UK police: Street violence affects resources needed to probe crimes

Police officers detain a woman during a protest in Nottingham, England’s Market Square Saturday Aug. 3, 2024, following the stabbing attacks on Monday in Southport, in which three young children were killed. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

LONDON — Police warned Sunday that efforts to deal with the violence that has erupted across towns and cities in recent days in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and several wounded means that other crimes may not be investigated fully.

The warning comes a day after dozens of people were arrested as far-right activists faced off with anti-racism protesters across the U.K., with violent scenes played out in many locations across the U.K., from the Northern Ireland capital, Belfast, to Liverpool in the northwest of England and Bristol in the west. Further arrests are likely as police scour CCTV, social media, and body-worn camera footage.

In just one incident on Saturday, Merseyside Police said about 300 people were involved in violent disorder in Liverpool, which saw a community facility being set on fire. The Spellow Lane Library Hub, which was opened last year to provide support for one of the most deprived communities in the country, suffered severe damage to the ground floor. Police said rioters tried to prevent firefighters from accessing the fire, throwing a missile at the fire engine and breaking the rear window of the cab.

Further gatherings are scheduled Sunday and police will continue to mount a significant security operation, deploying thousands more officers onto the streets, many in riot gear. Police have also made more prison cells available and are using surveillance and facial recognition technology.

“We’re seeing officers that are being pulled from day-to-day policing,” Tiffany Lynch from the Police Federation of England and Wales told the BBC. “But while that’s happening, the communities that are out there that are having incidents against them — victims of crime — unfortunately, their crimes are not being investigated.”

The violence erupted earlier this week, ostensibly in protest of Monday’s stabbing attack in Southport. A 17-year-old male has been arrested.

False rumors spread online that the young man was a Muslim and an immigrant, fueling anger among far-right supporters. Suspects under 18 are usually not named in the U.K., but Judge Andrew Menary ordered Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan parents, to be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation.

Police said many of the actions are being organized online by shadowy far-right groups, who are mobilizing support online with phrases like “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats.” Counter-protests are also anticipated with the organization Stand Up To Racism

Far-right demonstrators have held several violent gatherings since the stabbing attack, clashing with police Tuesday outside a mosque in Southport — near the scene of the horrific stabbing — and hurling beer cans, bottles, and flares near the prime minister’s office in London the next day. Many in Southport have expressed their anger at the organized acts of violence in the wake of the tragedy.

The attack Monday on children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem, though mass stabbings are rare.

Rudakubana has been charged with murder over the attack that killed Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6. He has also been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder for the eight children and two adults who were wounded.

Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, has blamed the violence on “far-right hatred” and vowed to end the mayhem. He said police across the U.K. would be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law and order on our streets.”

Policing minister Diana Johnson told the BBC that there is “no need” to bring in the army to help police in their efforts to confront the violence.

“The police have made it very clear that they have all the resources they need at the moment,” she said.