British police, protesters clash outside mosque following vigil for slain girls

July 30 (UPI) -- Dozens of police officers were injured Tuesday night as law enforcement and protesters clashed in Southport where a vigil was held hours earlier for three children killed and several injured during Monday's knife attack that has the British seaside town in mourning.

Thirty-nine police officers were treated for injuries sustained in the violence, including 27 who were taken to the hospital, North West Ambulance Service said in a statement early Wednesday.

Authorities said the violence began at about 7:45 p.m. local time Tuesday when a large group of people, police suspect are supporters of the English Defense League, began pelting a local mosque.

The English Defense League is a far-right, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant group that sees itself as a Christian army, according to the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League .

Protesters set cars ablaze, threw bricks at the mosque and damaged a convenience store, Merseyside Police said.

Bricks stolen from garden walls were used to attack police, according to authorities.

Uncorroborated video clips of the violence posted online shows protesters, mostly men, throwing objects at police and the mosque. Some protesters are heard spouting Islamophobic chants.

At least eight officers suffered serious injuries, fractures, lacerations and concussion. At least one was knocked unconscious, Merseyside Police said.

Three police dogs were also injured, one sustaining leg injuries from thrown bricks and another suffering burns to its back legs.

The disorder prompted authorities to issue a 24-hour Section 60 Order, which gives officers enhanced stop and search powers in the designated area.

The cause of the revolt was not entirely clear, but Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss suggested in a statement that it was in connection to "speculation and hypothesis" surrounding the 17-year-old boy police arrested on suspicion of being responsible for Monday's knife attack.

The three children stabbed to death in Southport a day prior while attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop have been identified as 9-year-old Alice Aguiar, 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and 6-year-old Bebe King. Five other children and two adults were also critically injured in the attack.

Police arrested the 17-year-old from Lancashire, Britain, who has been charged with suspicion of murder and attempted murder charges.

Goss reiterated Tuesday: "We have already said that the person arrested was born in the U.K. and speculation helps nobody at this time."

He added that many of those involved in the Tuesday violence do not live in the area "or care about the people of Merseyside."

"Tonight, Merseyside Police has faced serious violence in Southport," Goss said in an early Wednesday update.

"This is no way to treat a community, least of all a community that is still reeling from the events of Monday."

The violence erupted after a vigil was held in the town for the children that was attended by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Prime Minister Keir Starmer who lay flowers during the ceremony.

Starmer accused the protesters of having "hijacked" the vigil "with violence and thuggery" that insults the community in grieving.

"The people of Southport are reeling after the horror inflicted on them yesterday. They deserve our support and respect," he said in a statement , vowing that those responsible for the violence that followed the vigil "will feel the full force of the law."