Police have revealed more photos of suspects they want to track down after a riot erupted outside a Holiday Inn in Manchester housing asylum seekers.
A man has been charged with attacking an officer during the disorder which broke out on Wednesday evening, amid similar clashes in other towns and cities following the Southport stabbings on Monday which left three young girls dead.
About 100 demonstrators gathered on Wednesday outside the Holiday Inn hotel on Oldham Road in Newton Heath, Manchester.
Greater Manchester Police have today issued an appeal for ‘information and footage’ while also sharing pictures of people they wish to speak to – while the hunt also goes on for thugs involved in another protest in Aldershot, Hampshire.
Joshua Stokes, 26, of Ten Acres Lane, Manchester, has been charged with violent disorder and attempted ABH of a police officer, the force also said, before he was remanded into custody to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates Court.
Greater Manchester Police today issued pictures of people they want to trace following violent disorder which broke out outside a Holiday Inn in Manchester on Wednesday evening
The force urged people to come forward with information after 100 demonstrators gathered on Wednesday outside the Holiday Inn hotel on Oldham Road in Newton Heath, Manchester
Greater Manchester Police urged anyone with information to contact the force on 101 or the via the website gmp.police.uk, quoting log 1369 of July 31 2024
Two members of the public were hurt during the unrest, including a bus driver who was forced to stop by the crowd, and a man who was hit by a projectile, though police said neither sustained serious injuries.
Objects, including beer bottles, were thrown at officers, but the force said no injuries had been reported by officers.
There were riots in Southport on Tuesday and in London, Hartlepool and Aldershot on Wednesday.
Esrlier today Hampshire Police released pictures of people they want to speak to over violent scenes outside the Potters International Hotel in Aldershot which also houses asylum seekers.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the riots were ‘not protest’ and ‘not legitimate’ as he vowed not to permit a “breakdown of law and order”.
Greater Manchester Police, issuing today’s appeal for information and images of people they wish to speak to, urged anyone with information to contact police on 101 or the force’s website at gmp.police.uk, quoting log 1369 of July 31 2024.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, six-year-old Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed when a knifeman attacked them during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Monday.
Eight other children were injured along with two adults – yoga instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes – as tributes to the victims have continued.
Axel Rudakubana, 17, from Banks in Lancashire, has been charged with their murders and attempted murders and was publicly identified for the first time yesterday as he appeared in court.
When Rudakubana appeared before court yesterday, a provisional trial date at Liverpool Crown Court, set to last six weeks, was scheduled for January 20 next year.
MANCHESTER: Riot police are seen outside a Holiday Inn in Newton Heath where protesters targeted in response to social media messages stating the venue was ‘housing illegal immigrants at the taxpayers expense’
MANCHESTER: Video shows protesters clashing with riot police with parts of the UK at boiling point
MANCHESTER: Protesters were seen launching glass bottles at a police van
He is next due to appear at Liverpool Crown Court on October 25 for a plea and trial preparation hearing and will be remanded in youth accommodation detention in the meantime.
Monday’s knife attack has sparked violent disorder in some towns and cities in England, including the capital London on Wednesday evening.
Home Office minister Lord Hanson today told would-be rioters to ‘be prepared to face the full force of the law on this criminal activity’, as the prospect of more than a dozen more protests in the coming days looms.
He said forces have the powers under intelligence-led policing to track ‘people who may be travelling to cause trouble and to cause conspiracy’ and to use facial recognition technology and other evidence to bring prosecutions.
Asked how concerned the Government was about fresh unrest this weekend, Lord Hanson told LBC Radio: ‘There is that potential.
‘But I always say to anybody who’s organising this, we will be watching you. If you are organising this now, we will be watching you.
‘We have powers under existing legislation to stop you organising this now and to take action accordingly, and if you do take action and are not part of any organised group, be prepared to face the full force of the law on this criminal activity.’
Asked whether those involved are from the far right, he said: ‘Some individuals will have far-right opinions, in my view, some might be caught up in the summer madness. Some might be people who’ve got genuine concerns.’
He urged them to protest peacefully and raise issues with their MP, adding: ‘What they can’t do is throw rocks at police officers, break windows in mosques and attack people in the streets and undertake street robbery as happened in some of the shops in the in Southport. That is simply not acceptable.’
