A police station was attacked and the property next door set on fire as protesters clashed with police in Sunderland during a protest linked to the Southport knife attack.
Police in riot gear outside a mosque in the city were pelted with stones, and other clashes between far-right rioters and police forces followed.
Northumbria Police said its officers had suffered “serious violence” and advised members of the public to avoid the area. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said “criminals who attack police and incite disorder on our streets will pay the price for their violence and thuggish behaviour”.
Sunderland Police station is on fire as the town centre is looted #SunderlandRiots pic.twitter.com/JGgI5iDOad
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Mounted police officers pushed back the protesters, some wearing masks, from the mosque on St Mark’s Road. Police were also pelted with beer kegs as youths chanted “Whose streets are they? Our roads.” in fluent hooligan dialect. Members of the crowd chanted in support of far-right Tommy Robinson, while others chanted Islamophobic slurs.
Cars in the city center were also targeted by the group, with one overturned car being set on fire. Tyne and Wear Fire Service confirmed they were at the scene of the fire from Sunderland Central Police Station.
Anti-racist rallies in Liverpool
A crowd of around 200 anti-racist and anti-fascist protesters also gathered outside the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool following rumors of a far-right protest there.
The group chanted “Say it loud, say it clear: refugees are welcome here” (In English it rhymes: “Say it loud, say it clear: Refugees are welcome here”). Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said extra prosecutors had been called in to work this weekend to deal with the unrest.
The chronicle of the riots
A 17-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the murder of the three girls at a dance skills event in Southport, a crime that has shocked the whole country.
Episodic protests have erupted in recent days in Southport, Hartlepool and London, after false information circulated on social media that the arrested man was a Muslim extremist who was in Britain illegally.
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