Far-right activists and fake news websites spread misinformation about the Southport tragedy on social media – sparking an angry mob of outsiders to riot on the streets of the seaside town last night.
Speculation as to the identity of the 17-year-old boy, who remains in custody accused of murder and attempted murder, swirled last night – with police saying thugs used this to bring ‘violence and disorder to our streets’.
Russian state media were among the sources falsely saying the suspect had arrived by boat into the UK last year and sharing claims he was on a MI6 watch list, The Telegraph reports. Unsubstantiated claims further said that he had shouted ‘Allahu akbar’.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper slammed online brutes for peddling misinformation that risked undermining the criminal investigation and was disrespectful to the dead children’s families. Scotland’s former first minister Humza Yousaf called for the English Defence League (EDL) to be proscribed under terrorism laws.
The windows of the Southport Islamic Society Mosque lay shattered this morning after yobs wielding bricks smashed the panes of glass, shouting ‘English till I die’ as they wrecked a path of destruction.
It came just after a peaceful vigil last night where thousands of mourners had gathered to remember six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar, who were killed in the bloodbath.
And today officials have spoken out to slam the ‘propaganda and lies’ that were used to ‘whip up hatred’ online.
Riot police hold back protesters near a burning police vehicle after disorder broke out in Southport
A police van was set on fire near a mosque in Southport on Tuesday evening as riots broke out
A burnt out police van near a mosque in Southport as shocking riots broke out on Tuesday
A baby seat can be seen in the back seat of a car whose windows have been smashed through outside the mosque in Southport
Glass lies shattered inside the car in the parking lot of the Southport Islamic Society Mosque on Sussex road
Damage to the Southport Islamic Society Mosque after rioters congregated around the sacred building
Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell said there is a ‘strong feeling’ that members of the English Defence League have used the Southport stabbing to ‘whip up hatred’.
Ms Spurrell told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that the ‘violence and abuse’ towards police officers on Tuesday was ‘utterly abhorrent and completely unacceptable’.
She said: ‘(Merseyside Police) will be reviewing the footage of exactly who was there last night, they have been monitoring the online activity as well, trying to understand who was doing what.
‘They have said that they believe it was members of the English Defence League (EDL), they don’t believe it was individuals from the local area.
‘There is a strong feeling that there are individuals like the EDL, who have been using this incredibly tragic event to whip up hatred, incite violence, and that’s the result of what we saw last night.
‘There is a strong sense that this is people who have come from out-of-area simply to create violence and abuse against officers and towards a community who are not in any way accepting of this behaviour.’
People living near the violence in the seaside town today spoke of their terror as rioting and fireballs exploded outside their doors.
Thugs tore garden walls down brick by brick as they used the stones as ammunition to hurl at police officers, setting fire to wheelie bins in a rampage near the mosque.
Around 200 protesters were seen taking to the streets. Police believe many were EDL supporters
Wheelie bins that appear to have been melted lie in the road as the street is cleaned up around them
Southport burns: A street near a mosque goes up in flames as violent thugs took to the streets last night
Three girls were killed in a bloody rampage on Hart Street on Monday. On Tuesday, a vigil was held for the victims on Lord Street. While it was going on, a man with a flick knife was arrested on Eastbank Street. On St Luke’s Road, riots erupted outside a mosque – also on Tuesday
One terrified family – whose parents are originally immigrants from India – told the Mail that they feared their ethnicity would make them a target and locked their doors, turned their lights out and hid inside.
It came after a British conspiracy theorist had filmed the crime scene, calling for emergency military rule and mass deportations in a YouTube video that amassed 30,000 views in just two hours, The Guardian reports.
The newspaper revealed that the source of a false name given for the attacker was a website called Channel 3 Now, whose content includes potentially AI-generated US and UK news, before being shared on social media.
Patrick Hurley, the MP for Southport slammed ‘beered-up thugs’ who threw bricks towards a mosque after misinformation was spread on social media about the identity of the attacker.
He told Times Radio: ‘Because of the propaganda and the lies that were being spread around on social media from within minutes of the news breaking on Monday afternoon about the tragic incident.
‘We’d had all sorts of lies being spread and misinformation being spread about the alleged perpetrator and some people with the best of intentions then they tried to rebut this, they tried to argue back, but all that happens is you’re just amplifying people’s false messaging.’
He added to 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.
‘Not least these beered-up thugs who have descended on the town last night intent on causing trouble.
Broken glass amongst other items is pictured on Sussex road, after violent protest following a vigil for victims
The flowers appeared to be gratefully recieved, as it was given to the Mosque this morning
A hanging basket of purple flowers were delivered to the religious centre, which became a focus for last night’s violence
‘We all have to stand against that and Southport will not accept this. Southport will unite against this sort of thing.’
Backing the MP, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner slammed the ‘disgraceful’ rioting in Southport and ‘disrespectful’ social media theories as she urged people to allow the police to establish the facts.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, the Deputy Prime Minister said: ‘I think there’s been a couple of instances recently where, especially particularly online, where theories and things are whipped up, whereas actually it turns out to be not true or not the full picture.
‘And I think there’s a culture now where people want to instantly get the facts, but actually it’s important that police and those people that are doing the work are able to carry out that work. And it’s important for justice as well, because we have law and order in the UK, and it’s important that those authorities are able to establish the facts and then to be able to bring those forward.
