LIVERPOOL—Far-right protesters clashed with British police during tense rallies Saturday as unrest linked to disinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three young girls spread across the UK.
The violence, which has seen scores of arrests across England and put Britain’s Muslim community on edge, presents the biggest challenge yet of Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s month-old premiership.
It has also put hard-right agitators linked to football hooliganism in the spotlight at a time when anti-immigration elements are enjoying some electoral success in British politics.
Demonstrators threw chairs, flares and bricks at officers in the northwestern English city of Liverpool, while scuffles between police and protesters broke out in nearby Manchester.
Merseyside Police said “a number of officers have been injured as they deal with serious disorder” in Liverpool city centre.
The BBC reported that protesters smashed the windows of a hotel which has been used to house migrants in the northeastern city of Hull. Police said three officers had been injured and four people arrested.
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, fireworks were thrown amid tense exchanges between an anti-Islam group and an anti-racism rally.
In Leeds, northern England, around 150 people carrying English flags chanted, “You’re not English any more” while counter-protesters shouted “Nazi scum off our streets”.
Opposing groups of protesters also faced off in the central city of Nottingham and Bristol in the southwest.
The skirmishes marked the fourth day of unrest in several towns and cities following Monday’s frenzied knife attack in Southport, near Liverpool on England’s northwest coast.
They were fuelled by false rumors on social media about the background of British-born 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana, charged with several counts of murder and attempted murder over the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party.
Rudakubana is accused of killing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and injuring another 10 people.
Starmer has accused “thugs” of “hijacking” the nation’s grief to “sow hatred” and pledged that anyone carrying out violent acts would “face the full force of the law”.
And reacting to Saturday’s clashes, he said there was “no excuse” for the violence.
After talks with senior ministers he “reiterated that the government backs the police to take all necessary action to keep our streets safe”, said a statement from his office.
The violence started late on Tuesday in Southport itself, where a mob threw bricks at a mosque. That prompted hundreds of Muslim places of worship across the country to step up security.
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