Southport stabbing latest: Farage accused of ‘whipping up anger’ over killings as 39 police injured in riot

Nigel Farage has denied “whipping up” rioters in Southport , after at least 39 police officers were injured in violent clashes with suspected far-right supporters who targeted a mosque.

The unrest on Tuesday night followed a peaceful vigil for the victims of Monday’s shocking attack in which multiple children were stabbed – three fatally – in a Taylor Swift-themed dance class – with police blaming false online claims about the suspect’s identity for fuelling the violence.

Armed police detained a 17-year-old boy from Banks and seized a knife in connection with the attack, which is not suspected to be terror-related.

After Mr Farage claimed to “wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us” about the suspect and claiming that “omething is going horribly wrong in our once beautiful country”, the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox accused him of “whipping up” rioters.

But the Reform UK leader insisted he did “nothing of the kind” and “merely expressed a sense of sadness and concern that is being felt by absolutely everybody I know - what the hell is going on?”.

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