‘But speculation and some of the untruths that have been put around social media, not only is that creating tensions and fear in the community, but it’s disrespectful to family who maybe want those answers that haven’t got those answers.’
She added that it is ‘really unhelpful for the police’ and ‘my plea is that we all need to step back and just wait and then that information will come but allow the police to do their work’.
ITV’s UK Editor also revealed the shocking threat of the thugs in a video which showed his team being followed by hooded yobs yelling abuse at him, and saying the deaths were ‘all your fault’.
Paul Brand told Good Morning Britain: ‘It’s difficult for us to engage with this crowd – they don’t want us to be there because if they’re captured on camera their criminality may well get them into trouble.’
The riots came barely an hour after thousands of mourners gathered for a vigil at the Atkinson in Southport
In stark contrast to the riots on the streets, there was a sense of tranquility at the site of the vigil as night fell
The car outside the religious building has been smashed following the rioting last night
Hundreds of protesters, many masked, battled with riot police officers
He added: ‘These people had come already masked up. They had come with their hoods up. They wanted, in my view, a fight as they arrived into the town.’
The Malakar family live in Sussex Road where the rioting was going on. The parents were originally immigrants from India and their three children were born in the UK.
University student Raj Malakar, 19, told the Mail: ‘It was crazy to witness everything. I don’t see any justifiable point at what they were doing. It was heinous.
‘It was frightening, we were fearful for our own safety. Due to our ethnic origin we closed all the blinds, turned the lights off and hid ourselves inside. We were all very shaken and my mum didn’t sleep last night. We didn’t know what would happen to us.
‘I came home from university expecting to relax for three months and this happens.’
Footage shows thugs smashing their front garden wall and using the bricks as ammunition.
A few doors down the road Denise Mace, 51, and her chef husband Graham, 52, watched from inside also fearing for their safety and worrying their car parked outside would be smashed up.
As the police were forced back they quietly pleaded with officers to hold their ground as they filmed from an upstairs window.
England flags were on display at the anti-Muslim demonstration in Southport
Smoke is seen billowing from a police van which was set ablaze. The mosque is seen on the right
Tensions flared in Southport last night, with police saying supporters of the EDL were targeting the mosque
‘It was terrifying, absolutely horrendous. We didn’t know if they would come into our house. We were very lucky compared to other people. We were scared they would break in.’
Mrs Mace, a care consultant, said the local imam used to live next door and was a ‘beautiful man.’
‘He would bring us food at Ramadan,’ she said. ‘This is not Southport, it was by senseless yobs who have come here for a fight.
Pensioner May Small, 71, and husband David, 73, watched on helplessly as they yobs broke a neighbour’s wall, took bricks from their wall and attacked police.
She said she was alerted by a commotion and then saw the rioters just ‘piling in.’
‘It was frightening. They were throwing bottles, taking down walls and throwing bricks. I was stood outside watching and then backed away into my doorway. They even came down the path looking for missiles and I told them to clear off.’
She said she has lived in the street for ‘many years’ and there has never been trouble before.’
The pensioner added defiantly: ‘I would like to kick their arse, but you can’t can you?’
The aftermath of the riots, where police vans were burnt and rocks were launched
Rioters wearing masks launch missiles towards police officers in Southport
Protesters cheer as they launch bins at riot police vans amid ugly scenes in Southport
Chanaka Balasuriya, 48, was forced to watch on CCTV as rioters broke into his corner shop and looted the contents.
A married father-of-two who runs the Windsor Mini Mart, he said the yobs smashed his windows, damaged his shutters and stole thousands of pounds of stock, which is not covered by insurance.
He had shut the shop for an hour while the vigil was going on in the town out of ‘respect for the three girls’ who died.
Mr Balauriya reopened the shop after 7pm but decided to close his business early to go home as strangers were arriving in force.
‘A neighbour came over and told me ‘don’t stay, go.”
Over the next few hours he monitored his internal and external CCTV cameras as the rioters caused chaos.
‘There was hundreds and hundreds of people and they got metal poles to use as weapons,’ he said.
When the yobs began to smash his shop door down he called 999 but police were unable to stop them. ‘They couldn’t come closer,’ he said.
A wounded police officer with blood pouring down his head after being caught up in the riots
Rioters were seen jumping on police vans as things got out of control
Smoke billows behind riot police officers amid riots in the seaside town
A traffic cone is hurled by a masked man at a police officer near to a mosque in Southport
‘About 60 or 70 people forced their way into the shop. They mainly took all the expensive stuff like cigarettes and alcohol. Luckily they didn’t damage my fridges.
‘It’s pretty awful we have a very nice, quiet area and everyone is coming in to help.’
An added blow is that he had no insurance to cover the cost of the damage.
‘I lived in London for years and moved here to start this business four years ago. I have no insurance.’
He said he only restocked the shop the day before as he had been on holiday and returned to ‘do shopping.’ Now much of what he bought has been stolen.
‘I will definitely keep going. This is my everything.’
Commenting on the riots, he said: ‘These people are sick. They had a different agenda, they have not come to protest they came for something else. It’s not right.’
Robert Whitfield, 68, and his wife Helen, 51, run their own plumbing business and returned to their office opposite the mosque when they heard about the riots.
A police van was set on fire outside their business, burning the roadway, and their windows and frames were damaged.
Mrs Whitfield said: ‘It was frightening, thinking ‘that’s our business what’s going to happen to it.”
The couple described the riot as ‘outrageous’ and said the stabbings were ‘nothing to do with it.’
