British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said those responsible for the violence that left police officers injured in protests after a mass stabbing that left three children dead would “face the full force of the law.”
Southport, a small seaside town near Liverpool in northwestern England, was reeling on Wednesday after clashes targeting a local mosque “insulted the community as it grieves,” Starmer said.
The local police and ambulance service said some 39 officers were injured, at least eight seriously, after a large group, believed to be supporters of the far-right English Defense League (EDL), threw bricks at a local mosque and set cars on fire late on Tuesday.
Around 100 people battled police in riot gear and lit fires, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
The violence broke out shortly after a vigil was held in the town center, where hundreds fell silent in tribute to the victims of the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed event that also left five children and two adults critically injured.
Police have said they are not treating Monday’s knife attack as terror-related but have not released any details of the suspected attacker other than that he is 17 years old and born in the Welsh capital Cardiff. His parents were from Rwanda, according to the BBC.
