Unrest Spreads in UK as Far-Right Protesters Clash with Police

Far-right protesters clashed with British police on Saturday during rallies sparked by misinformation about a mass stabbing incident.

The unrest, marked by numerous arrests and injuries, poses a major challenge for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

False rumours on social media have fuelled the violence, which is linked to football hooliganism and anti-immigration sentiments within British politics.

Protests and counter-protests occurred in multiple cities, including Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, and London, with mobs attacking mosques and police stations.

The violence first erupted in Southport late on Tuesday, where a mob threw bricks at a mosque, prompting hundreds of Muslim places of worship across the country to step up security amid fears of more anti-Islamic demonstrations.

According to Northumbria Police Chief Superintendent Mark Hall, “This was not a protest, this was unforgivable violence and disorder.”

In Liverpool, demonstrators threw chairs, flares, and bricks at officers, while scuffles between police and protesters broke out in nearby Manchester.

Merseyside Police reported that “a number of officers have been injured as they deal with serious disorder” in Liverpool city centre.

In Hull, protesters smashed the windows of a hotel used to house migrants, injuring three officers and leading to four arrests. In Belfast, fireworks were thrown amid tense exchanges between an anti-Islam group and an anti-racism rally.

The skirmishes marked the fourth day of unrest following Monday’s frenzied knife attack in Southport, near Liverpool, where British-born 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana was charged with several counts of murder and attempted murder.

Rudakubana is accused of killing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and injuring another 10 people.

Prime Minister Keir 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.”

Labour politicians have also accused Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage of stoking the trouble. At last month’s election, his anti-immigrant Reform UK party captured 14 percent of the vote — one of the largest vote shares for a far-right British party.

The government is considering new measures to address the escalating unrest, including the sharing of intelligence, wider deployment of facial-recognition technology, and criminal behaviour orders to restrict troublemakers from travelling.