LOOTERS ran riot in a night of carnage on Britain’s streets as the nation prepares itself for another day of shameless chaos.
Battles broke out across at least nine cities as angry thugs ransacked shops six days after three girls were killed in a Southport stabbing initially rumoured to have been carried out by a migrant.
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Huge groups of rioters descended on Liverpool, Manchester, Sunderland, Portsmouth, Hull, Blackpool, Bristol, Belfast Stoke, Nottingham and Leeds on Saturday.
Looters were pictured grabbing wine bottles, shoes and phones from the shelves of high street shops after brazen yobs smashed windows and started fires.
One of the worst signs of violence came in Hull when a Shoezone store was set ablaze.
Footage shows protesters reportedly looting pairs of Crocs after the charred store was left in ruins.
Masked yobs were also seen throwing bricks and bottles across the street as others set tyres and a car park alight.
Meanwhile shops were locked down in Liverpool with an Odeon cinema reportedly telling punters they couldn’t leave the building.
More than 90 people were arrested following scenes of disorder across the UK.
In special measures, courts will sit for 24 hours to crack down on rioters.
Cops are bracing themselves for more carnage ahead of planned rallies today in Rotherham, Rushmoor, Weymouth, Middlesborough and Lancaster.
Thousands of cops, many with riot helmets and shields, were deployed yesterday after groups organised “Enough is Enough” demonstrations in 22 major towns and cities.
Chilling images showed these planned attacks ending in carnage with skips and bins set ablaze.
Shocking footage appeared to show Spellow Hub, a Merseyside library which reopened last year, set ablaze in the chaotic scenes.
A number of fires continued to burn as rampaging thugs unleashed a torrent of fireworks through the streets of Liverpool.
In clips of chaotic scenes police helicopters can be heard circling overhead.
Harrowing footage shows people with their hoods up and faces covered running through the ravaged streets.
The first riots were this week sparked by speculation about the Southport attacker’s identity as rumours swelled online he was a migrant.
Cops stressed the suspect was born in Cardiff before a judge ruled to reveal the 17-year-old’s identity in an effort to quell unrest.
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana was named on Wednesday as the teen charged over the knife attack in the Merseyside town as the judge lifted reporting restrictions just days before his 18th birthday.
The aggressive and abusive behaviour of large groups today will never be tolerated and is being dealt with robustly.
Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims
Under 18s have an automatic right to anonymity in UK courts.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar were knifed to death in the mass stabbing.
Elsie’s mum this week condemned the riots and urged protesters to stop.
After violence first erupted in Southport, she wrote: “This is the only thing that I will write, but please stop the violence in Southport tonight.
“The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.”
On Saturday massive brawls broke out between anti-immigration demonstrators and counter-protesters.
Two police officers in Liverpool were taken to hospital – one with a suspected broken nose and another with a suspected broken jaw.
Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims, who led Saturday’s operation in Merseyside, said yesterday: “The aggressive and abusive behaviour of large groups today will never be tolerated and is being dealt with robustly.
“Those who engaged in this behaviour bring nothing but shame to themselves and this city.”
Disturbing images of the clashes show rioters being handcuffed on the ground and multiple fires sending plumes of smoke into the air.
Do you know more? Contact: Jonathan.Rose@thesun.co.uk, call 020 7782 4100 or Whatsapp 07423 720 250
In Manchester and Hull officers were forced to fire tear gas into crowds as they battled with the hundreds of thugs.
Terrified families who brought their children to see a Disney Princess cruise in Liverpool fled for their lives after a mob of 1,500 thugs clashed with police.
Merseyside police released a statement yesterday saying: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence and disorder that happened in Liverpool city centre today.”
Assistant Chief Constable Sims added: “The behaviour we have seen today in Liverpool city centre is completely unacceptable.
“What should have been a sunny Saturday on the historic waterfront to be enjoyed by people of all ages turned into an afternoon of unashamed disorder and violence, which potentially put decent members of the public, including children, at risk.”
A Section 60 order is now in place across the city until 8.40pm on Sunday.
Officers have been given extra powers to stop and search people suspected of carrying weapons or planning criminality.
Mounted police were filmed charging protesters in Bristol after different groups clashed in chaotic scenes.
More masked yobs in Blackpool even used bottles and bricks to target disorientated police horses.
