jenni Stancombe, the mother of Elsie Dot Stancombe, wrote on Facebook: “This is the only thing that I will write, but please please stop the violence in Southport tonight. The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.”
Elsie, seven, Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and Bebe King, six, were fatally stabbed in Southport on Monday. Eight other children suffered stab wounds and five are in a critical condition, alongside two adults who were also critically injured, police said.
Tributes have poured in for the three girls killed who police yesterday named as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
Eight other children suffered stab wounds at the summer holiday dance workshop. Five are in a critical condition, alongside two women who were also critically injured as they bravely tried to save the children.
But the rioting erupted barely an hour after thousands of mourners had gathered for a vigil to remember the victims.
