Violence breaks out after vigil for victims, around thirty police officers injured

Violent clashes broke out in Southport (United Kingdom) on Tuesday, July 30, the day after the knife attack that claimed the lives of three girls and injured eight others. The violence broke out shortly after a vigil in tribute to the victims, in the center of the British city. “Those who hijacked the victims’ vigil with violence and brutality have insulted the community in its mourning. They will face the full force of the law.”reacted the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, on the social network X.

On Tuesday evening, around a hundred protesters lit fires and clashed with police, according to an AFP journalist present at the scene. Some set fire to vehicles, “threw bricks at a local mosque and damaged a grocery store”Merseyside Police said. Law enforcement “suspect” the protesters to be “supports” of the English Defence League (EDL), a far-right movement. Local emergency services reported on X that they had treated “39 patients in total, all police officers”27 of whom were hospitalized.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has denounced “shameful scenes” and judged “appalling” that the police, “who is conducting an urgent criminal investigation” after the knife attack, “could be the target of violence”. The stabbing, whose motives remain unknown, occurred Monday at a dance club hosting a children’s activity centered around Taylor Swift’s music. Two girls, ages 6 and 7, died the same day, and a third, aged 9, succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday. According to the latest report, eight other children were injured, five of whom were still in critical condition Tuesday. Two adults were also seriously injured, probably while trying to “protect” children, according to police.