LONDON: Protesters attacked police personnel and started fires in Sunderland on Friday as violence after Monday’s killing of three kids in northwest England spread to another city. Anti-immigrant protestors threw stones at police in riot gear in the city before overturning various vehicles, setting a car alight and also starting a fire next to a police office, according to the BBC.
In a statement, Police admitted its personnel had been “subjected to violence” and they were continuing to deal with the current disorder in the area. An official said in a statement via social media that they will not accept such violence in the city.
The demonstration in Sunderland was one of more than a dozen planned by anti-immigration protesters across the United Kingdom this weekend. According to media reports, various anti-racism counter-protest demonstrations were also planned.
A boy has been charged with the murder of the girls in a knife assault at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in the seaside town of Southport. However, violent incidents vented in the after days in Southport and London in reaction to false information on different platforms of social media claiming the suspect in the stabbings was a migrant.
In an attempt to suppress the misinformation on social media, police officials have highlighted that the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born in the UK.
