Far-rights thugs planning series of protests across UK this weekend amid bogus reports Southport attacker was Muslim
BRITAIN is on red alert ahead of up to 15 far-right protests this weekend — as police released images of suspects they are trying to trace from previous riots.
More demonstrations are expected following a wave of violent disturbances stirred by fake news online claiming the teenaged alleged knife murderer of three young girls was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Trouble exploded in Southport, Merseyside — with thugs targeting a mosque near to where Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, were attacked during a dance class.
Fifty-three police were injured as thugs hurled bricks and torched vehicles in several hours of chaos.
Other protests followed in central London, where 100 were arrested, and Hartlepool where a boy of 11 was held on suspicion of arson after a police vehicle was set alight.
Manchester police released images of 11 men and women they want to question after riot cops were pelted with bottles by masked thugs outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in the suburb of Newton Heath.
The Hampshire force, meanwhile, circulated photos of seven men they are seeking after a 200-strong “mob-type” demo outside another migrant hotel in Aldershot turned violent.
It is believed extremists are using TikTok and the Telegram messaging service to organise protests over the weekend in Liverpool, Sunderland, Manchester, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Southport and Bristol.
Others are expected in Nottingham, where two are thought to be planned, as well as Cardiff, High Wycombe in Bucks, and Belfast.
A riots battle plan was unveiled by the Home Office last night — with an extra 70 prosecutors ready to charge offenders on the spot.
And the National Police Chiefs’ Council has detailed an operational strategy — setting clear priorities to address protest-related disorder.
Home Office minister Lord Hanson warned: “To anybody who’s organising this, we will be watching you. Be prepared to face the full force of the law on this criminal activity.”
Experts will be examining footage while officers in police helicopters film those attending rallies to record any evidence of criminality.
And cop cars fitted with automatic number plate recognition technology will also be used to scan vehicles near protest assembly points.
Lord Walney, Government adviser on political violence and disruption, said of the disorder: “Some far-right actors have got a taste for this and are trying to provoke similar in towns and cities across the UK.”
Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “Forces are working together at a local, regional and national level to gather and share intelligence and to make sure we are ready to tackle any violent disorder which might arise.”
Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims added: “Anyone who intends to cause future damage and harm to our communities will be dealt with robustly.”
Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, demanded ministers “do something about social media”.
He said it had been used to “whip up the lies” about the alleged perpetrator of the Southport stabbings that “fuelled some of the disorder that we saw on the streets”.
Zara Mohammed, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said hundreds of mosques across the country will be strengthening their security and protective measures this weekend.
It came as PM Sir Keir Starmer returned to Southport yesterday to thank the emergency services and hospital staff for their response to the stabbings are the riot.
Axel Rudakubana, 17, who was born in Cardiff and living in Lancashire, has been remanded in youth custody charged with three counts of murder, ten of attempted murder and one of possessing a bladed article.