BLAZE NEWS
Protests continue to unsettle U.K. over the three deaths and numerous injuries at a horrific stabbing attack on girls attending a dance class in Southport.
The gruesome attack unfolded on Monday, July 29, at a dance class for children in the seaside town. A 17-year-old man entered the studio and stabbed the children with a knife, killing three and injuring many. Witnesses saw some children covered in blood as they ran away from the attack.
Rumors and speculation immediately took hold on social media as police investigated the terrifying incident.
Officials initially said that there was no evidence that terrorism was a motive for the attack, angering many who accused them of covering up politically incorrect evidence. Police identified the suspect as being from Cardiff but also that his parents were Rwandan.
The unrest began on Tuesday when protesters assembled outside of a Mosque in Southport and chanted anti-immigrant sentiments. Police intervened, and some vehicles were set on fire during scuffles between police and protesters.
One rumor said that the suspect had entered illegally into the country and had been on government terror watch lists, but that was specifically denied by law enforcement officials.
Protests and rioting have erupted across the U.K. in the days following.
Police said a protest of about 200 people on Wednesday outside of a hotel housing asylum-seekers in Aldershot descended into chaos after some people “got involved in criminal activity, throwing objects and subjecting people to racial abuse.”
On Sunday, anti-immigration rioters broke windows and appeared to set fires at a hotel in Rotherham in Northern England. The police service said ten officers were injured in the rioting.
Police arrested nine people in Middlesbrough after protesters threw bottles and rocks at officers.
On Monday, police reported violence between protesters and counter-protesters in Plymouth in the southwest U.K.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the violence and blamed “far-right thuggery.”
In Belfast, the capital of Northern Island, Protestants and Catholics set aside their theological differences to march side-by-side on Saturday against mass immigration.
Others have accused law enforcement officials of inappropriately using force to shut down protests.
The suspect has been identified as Axel Rudakubana and was charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.