Keir Starmer says Rioters of Southport will have to face ‘full force of the law’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the rioters will “feel the full force of the law” those who participated in the riot in Southport on Tuesday night that involved the burning of police vehicles and thugs assaulting the officers with different projectiles.
The riots occurred based on a shocking incident of knife attack that unfortunately left three children dead. In response to the above incident the far-right protesters set of vinegar, launched a barrage of glass bottles and bricks at the police force and a local mosque was attacked. Starmer has said the rioters have “highjacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery” and have “insulted the community as it grieves”.
The North West Ambulance Service confirmed that 39 policemen were assaulted, out of which 27 were taken to the hospital. Rarely in such confrontations do the police come out unscathed let alone with injuries that are major they singled out that eight Merseyside police officers were left with major injuries ranging from fractures, deep cuts, suspected broken nose, and even concussion. Amongst the affected were also three police dogs; with two of the dogs sustaining what is believed to have been leg injuries from the thrown bricks, and the third dog suffering from burns apparently on its back leg.
Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss expressed dismay over the violent behavior: It has got painful that offenders have even broken the garden walls to seize bricks and use them on our officers, burn car and damage cars parked at the mosque, Sadly, this is how a community is treated, especially when they are not over the heinous deed that happened on Monday.
May be through offering a reward of $500, Goss encouraged the public to come forward with anyone and anything like video footage of the rioters to assist in arresting the hooligans. Since June the police have launched a 24-hour section 60 order, which gives police officers greater powers of stop and search and section 34 disperse order that permits police to take any items used for anti-social use; including vehicles and inform people to leave the area.
This particular protest began at the approximate time of 8 pm and this soon turned to violence. Some protesters held themselves by establishing barriers and also used things like bins, among others as projectiles against the police force. The mosque has been pelted with stones and bricks; groups of hooligans burned tires in the streets, using fragments of walls and fences.
Three children died in the stabbing on Monday; Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven. Of the 10 people remaining in the hospital, eight are children and two are adults, all in serious condition, doctors said. The suspect was a 17-year-old boy from Banks in Lancashire who was arrested; however, false information concerning his identity circulated on social networks leading to the riots.
In the early morning of Wednesday, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) deplored the violence and termed it an Islamophobic attack carried forward in the wake of fake social media news. Zara Mohammed, the MCB’s secretary general, stated: ‘When there is tragedy, loss and grief, the country has to be strong against such evils as hatred and division This has nothing to do with our modern, tolerant Britain and the people of Southport. ”
Even Home Secretary Yvette Cooper criticized the scaring that took place on the web and the subsequent rampage; she said it is awful that police officers were assaulted by ‘thugs on the streets’ who have no regard for a mourning town.
Earlier in the evening, hundreds of people had come together for a silent demonstration for the victims near the Atkinson arts headquarters in Southport where flowers and cards had been placed. Nevertheless, the vigil was accompanied by the far-right protest near the mosque that quickly escalated into a violent act.
Charging through the streets, people screaming such things as ‘usurpers of Islam’, ‘Allah’s enemies’ and other provocative phrases clashed with policemen in riot gear. People looted some police and broke other police mobiles and even put them up in flames. The police fired tear gas to thin down crowds and the groups retaliated with plant pots, dump bins, and rocks.
Local MP Patrick Hurley has said he did not approve of the violence saying that it would, ‘achieve nothing’, his statements however, were not so clear on the riots; he described the emergency services’ performance in regard to both the attack and the riots as ‘terrific’. He stressed unity of the community something earlier observed in the earlier vigil.
Such is the level of violence that Merseyside police had to appeal for backing from other law enforcement authorities from other states such as North Wales, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, and Cheshire. Nevertheless, police officers still continue working for the restoration of law and order and for assisting the community in the period of crisis.
