Keir Starmer has said those who rioted in Southport on Tuesday night will “feel the full force of the law” after police vehicles were set alight and missiles hurled at officers.
It came after far-right protesters pelted police with glass bottles and bricks and attacked a mosque following a knife attack that killed three children .
The prime minister said they had “hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery” and “insulted the community as it grieves”.
Merseyside police said 22 officers had been injured during the night of violence, with eight sustaining “serious injuries” including fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and concussion.
Three police dogs were also injured, with two sustaining leg injuries from having bricks thrown at them and a third suffering burns to her back leg.
As officers from five forces struggled to bring the disorder under control, police introduced a 24-hour section 60 order giving officers enhanced stop and search powers, and a section 34 dispersal order allowing police to seize any item, including vehicles, used to commit anti-social behaviour, as well as being able to tell people to leave the area.
Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss said: “Sadly, offenders have destroyed garden walls so they could use the bricks to attack our officers and have set cars belonging to the public on fire, and damaged cars parked in the mosque car park.
“This is no way to treat a community, least of all a community that is still reeling from the events of Monday.”
He appealed for “anyone who has information or video footage of those involved in this shocking behaviour to come forward so we can identify and arrest those responsible”.
The protest was due to start at 8pm but the streets began filling before then, with scenes rapidly turning violent.
Protesters barricaded themselves down a side street, dragging bins from a pub and industrial unit to provide more missiles to throw at police.
Others turned on a nearby mosque, throwing bricks through the windows, and later, as darkness fell, one group of men ripped up a driveway to arm themselves with stones to throw at police, while across the road, another group tried to force entry to a corner shop.
As darkness fell, smaller groups dispersed and roamed the streets, setting fires in the road. Residents’ walls and fences were pulled down; the bricks used as missiles, and the wooden panels added to the fire.
Police from four neighbouring forces were called in as officers struggled to bring the situation under control.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all fatally stabbed in the attack on Monday. Eight other children suffered stab wounds and five were left in a critical condition, alongside two adults who were also critically injured.
In the aftermath of the attack, for which a 17-year-old was arrested, several false accusations were spread on social media with incorrect names of the attacker. The only details released about the suspect by police described him as a 17-year-old from the village of Banks in Lancashire who was born in Cardiff.
The online misinformation was earlier condemned by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper . On Tuesday night she said it was “appalling” police officers in Southport were facing attacks from “thugs on the streets who have no respect for a grieving community”, adding: “It’s a total disgrace.”
Hundreds of people had taken part in a peaceful vigil on Tuesday evening outside Southport’s Atkinson arts venue, with many in tears as they laid flowers and cards of remembrance. But the vigil was followed by a far-right protest outside a local mosque, which quickly turned violent.
Demonstrators gathered in the area surrounding Hart Street, where Monday’s killings took place. The crowd of hundreds were heard shouting Islamophobic slogans as well as “no surrender”, “English till I die” and “we want our country back” as a police helicopter circled overhead.
Riot police charged at the demonstrators after a police van was set alight and other police vehicles were damaged . Officers used teargas on the angry crowds of predominantly men covering their faces.
Some officers were injured after plant pots and empty bins were among the missiles hurled at them and the Southport mosque building. A group of people attempted to overturn a riot van. Some men were seen pulling down a crumbling wall to use the bricks as weapons, pelting officers with them. Others ripped open black bin bags looking for objects to throw.
Some spectators watched from front gardens, while passersby looked on, saying: “I can’t believe it, it’s horrible isn’t it?” Another said: “This doesn’t achieve anything.”
Southport’s MP, Patrick Hurley, said he condemned any attack on emergency services, adding: “These are the same services that responded to the tragic attack yesterday.
“I want to thank our community for pulling together and supporting every person who has been affected by Monday’s tragic attack,” he said. “Nowhere was this more evident than the solidarity, remembrance and sympathy heard at today’s vigil.”
The violence was so serious that Merseyside police were forced to call in reinforcements. Officers were rushed in from north Wales, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. In a tweet, Merseyside police said: “Officers who had completed a shift in work today are back on duty supporting colleagues in Southport.”
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