LONDON: Violence erupted on the streets of the capital as flag-waving protesters clashed with police on Wednesday evening near Whitehall
LONDON: Protesters were seen wearing t-shirts with the faces of the three Southport victims on – despite families of the victims calling for the violence to stop
LONDON: Protesters hold a Union Jack banner which says: ‘Enough is enough. Stop the boats’
LONDON: A protester draped in a Union Jack flag was seen mounting a traffic light in front of an army of riot police officers
LONDON: Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against illegal immigration outside of Downing Street
The PA news agency found evidence of at least 15 protests advertised online, some calling for participants to take England flags and containing phrases such as ‘enough is enough’, ‘save our kids’ and ‘stop the boats’.
The protests are being planned for areas such as Southport, Leeds and Bristol, while two counter-demonstrations are also being advertised online.
Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram said he was ‘concerned’ that there could be a ‘repeat of violence somewhere in the Liverpool City Region’.
But he added: ‘We know exactly what we’d need to do to ensure that these things are nipped in the bud.’
Meanwhile, Cleveland Police have charged seven men with violent disorder offences after riots broke out in Hartlepool and have made more arrests – including an 11-year-old boy detained for allegedly setting fire to a patrol car.
A lone Asian man was also punched in the face in footage which was captured on a live stream and police are continuing to hunt for the man who carried out that attack.
Cleveland Police said all seven men who have now been charged face counts of violent disorder.
A 42-year-old man was also charged with assault by beating of an emergency worker, while a 28-year-old man was charged with violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place as well as violent disorder.
Cleveland Police said 11 other people were arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the disorder during which officers were attacked with missiles, glass bottles and eggs in the County Durham town.
The Southport mass stabbings have led to riots on the streets. Pictured: A police van is torched in Southport on Tuesday night
SOUTHPORT: Locals have called on rioters to leave their town after Tuesday night’s violence
HARTLEPOOL: An angry mob burnt down a police car which was left to perish in the flames
HARTLEPOOL: Rioters break down a fence as violence erupted in Britain for the second night running
Speaking outside Hartlepool Police Station yesterday afternoon, Chief Constable Mark Webster said the events in the town were ‘mindless thuggery’ and that experienced officers had never seen such disorder there before.
Asked what the motivation was for the disorder, he said: ‘There is an opportunity to go out and damage things, and just exhibit a bit of violence.
‘I don’t think there is a principle at stake, this was not a legitimate protest or demonstration.
‘I think there is some mindless thuggery and that’s why we are being really proactive to go out and arrest people. There’s no excuse for last night.’
Also yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer condemned ‘far-right hatred’ in the wake of the Southport stabbings and today announced a new ‘national’ response to the violent disorder linking police forces across the country.
The Prime Minister said ‘thugs’ involved in the scenes of unrest should not ‘pretend they are speaking’ for the grieving families of the three young girls killed in the initial attack.
At a press conference following riots in which bricks were hurled at police officers and a local mosque targeted, Sir Keir warned: ‘The far right are showing who they are – we have to show who we are in response to that.’
In a televised address from Downing Street after the disorder in London, Hartlepool, Manchester and Southport, he announced a new ‘national capability’ to tackle the disorder across police forces in England.
This will involve sharing intelligence, wider deployment of facial recognition technology and criminal behaviour orders to restrict the movement of those involved, Sir Keir said.
Floral and written tributes are left alongside balloons and teddy bears at the scene of the stabbings on Hart Street, Southport
Pictured for the first time: Southport stabbing suspect Axel Rudakubana, now 17, pictured as a child, is charged with murdering three little girls and harming 10 others
Rudakubana (pictured as a child) is charged with murdering three little girls and harming 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport with a ‘curved kitchen knife’
Court artist drawing of Rudakubana covering his face as he appeared in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court
He said: ‘These thugs are mobile, they move from community to community. We must have a policing response that can do the same.’
The Prime Minister also sounded a note of caution to social media companies after misinformation spread online about the identity of the 17-year-old suspect, including false claims that he was an asylum seeker.
‘Let me also say to large social media companies and those who run them: violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime, it’s happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere,’ he said.
‘That is the single most important duty of government, service rests on security. We will take all necessary action to keep our streets safe.’
