PM, police hold crisis meeting over unrest as attack suspect due in court

A police car burns as officers are deployed on the streets of Hartlepool, England

Prime Minister Keir Starmer summoned British police chiefs for a crisis meeting yesterday over violent unrest that followed a stabbing attack that left three young girls dead. A 17-year-old suspect appeared in court to face three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder.

The attack on children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem. The deaths have also been used by far-right activists to stoke anger at immigrants and Muslims – though the suspect is not an immigrant, and his religion has not been disclosed.

The suspect has not been named because he is under 18, but police say he was born in Britain. He has not been charged with terrorism offenses but faces three counts of murder over the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.

He also has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over eight children and two adults who were injured. Several of the victims remain in critical condition.

The suspect made a brief appearance at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court yesterday. He was not asked to enter a plea and was ordered detained until his next hearing, scheduled for later in the day.

Far-right demonstrators — fueled, in part, by online misinformation — have held several violent protests, ostensibly in response to the attack, clashing with police outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday and causing a melee near the prime minister’s office in London the next day.

Starmer’s office said he would tell police leaders that “while the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs, he will be clear that criminals who exploit that right in order to sow hatred and carry out violent acts will face the full force of the law.”

Hundreds of protesters chanting “we want our country back” hurled beer cans and bottles near the prime minister’s Downing Street residence in London on Wednesday evening,[yesterday, Macau tie] and launched flares at a nearby statue of wartime leader Winston Churchill. More than 100 people were arrested for offenses including violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker, London’s Metropolitan Police force said.

Police officers were pelted with bottles and eggs in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, where a police car was set ablaze, as far-right groups seek to stir anger over an attack they have sought to link to immigrants. A smaller disturbance was reported in Manchester.

On Tuesday night a crowd of several hundred people hurled bricks and bottles at riot police in Southport, set garbage bins and vehicles on fire and looted a store, hours after a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims.

“I am absolutely appalled and disgusted at the level of violence that was shown towards my officers,” Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said. “Some of the first responders who attended that awful scene on Monday … then were faced with that level of violence.” JILL LAWLESS, LONDON, MDT/AP