Locals in Southport have gathered for a clean-up operation outside a mosque after right-wing rioters brought further misery to a town already reeling from a knife attack that left three children dead.
Dozens of residents were outside Southport mosque with brushes and shovels on Wednesday morning, after violent protests that saw bricks, stones and bottles thrown at police and cars set alight.
Norman Wallis, chief executive of Southport Pleasureland, said people had travelled from out of town to wreak havoc, leaving locals to clean up the mess.
Officers suffered serious injuries when bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set alight during violent protests following a vigil for three girls killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine; Bebe King, six; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all fatally stabbed in Southport on Monday, while a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons because of his age, remains in custody accused of murder and attempted murder.
Mr Wallis, who was helping at the junction of Sussex Road and St Luke’s Road on Wednesday, said volunteers joined the clean-up partly in response to a social media plea he put out after witnessing the violence on Tuesday evening.
He added: “It’s horrendous what those hooligans have done last night.
“It was like a war scene. People from out of town just causing absolute mayhem.
“People in hoods climbing up lampposts, throwing bricks, they set a police car on fire.
“But none of those people were the people of Southport. The people of Southport are the ones here today cleaning the mess up.
“Those people from out of town – they came in in buses and cars and had a change of clothes. They just started to riot and do this.”
Merseyside Police said “a large group of people – believed to be supporters of the English Defence League” – began to throw items such as bricks towards the mosque in the seaside town at about 7.45pm.
Officers put on helmets and riot gear after stones and bottles were launched at them and police vehicles were damaged and set on fire.
In a post on social media, the force said shops had been “broken into and looted”, adding that “those responsible will be brought to justice”.
Elsie’s mother, Jenni 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.”
The troubling scenes saw 27 officers taken to hospital, with 12 others being treated and discharged at the scene, North West Ambulance Service said.
Merseyside Police said eight officers suffered serious injuries including fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and concussion.
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said the officers injured in Tuesday’s protests will “now be unavailable for duty in what is an incredibly busy time for the force”.
Videos posted on social media showed people throwing wheelie bins and bricks at officers who held riot shields to push the crowds back.
The chairman of Merseyside Police Federation, Chris McGlade, said more than 50 officers had been hurt in a “sustained and vicious attack”.
He added: “Police officers are not robots. We are mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters. Husbands, wives and partners.
“We should be going home at the end of our shifts. Not to hospital.”
The violent protests followed hundreds of people taking part in a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims outside Southport’s Atkinson arts venue, with many in tears as they laid flowers and cards of remembrance.
As well as the three children who died, eight other youngsters suffered stab wounds and five are in a critical condition, alongside two adults who were also critically injured, police said.
The vigil was followed by the protest outside the mosque as demonstrators chanted far-right slogans and clashed with police in St Luke’s Road.
Southport MP Patrick Hurley said, on Wednesday, that rioters must face the “full force of the law”, saying they were “utterly disrespecting the families of the dead and injured children”.
“Beered-up thugs”
He condemned “beered-up thugs” who threw bricks, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Even if this lad, the 17-year-old, turns out to be Muslim, under no circumstances does that justify any attack on a mosque by anybody at all.”
False claims had spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.
The Prime Minister said rioters had “hijacked” a vigil for victims and will “feel the full force of the law”.
Writing on X, Sir Keir Starmer said: “The people of Southport are reeling after the horror inflicted on them yesterday.
“They deserve our support and our respect. Those who have hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery have insulted the community as it grieves.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the rioting as “violent attacks from thugs on the streets”, which she branded “appalling”.
The suspect, who was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, is from the village of Banks, just outside Southport, and a road in the area was cordoned off by detectives on Monday afternoon.
Police have said that, although the motive for the attack is unclear, it is not believed to be terror-related.
A 32-year-old man from Standish was arrested on suspicion of possession of a flick knife in Eastbank Street, near where the vigil took place on Tuesday evening.
He was taken into custody and there were no reports that anyone was injured during the incident, Merseyside Police said.
Related: Calls to impose tough sentences on Southport protesters