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Fury raged through the English community of Southport on Tuesday after a knife attack left three girls dead and multiple other people wounded.
The Southport Islamic Society Mosque was the focus of protests that led to clashes between rioters and police, according to GB News.
A police van was set ablaze while marchers chanted “No surrender” and “English ’till I die.”
Officials said 39 police officers were injured, eight seriously, amid rioting that saw an emergency vehicle torched, according to the BBC.
This is very very very ugly now pic.twitter.com/9wYwZf7Pc1
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) July 30, 2024
The unrest followed a Monday attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in this community about 20 miles north of Liverpool.
Eight children and two adults were hospitalized, with both adults and five children listed in critical condition, according to The Associated Press.
A 17-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. Police say that social media posts claiming the individual is an asylum seeker are false, claiming he was born in Cardiff, Wales, and lived in a village north of Southport. Police have not released his name.
The suspect’s parents are from Rwanda, officials said, according to the BBC.
NEW: A police van has had its windscreen smashed by bricks. Smoke bombs, bins and bottles been thrown at the police from close quarters. Some chanting “Allah. Allah. Who the **** is Allah” pic.twitter.com/FMqrD05kzq
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) July 30, 2024
The three girls killed have been identified as Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.
The rioting Tuesday followed a vigil in Southport where thousands gathered in mourning.
King’s family said “no words” could describe the “devastation that has hit our family”, while Aguiar’s parents said their late child would always be “our princess and no one would change that.”
Window cleaner Joel Verite said he was passing the scene of the attacks Monday when he saw “a girl hanging from the side of her car,” according to Sky News.
Verite recounted: “I jumped out the car and I just asked her if she was alright. She just looked in complete shock and had blood all over her body. She just screamed at me: ‘He’s killing kids over there, he’s killing kids over there.’”
He said he passed a car in which a woman had several wounded children in the vehicle.
“It was like a scene from a disaster film,” he said. “The woman just looked at me and said: ‘I just want to make sure these kids are safe.’”
He said he went into the building where the attacks took place.
“I opened the door and there’s a stairway. I shouted hello to see if anyone was there. I look up and there’s this guy with a knife. Maybe he didn’t realize I was going to be in there, but we locked eyes and then he scurried off,” Verite described.
“All I saw was a knife and I thought: ‘There are more people in there,’ and I just wanted to hurt him so bad. But I was scared for myself and I wanted to help people. So I came outside and I was screaming because I knew where he was,” he said.
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