How the Southport stabbings sparked violence across the country
Within hours of his attack, posts spread on the internet which claimed the suspect was a 17-year-old asylum seeker.
Summer riots which saw violence across the country were sparked by the stabbings carried out by a teenager in Southport.
Axel Rudakubana, then 17, murdered three children and attempted to murder eight other children and two adults in his attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the seaside town on July 30.
Within hours of his attack, posts spread on the internet which claimed the suspect was a 17-year-old asylum seeker, who had come to the country by boat last year.
In the first press conference after the event, at 6.30pm that day, Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy told journalists the suspect was originally from Cardiff.
But, the police statement did little to quell the misinformation spreading online.
Police forces do not name suspects before they are charged and Rudakubana – still a youth at 17 – would remain anonymous even after he was charged because of his age.
As floral tributes near the scene grew, so did speculation about who was behind the attack.
When Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited to pay his respects the day after the stabbing, there were hostile shouts of: “How many more Starmer? When are you going to do something?”
By that evening, things began to turn violent.
A crowd gathered outside Southport mosque – which has no known links to Rudakubana – for a planned protest on the evening of July 30.
Shouts of “English ’til I die” were heard and bricks broken off from garden walls were used as missiles.
Police officers initially seemed unprepared for the violence, without riot helmets or shields.
The following week, when the first prison sentences were handed out for those involved, Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC described a “mob” using the “most foul and racist abuse”, smashing windows, hurling bricks and setting a police van alight.
He said: “This was large scale and very violent criminal activity made much worse by the fact that it was happening only a day after entirely different and utterly tragic events.
“The genuine and collective grief of the residents of Southport was hijacked by this callous behaviour.”
Ms Kennedy said 93 officers were hurt, with injuries including fractured legs, knocked out teeth and a broken jaw.
On Wednesday morning, the clean up of Southport began, but by the evening violence had spread further afield – with demonstrations in London, Hartlepool in County Durham and Aldershot in Hampshire.
For the next week, as Rudakubana was charged, appeared before court and officially named, violent protests continued across the country.
Rioters smashed the windows of hotels in Rotherham and Tamworth, and set a library in Liverpool on fire.
The Government announced emergency security for mosques and Sir Keir promised those involved would “face the full force of the law”.
Prison sentences began to be handed out the following week and by mid-December more than 360 people had been jailed for their parts in the unrest across the country.
On August 8, there were rumours online of 100 planned protests, with gatherings anticipated in 41 of the 43 police force areas in England and Wales.
Shops boarded up their windows to prevent windows being smashed.
But in most places, only peaceful anti-racism demonstrators gathered and fears of further violent disorder were quashed.
