A shop owner whose Southport store was looted of alcohol and cigarettes during an outbreak of violence has described how the community has pledged to protect him and restore his business.
Chanaka Balasuryla was speaking outside his Windsor Mini Mart, which he feared was going to be burnt down during the disorder in the surrounding streets.
Mr Balasuryla described how he watched men attacking his store through the CCTV system from his home and became terrified that they would start a fire, trapping the woman and her daughter who live in the flat above.
He said he later found out that the woman confronted the attackers, telling them it was her shop in a plea for them to stop.
Mr Balasuryla was speaking as scores of people joined a clean-up operation around the junction of Sussex Road and St Luke’s Road.
Local residents with brooms and shovels worked among the council road-sweepers on Wednesday morning to eradicate the debris from the previous night’s violence.
And tradesmen also joined the operation, offering to rebuild walls and replace windows for free.
Mr Balasuryla said contractors living locally have already offered to rebuild his smashed-in shop front.
He described how he watched the CCTV footage on his phone as the attackers began smashing their way through the front of the shop, leaving his two children traumatised.
“I got a couple of hours’ sleep and then got a phone call saying ‘You need to come down, there’s lots of people waiting to help,” Mr Balasuryla said.
He added that local people had said they would defend his shop if necessary.
“It was terrifying last night,” he said. “But I feel safe again because people are here to protect us.”
Mr Balasuryla said he is of Sri Lankan background, and has lived in this community for 28 years after moving from London.
He said the shop is known as “the green shop” and is a focal point for the whole community.
He said: “We have never had any problems. I’m Buddhist, my wife’s Catholic . Everybody knows us. I’m so glad to live in this area.”
A Southport business owner whose shop is located across the road from Mr Balasuryla started a GoFundMe to support him and his family which has raised more than £3,000.
Rose Tucker, 32, runs a beauty salon on Sussex Road and fears the Windsor Mini Mart owner was targeted and described the raids on Tuesday night as “barbaric”.
“Another shop next to us has had a window smashed, but nothing as deliberate as the Mini Mart, I don’t think,” she told the PA news agency.
“Unfortunately, because it’s a corner shop and also the family aren’t white, so I think anyone who isn’t, they were going after. Any skin colour, any other race, any other religion.
“I feel guilty in a way because the salon is fine so it just makes me want to reach out even more.”
Ms Tucker described Mr Balasuryla and his family as “welcoming” and “kind” and felt compelled to help her neighbours.
“It’s the local corner shop and we’re quite a tight-knit community around here,” she said.
“I think everyone feels a little bit helpless. So if they can do something, people are doing it.”
Ms Tucker hopes the fundraiser, which has raised more than £3,000 of its £10,000 target, will provide a sense of “reassurance” for the family.
“We love having this diverse community and we’re going to keep it that way. We do not condone any of (the riots), I think it’s barbaric,” she said.
“(Raising money) just seems like the right thing to do. They’ve had an absolutely horrific experience, so I want to help them as much as I can.”
Norman Wallis, chief executive of Southport Pleasureland, was helping at the scene and said the clean-up was partly in response to a social media plea he put out after witnessing the violence on Tuesday evening.
Mr Wallis said: “There are hundreds of people who have responded, and we’ve ended up with lots of people down here today, all from the local community and helping with the fantastic clean-up.”
He added: “It’s horrendous what those hooligans have done last night.
“It was like a war scene. People from out of town just causing absolute mayhem.
“People in hoods climbing up lampposts, throwing bricks, they set a police car on fire.
“But none of those people were the people of Southport. The people of Southport are the ones here today cleaning the mess up.”
Sebastian Taylor, 10, was helping sweep up near the mosque with his sister Evelyn, seven, and his mother Gemma.
He said: “Last night was just horrible so we were like ‘you know what, we should help because everyone was helping’.”
Sebastian said: “We were sweeping up bricks and metal and bottles and we were sweeping up burnt pieces of bins which had been on fire.”
He said he watched as local volunteers removed all the bricks from a wall which was partially demolished around the mosque so it can be rebuilt.
Those helping move the bricks said builders in the area had already said they would help repair walls wrecked in the riot for free.
Sebastian said his family live just a short distance from where the violence erupted.
He said: “It was really scary. Mum told us to go upstairs for some strange reason.”
Mrs Taylor said: “The first I saw was a load of people walking down our road which you wouldn’t walk down unless you lived down there.
“I thought ‘it’s happening’ and got them all upstairs and shut all the blinds. Unfortunately, you can’t keep them away from it if it’s right on our doorstep and they looked out of the window.”
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