Arrests sweep the country
By News Reporter, Ethan Singh
Staffordshire
- Ten people – all male and aged between 15 and 52 – have been arrested by Staffordshire Police.
- They were detained on offences including assault, violent disorder and racial or religious threatening behaviour.
- Two men who featured in online claims of a stabbing were actually hurt when a blunt instrument was thrown in the air, the force said.
Liverpool
- 11 people have been arrested in connection with disorder in the city.
- Two police officers have been taken to hospital in Liverpool with a suspected broken jaw and a suspected broken nose.
- Police in the city were met with “shameful levels of violence”, said Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims.
Hartlepool
- Cleveland police have said two boys -11 and 14 – have been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.
- The boys, from Hartlepool, are currently in custody.
Hull
- Three police officers have been injured in Hull city centre and four people arrested, Humberside Police has said.
- At “this stage, three officers are believed to have suffered injuries” after a group of people targeted a hotel which houses asylum seekers, the force added.
- Officers “faced eggs and bottles being thrown”, Chief Superintendent Darren Wildbore said.
Bristol
- Police have made 14 arrests in Bristol following “violent disorder”.
- The Avon and Somerset force said: “Some of the behaviour we have seen is completely unacceptable and we will use all the powers available to us to deal with it.”
Sunderland
- Northumbria Police said “doors have been put in” and further arrests made after “violent disorder in Sunderland”.
Lancashire
- Police say they have arrested more than 20 people.
- Offences included possession of an offensive weapon, police assault, possession of a bladed article, obstructing police, conspiracy to commit violent disorder and failing to adhere to a dispersal order.
And a street fight broke out between rioters and festival-goers at a punk music event Rebellion.
Around 10 officers were injured during the day of destruction including three in Hull and six others in Liverpool as projectiles were hurled from point-blank range.
Police forces have confirmed further arrests are due to take place once CCTV and social media footage has been reviewed.
With yet more marches planned for the next few days, PM Sir Keir Starmer held an emergency meeting with senior Cabinet ministers.
He said cops had his full backing to “take action against extremists” who are attempting to “sow hate” and division.
And his Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declared: “I want everyone to be clear — anyone who is involved with criminal disorder, violent thuggery on our streets, will have to pay the price.
“They should expect there to be arrests, prosecutions, penalties and the full force of the law including imprisonment, travel bans and more.
“Because it is really important communities feel safe on the streets.”
But cops across the country have continued to face violence and assaults – with many left injured.
Several cars, a building and bins have been set on fire in Belfast as chaos continues to escalate.
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Police also arrested two people as businesses were attacked with missiles thrown at PSNI officers during trouble linked to an anti-immigration march.
Major violence has also been seen in Manchester as a massive brawl was swiftly broken up by officers wielding batons after a man appeared to hurl a flare into the crowd.
Dispersal notices were also ordered in Blackburn, Lancashire with more demonstrations expected to take place on Sunday.
Another notice has been issued by cops in South Wales, around Mermaid Quay and the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff Bay.
Elsewhere, in Hull, protestors have smashed in windows of a hotel used to house asylum seekers.
Bricks and glass bottles have been lobbed at the hotel while rioters shout.
Another 150 people gathered in Piccadilly Gardens for a protest entitled ‘Stand Up For Your Country: Enough is Enough’ just after midday on Saturday.
A counter protest – ‘Stop The Far Right’ – was also held, attended by an estimated 350 people.
In Leeds, 150 activists carrying St George flags were outnumbered by counter-protesters shouting in defiance.
This weekend’s demonstrations come after a shocking night of violence in Sunderland on Friday.
This week’s riots are reprehensible but UK’s liberal elite have driven people into arms of far-right
BY ROSS CLARK
THIS week’s riots in Southport and elsewhere were, of course, reprehensible.
To attack a mosque where ordinary Muslims go to pray would have been wrong even if it had been in response to an attack by Islamic terrorists.
That those lobbing bricks at the police and setting their vehicles alight were acting on disinformation makes them look foolish as well as disgraceful.
But if Britain’s liberal elite had been deliberately trying to drive people into the arms of the rabble-rousers they could not have done a better job if it.
They have done everything they can to fuel the underlying sense that the white working class is being treated very differently from the rest of the population.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister held a press conference in which he lost no time in asserting that the Southport riots were “clearly driven by far-right hatred”.
