Britain’s Muslim community on edge

Liverpool, United Kingdom – AFP

Far-right protesters clashed with British police during tense rallies Saturday as unrest linked to disinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three young girls spread across the UK.

The violence, which has seen scores of arrests across England and put Britain’s Muslim community on edge, presents the biggest challenge yet to Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s month-old premiership.

Demonstrators threw chairs, flares and bricks at officers in the northwestern English city of Liverpool, while scuffles between police and protesters broke out in nearby Manchester.

Merseyside Police said “a number of officers have been injured as they deal with serious disorder” in Liverpool city centre.

The BBC reported that protesters smashed the windows of a hotel which has been used to house migrants in the northeastern city of Hull. Police said three officers had been injured and four people arrested.

In Leeds, northern England, around 150 people carrying English flags chanted, “You’re not English any more” while counter-protesters shouted “Nazi scum off our streets”.

Opposing groups of protesters also faced off in the central city of Nottingham and Bristol in the southwest.

The skirmishes marked the fourth day of unrest in several towns and cities following Monday’s knife attack in Southport, near Liverpool on England’s northwest coast.

They were fuelled by rumours on social media about the background of British-born 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana, charged with several counts of murder and attempted murder over the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party.

Rudakubana is accused of killing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and injuring another 10 people.

The violence started late on Tuesday in Southport itself, where a mob threw bricks at a mosque. That prompted hundreds of Muslim places of worship across the country to step up security.

Anti-fascism groups have staged numerous counter-protests.

– English Defence League –  

Police blamed supporters and associated organisations of the English Defence League, an anti-Islam organisation founded 15 years ago.

In London, demonstrators attending a regular pro-Palestinian march appeared undeterred by a separate anti-immigration protest.

“My parents told me not to come today but I am from here. The UK is my home,” 24-year-old student Meraaj Harun told AFP.

Labour politicians have accused Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage of stoking the trouble.

At last month’s election, his anti-immigration Reform UK party captured 14 percent of the vote — one of the largest vote shares for a far-right British party.