Orange flames and black smoke billowed from a burning police van. Thugs hurled glass bottles, flower pots and garbage at police officers to the sound of tear-gas fire. Members of the far-right smashed the windows of a mosque with bricks, charged a line of police with riot shields and climbed onto the roof of a police van in an attempt to overturn it. The scenes, filmed in the streets of Southport, northwest England, on the evening of Tuesday, July 30, showed just some of the chaos that reigned for several hours in the seaside town with a population of almost 95,000, shaken the day before by a knife attack that left three children dead.
Police said that "at around 7:45 pm, a large group of people – believed to be supporters of the English Defence League [EDL, a far-right organization] – began to throw items towards a local mosque on St Luke’s Road in Southport." They had to call in reinforcements from Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and Wales. Around 50 officers were injured, suffering fractures, lacerations and concussions, according to the ambulance service.
The disturbances continued well into the night. The rioters, mostly shaven-headed men wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts, set fire to garbage cans in adjacent alleys, tore down fences and attacked the front of a local store.
Earlier in the day, police had released the names of the three victims, 6-year-old Bebe King, 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and 9-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar. By early evening, hundreds of community members had gathered for a vigil, laying flowers, cuddly toys and candles around a fountain near the site of the attack.
On Monday, a 17-year-old teenager attacked participants in a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class with a knife. Arriving by cab just before midday from the village of Banks, north of Southport, he stabbed 11 people, including the three victims. Eight other children were injured, five of whom are still in critical condition, as well as two adults who had tried to protect them.
Law enforcement officials have so far given little information about the perpetrator of the attack, stating only his age and that he was born in Cardiff, Wales. They also revealed that no terrorist motive had been identified "at this stage." They did, however, begin examining records held by social and medical services to see if the young man was suffering from mental illness or neurodivergence.
Several British media quoted a neighbor of the attacker, who lived in Wales until 2013. She said his parents had immigrated to the United Kingdom from Rwanda and were a "completely normal" family.
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