He refused to acknowledge that any of those who took to the streets might have been motivated by reasonable concerns about the safety of children.
No, each and every one of them were just “far-right” thugs trying to spread hate.
Nor, by the way, did Keir Starmer mention in his press conference other recent cases of public disorder which had nothing to do with the far right, such as the machete fight in Southend on Tuesday night, the attack on police at Manchester Airport last week nor the riots in the Harehills area of Leeds.
Those equally concerning events don’t seem to feature even nearly as prominently on the radar of the liberal left because they don’t feed its preferred narrative that Britain is a happy, diverse community spoiled only by hate mongering on the part of the far right.
Starmer, to be fair, did condemn the Leeds riots at the time they happened two weeks ago, but he studiously avoided blaming any group.
On the contrary, a Downing Street statement demanded that people did not rush to speculate on the reasons behind the riots — which seem to have started after social workers removed children from a Roma family.
We know what to expect, because it has happened many times before.
Riots in neighbourhoods with high ethnic populations tend to be followed by inquiries which seek to settle the grievances which lie behind them — after the Brixton and Toxteth riots in 1981, for example, we had the Scarman report, while Michael Heseltine was dispatched to Liverpool to shower the poorer parts of the city with money.
Those efforts were warmly praised across the political spectrum.
Yet how has the Government responded to the Southport riots?
Not by calling an inquiry into what lies behind them, only by announcing stronger powers for police to track down perpetrators — all stick and no carrot, in other words.
The same seems to have happened on multiple occasions when working-class communities have protested, whether it be against low-traffic neighbourhoods, London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone or Covid lockdowns.
All have been dismissed as being incited by “far-right” conspiracy theorists.
Think what you like about councils erecting bollards and installing cameras to stop people driving to the shops, but those who oppose such measures hardly deserve to be treated like Nazis.
I haven’t heard anyone in power admit it, but there is an unfortunate backstory which may explain why people reacted to the killing of three girls (not to mention the injuries and mental trauma inflicted on many others) by seeking out a mosque.
For years, police, social services and other agencies failed properly to investigate gangs of men of Pakistani heritage who had been raping and sexually exploiting girls in Rotherham, Rochdale and elsewhere.
Again, it cannot be emphasised strongly enough that it is very wrong to project the crimes of the rapists on to Britain’s Pakistani population as a whole — that is the point at which legitimate demand for justice spills over into racism.
But when these gangs were eventually brought to justice, it became clear from their trials that police and social services had been doing the opposite — they had been influenced by what the then Home Secretary Theresa May called “institutional political correctness” in failing to take the victims’ allegations seriously enough.
As the former Labour minister Denis MacShane put it “there was a culture of not wanting to rock the multicultural community boat”.
But it is that sort of attitude which hands over the issue of violence and sexual exploitation of children to the far right.
If people feel they cannot trust what the police and other authorities do and say they will end up gravitating towards other voices who do appear to be representing their interests.
Racists are to be condemned, and it is quite right that the Prime Minister should want police to have the power to tackle thugs, whoever they are and wherever they come from.
But the Government needs to recognise that the Southport riots did not happen in a vacuum.
We could do with a latter-day Lord Scarman to investigate what lies behind the riots and how best this can be addressed.
Cleveland Police yesterday revealed two boys – aged 11 and 14 – were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder in Hartlepool “earlier in the week”.
Why has violence broken out?
The knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Monday which left three girls dead sparked violent disorder in some cities and towns in England this week.
Thousands of people turned out to pay their respects to the victims at a vigil in Southport on Tuesday evening.
But violence later erupted outside a mosque in the town with 53 police officers and three police dogs injured.
Dozens of people have been arrested over the disorder in Southport.
Merseyside Police said a 32-year-old man, from Wigan, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of violent disorder and remains in custody for questioning.
On Wednesday evening, more than 100 protesters were arrested on Whitehall, where bottles and cans were thrown at police.
Violence also broke out in Hartlepool, County Durham, and in Manchester outside the Holiday Inn on Oldham Road.
On Thursday, Sir Keir announced a new “national” response to the disorder linking police forces across the country.
The suspected attacker, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was born in Cardiff and living in Lancashire.
He has been remanded in youth custody charged with three counts of murder, ten of attempted murder and one of possessing a bladed article.
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