Police in Merseyside have called in support from forces across the region to avoid a second night of rioting in tragedy-hit Southport .
Violence erupted near the town’s mosque on Tuesday after false rumours circulated online about the suspect in a mass stabbing that claimed the lives of three girls and left eight more children and two adults injured.
Four people have been arrested over the unrest so far, which saw 53 officers and three police dogs injured.
During a walkabout in the town on Wednesday, Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said she understood that communities in Southport were “really worried” about whether they would see a second night of unrest.
She said: “We are absolutely planning for this evening and for the weekend ahead.
“We are being really well supported by police forces across the North West to make sure we have got sufficient resources so that we don’t see a repeat of last night.”
Police officers suffered serious injuries when bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set alight during unrest that followed a vigil for the murdered children.
Baseless rumours were spread on social media, misidentifying the suspect and falsely claiming that he was a refugee when, in fact, he was born in Wales.
Actor Laurence Fox, one of the users of X who shared the information, called on supporters to gather at Downing Street at 7pm on Wednesday.
Detectives have been given more time to question the 17-year-old, who was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
The law allows officers up to 96 hours, or four days, to hold the suspect, who has not been named because of his age, in custody.
Three girls: Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine; Bebe King, six; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; were fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed children’s holiday club on Monday.
After rioting broke out, Elsie’s mother, Jenni Stancombe, wrote on Facebook: “This is the only thing that I will write, but please please stop the violence in Southport tonight.
“The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.”
In the wake of the violence, locals in Southport rallied together to support the Muslim community and clear up the mess left by rioters who it is claimed came from outside of the area.
Dozens of residents were outside Southport mosque with brushes and shovels on Wednesday morning, clearing bricks from a wall that was knocked down during the rioting.
Norman Wallis, chief executive of Southport Pleasureland, said people had travelled from out of town to wreak havoc, leaving locals to clean up the mess.
He said: “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.
“Those people from out of town – they came in in buses and cars and had a change of clothes. They just started to riot and do this.”
Mosque chairman Ibrahim Hussein told reporters he was trapped in the mosque with about eight others as the violence erupted, and only escaped with a police guard.
He said: “It was terrifying. It was absolutely, awful, horrendous. We couldn’t understand this viciousness that was going on.”
Locals have brought flowers to the mosque and are helping organise repairs to the building, which Mr Hussein said was “humbling”.
“I know the people of Southport and I know how beautiful they are but this was still a moving experience to see all that,” he said.
Shop owner Chanaka Balasuryla said the Southport community has rallied around him since his store was looted during the disorder on Tuesday night.
He called 999 after spotting men trying to smash their way in on the CCTV camera from his home five minutes away, and was “terrified” that they might set fire to the premises because a woman and her daughter live in the flat above.
The woman confronted the raiders, telling them it was her shop in an attempt to stop them, he said.
Merseyside Police said “a large group of people – believed to be supporters of the English Defence League” – began to throw items such as bricks towards the mosque in the seaside town at about 7.45pm.
Angela Rayner said that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will look at whether the EDL should be banned, despite former leader Tommy Robinson’s insistence that the group no longer exists.
The troubling scenes saw 27 police officers taken to hospital, with 12 others being treated and discharged at the scene, North West Ambulance Service said.
Merseyside Police said eight officers suffered serious injuries including fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and concussion.
The chairman of Merseyside Police Federation, Chris McGlade, said: “Police officers are not robots. We are mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters. Husbands, wives and partners.
“We should be going home at the end of our shifts. Not to hospital.”
Southport MP Patrick Hurley, speaking on Wednesday, said rioters must face the “full force of the law”, saying they were “utterly disrespecting the families of the dead and injured children”.
He condemned “beered-up thugs” who threw bricks, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Even if this lad, the 17-year-old, turns out to be Muslim, under no circumstances does that justify any attack on a mosque by anybody at all.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said rioters had “hijacked” a vigil for victims and will “feel the full force of the law”, while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the rioting as “violent attacks from thugs on the streets”, which she branded “appalling”.
The suspect, who was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, is from the village of Banks, just outside Southport.
Police have said that although the motive for the attack is unclear, it is not believed to be terror-related.
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