(Southport) King Charles III visited Southport on Tuesday where he met with children who survived the knife attack in which three girls were killed in late July, leading to days of riots in England.
Upon his arrival in the city in the northwest of England, the king stopped in front of the flowers and stuffed animals left outside the town hall in memory of the victims. He greeted the large crowd, including many children.
Charles III spent about 45 minutes with the children who survived the attack, which happened on July 29 during a dance class inspired by American pop star Taylor Swift.
Three girls aged 6, 7 and 9 were killed. Eight other children were injured as well as two adults who were trying to protect them. All have now been released from hospital.
A suspect, aged 17 at the time of the incident and now an adult, was arrested on the spot.
The king is expected to meet with the families of the three girls killed in London on Wednesday, according to the British PA news agency.
Online rumors
According to his office, the visit by the king, who had been under pressure to speak out about the violence, was aimed at “expressing his support for those affected by the attack of July 29 and the riots that followed in the city,” as well as thanking emergency services and law enforcement.
During his visit, Charles III, currently on holiday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, met with representatives of the emergency services, police, fire brigade and local community groups, including religious representatives.
PHOTO SCOTT HEPPELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
During his visit, Charles III met with representatives of the emergency services, police, fire brigade and local community groups.
The day after the girls’ murder, violent clashes between protesters and police broke out in Southport, particularly near the local mosque, which was targeted.
What followed was a week of racist and Islamophobic riots in many cities in England and Northern Ireland, stoked by far-right agitators amid online rumours about the suspect, initially presented as a Muslim asylum seeker who arrived by boat.
He is in fact a teenager, Axel Rudakubana, born in Cardiff, Wales, into a family, according to media reports, originally from Rwanda, a country with a very Christian majority.
His motives are unknown, but the terrorist lead has not been considered.
The king and his wife Camilla quickly issued a message of condolences to the victims’ families after the attack.
Charles III then remained silent during the riots which targeted mosques and hotels housing migrants and were marked by the ransacking and looting of businesses and public services.
Around 500 people have since been charged with online violence or incitement to hatred, resulting in more than 120 convictions, mostly prison sentences.
PHOTO JUSTIN TALLIS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Charles III then remained silent during the riots which targeted mosques and hotels housing migrants and were marked by the ransacking and looting of businesses and public services.
Once calm had returned, after talks with police officials on August 9, he finally thanked the police in the face of the violence “from a small number” and called for unity.
“The King said he was greatly encouraged by the many examples of solidarity,” Buckingham Palace said at the time.
The ten days of silence of the king, who was quick to celebrate the multiculturalism of the United Kingdom, had been compared with the neutrality to which his mother Elizabeth II was fiercely attached, to the point that he had sometimes been accused of lacking empathy.
She had not visited the scene of the riots that followed the death of a young mixed-race man, Mark Duggan, killed by the police in 2011 in north London.
Helen Marshall, a 71-year-old Southport resident, welcomed Charles III’s visit.
“We are in a difficult situation and we need something to lift our spirits,” she said. “The last few weeks have been devastating, but it’s the community spirit that keeps us going,” the septuagenarian added.