Riots erupted outside a mosque in the UK Tuesday near where three young girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Incensed crowds hurled bottles and stones at police officers — and even ignited a police van in protest of high levels of knife-related violence in England that culminated in the brutal slashing just one day prior.
The rampage kicked off shortly after a peaceful vigil that was attended by hundreds in the center of Southport to mourn the 13 victims of the stabbings, including seven still in critical condition.
Officers in riot gear tried to quell the infuriated crowd, who were chanting, “No surrender!” and “English till I die!”
A helicopter hovered overhead as the protesters — some wearing masks — set off fireworks and trashed the street.
Some officers appeared to have minor injuries.
Inklings of unrest surfaced when Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared at the vigil to lay a pink wreath of pink and white flowers with a handwritten note that said: “Our hearts are broken, there are no words for such profound loss. The nation’s thoughts are with you.”
“How many more children?” one person yelled as Starmer was getting in his car. “Our kids are dead and you’re leaving already?”
Starmer told reporters earlier that he is determined to get a grip on high levels of knife crime but said it was not a day for politics.
“It is sickening to see this happening within a community that has been devastated by the tragic loss of three young lives,” Merseyside Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss said.
Just one day earlier, a knife-wielding madman stormed into The Hart Space, which was hosting a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop for kids between the ages of 6 to 11.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, were killed, police said.
Five of the eight other children injured remained in critical condition Tuesday, as are two adults stabbed while trying to save the youngsters.
Witnesses described scenes “from a horror movie” as bloodied children ran from the attack just before noon Monday.
A 17-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. Cops have yet to offer a possible motive but say it is “not currently being treated as terror-related.”
He has not been identified and authorities said he was born in Cardiff, Wales, and had lived for years in a village about three miles from where the massacre took place.
Swift said early Tuesday that she was “completely in shock” at the deadly attack.
“The horror of yesterday’s attack in Southport is washing over me continuously and I’m just completely in shock,” the pop superstar, 34, wrote to fans.
“These were just little kids at a dance class,” the “Love Story” singer said.
“The loss of life and innocence and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there,” she added.
“I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to their families.”
Mass shootings are rare in Britain. Knives are used in about 40% of homicides in the year to March 2023.
With Post Wires