The prime minister has visited Southport after the fatal knife attack on a children’s holiday club there sparked violent protests in cities around the UK.
Sir Keir Starmer met Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram and Merseyside Police’s chief constable Serena Kennedy – as well as faith, health, and education leaders in the town on Friday.
He later travelled to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool where some of the children injured in Monday’s attack were treated.
Calls to ‘block roads with women and children’; Southport latest
Three children, Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar, died after being stabbed at the Taylor Swift-themed yoga and dance workshop at The Hart Space on Monday morning. Eight other children and two adults were also injured.
A 17-year-old boy, Axel Rudakubana, was arrested and has since been charged with murder and attempted murder.
Protesters in Southport this week. Pic: PA
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The stabbings were followed by outbreaks of violence, initially in Southport, where far-right groups targeted a mosque.
Other towns and cities, including Hartlepool, Manchester, and Aldershot have now experienced unrest, with at least 15 further protests planned across the country this weekend.
False narratives about the suspect’s nationality and religion have spread online and appear to be driving the unrest, with far-right groups reposting the claims on messaging app Telegram.
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