116 arrested in U.K. as violent far-right protests erupt over deadly stabbing

Officers made arrests in several areas across England — including the large cities of Hull, Liverpool and Bristol, according to The Washington Post’s tally of local police figures. While officials noted the right to lawful protest, many of the statements also condemned the violence, looting and arson by protesters on the streets and vowed punishment.

It was not immediately clear how many of those arrested would be charged and whether all those arrested were part of right-wing marches.

The wave of violent demonstrations began after a Monday stabbing attack in Southport that killed three children and injured several other people, including two adults. Police charged a 17-year-old boy with murder and attempted murder, without initially naming him as he was a minor. But within hours of the stabbing, false information that the attacker was an illegal immigrant who had been on watch lists circulated online and was amplified by prominent far-right figures, prompting anti-immigration demonstrations and the targeting of some mosques.

Policing and Crime Minister Diana Johnson, in an interview with Sky News Sunday, described the violence as “criminal disorder” and people participating in it as “thugs.” She said there will be strict consequences, which “could include imprisonment.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the government will do “whatever it takes,” she added, to make sure people get through the court system swiftly.

In Liverpool, 20 miles south of Southport, a community center for low-income people was set on fire, and a missile was thrown at a fire engine Saturday night, Merseyside police said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of demonstrators and counter protesters faced off in Liverpool’s normally bustling city center. Some people set off fire extinguishers and threw bricks and bottles at police officers, a police statement said. Two police officers were taken to the hospital with injuries, Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said. A total of 21 people were arrested in Liverpool, police said early Sunday.

In Sunderland, northeastern England, demonstrators pelted stones at the police outside a mosque on Friday, prompting 12 arrests, according to Northumbria police.

More arrests are expected in the coming days, police departments across the country said, as they continue investigating the violence and reviewing footage.

As some mosques faced attacks from demonstrators, the Muslim Council of Britain urged communities to enhance security ahead of Friday prayers.

Hope Not Hate, an organization that monitors far-right extremist groups, said that while these events were not planned by a single far-right organization, they have been promoted and supported by known figures of the far-right.

“The events often seem to be locally led and organized on an ad hoc basis, though there are examples of far-right individuals traveling in for the disturbances,” Joe Mulhall, the group’s director of research, said in an email Sunday. The group said at least 16 events drew significant numbers of people over the past few days, adding that some more were planned for Sunday.

“Whilst Southport was the trigger, most of these protests and riots are more broadly focused, expressive of a wider hostility to multiculturalism, anti-Muslim and anti-migrant prejudice, as well as a visceral streak of populist anti-Government sentiment,” Mulhall added.

The unrest began soon after the Monday stabbing. On Tuesday night, after Southport held a peaceful public vigil, rioters threw bricks at police while smashing the windows of a mosque and torching a police van, chanting “we want our country back.” Police linked the rioters to the English Defense League, a now-disbanded organization of anti-Islam agitators and soccer hooligans.

More violent protests occurred Wednesday night in towns and cities including London, Hartlepool, Manchester and Aldershot. In London, more than 100 people were arrested near Downing Street, where Britain’s prime minister works and resides.

On Thursday, a judge agreed to lift the anonymity of the suspect, in part to curb what he called the “idiotic rioting” caused by the speculation and misinformation over the defendant’s identity. The suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born in the United Kingdom to parents who are originally from Rwanda.

On Saturday, Starmer met with senior ministers, including the home minister, justice secretary and policing minister, to discuss the protests, according to a Downing Street news release. Starmer said during the meeting that police have his “full support” to take action against protesters and said there is “no excuse” for violence, according to the release.

Kim McGuinness, mayor of the North East regional authority, said she was “appalled by scenes from Sunderland.”

“Make no mistake, if your response to tragedy is to use it to commit violence, to abuse others, attack the Police and damage property you stand for nothing except thuggery. It’s not protest. It’s crime and disorder. You don’t speak for Sunderland,” she said in a post on X.

There have also been massive public cleanup operations in the aftermath of some demonstrations, including in Sunderland and Southport, with local residents sweeping debris and helping to rebuild walls.

Andrew Chadwick, professor of political communication at Loughborough University who researches the spread of online misinformation, previously told The Post that a viral tweet that shared misinformation about the suspect after the attack appeared to have been “deliberately fabricated to generate hostility toward ethnic minorities and immigrants.” The claim spread quickly online amid high emotions after the attack, and since content restrictions on X have been loosened since it was acquired by Elon Musk in 2022.

Starmer, who visited Southport earlier this week, warned social media companies to uphold laws that prohibit the incitement of violence online, adding that real life riots were “clearly driven by far-right hatred.”

Rosenzweig-Ziff reported from Washington. William Booth and Leo Sands in London contributed to this report.