Keir Starmer to meet police chiefs as far right protests spread

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Sir Keir Starmer will convene a meeting of senior police chiefs in Downing Street on Thursday after a second night of violence following the death of three young girls in a mass stabbing in Southport.

Far right protests spread to Whitehall, the home of government in central London, on Wednesday with more than 100 demonstrators arrested, according to the Metropolitan Police, during clashes outside the prime minister’s office and residence.

Some protesters threw fireworks and bottles at police, shouting similar anti-migrant and Islamophobic slogans to those used in Southport near Liverpool on Tuesday night. More than 50 officers were injured when protesters attacked a local mosque and set police and other vehicles alight.

Police forces across the UK are braced for further far right protests heading into the weekend.

The violence has been fuelled in part by misinformation online linking the stabbings in Southport on Monday to Islamism and to cross-Channel migration.

Soon after the attack, which was the worst involving mass child casualties in the UK in decades, the police downplayed terrorism as a possible motive.

Merseyside Police have charged a 17-year-old boy from nearby Banks in Lancashire in connection with the knife attack in which three girls aged six, seven and nine were killed, and 10 other people, mostly children, were injured.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons because he is under 18, is originally from Cardiff, son to Rwandan parents. He faces three murder charges, 10 counts of attempted murder and another for possession of a knife.

He has been remanded in custody and will appear at Liverpool Magistrates Court today.

Merseyside chief constable Serena Kennedy said: “Whilst these charges are a significant milestone within this investigation, this remains very much a live investigation and we continue to work with our partners from Lancashire Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North West.”

Downing Street said Starmer would offer the government’s full backing to police leaders following incidents of “extreme violence and public disorder” on the streets.

He will also emphasise the government’s commitment to ensuring that anyone carrying out violent acts, and sowing hatred should face the “full force of the law”.  

There were also major disturbances in the north eastern town of Hartlepool on Wednesday night where police carrying riot shields were confronted by large crowds of protesters hurling projectiles.