Far-right rioters loot shops and set fire to library and food bank in shameless day of disorder
Looters take advantage of unrest to ransack shops and steal mobile phones and vapes
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Looters have raided shops across the UK as they took advantage of the disorder caused by violent far-right demonstrations in cities across the country.
Several locations in England and Northern Ireland saw violent clashes involving far-right demonstrators, with dozens of police officers left injured, missiles thrown and shops broken into on Saturday. Home secretary Yvette Cooper said people involved in the clashes “will pay the price” and that “criminal violence and disorder has no place on Britain’s streets”.
Click here for our live coverage of the riots.
Rioters stole wine, shoes and phones; some shops were then torched during the chaos.
In footage from Liverpool, a group of rioters could be heard shouting “Get the phones! Get the phones!” as they ransacked a phone repair and vape shop in the city centre.
Have you been affected by looting? Email jabed.ahmed@independent.co.uk
Smashed glass and empty phone packaging could be seen on the streets after rioters kicked in the shutters, breaking their way into the business.
In another incident in Liverpool, thugs torched a recently renovated library and food bank on Saturday night. 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.
Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram condemned the mob who tried to prevent firefighters from accessing the blaze.
“Devastated to see this wonderful community asset ravaged by thugs,” Mr Rotheram said in a post on X.
A Shoezone in Hull was badly damaged after rioters shattered the glass storefront, looted the store and set it on fire. Footage showed a blaze inside the shop with shoes scattered on the path outside, while a Greggs and a Specsavers had also been targeted by masked men throwing stones and bricks.
Humberside Police said officers “faced eggs and bottles being thrown” as windows were smashed at a nearby hotel that has housed migrants.
A supermarket manager in Belfast said his store was reduced to ashes as rioters deliberately targeted immigrant-owned businesses.
“People attacked this place, racism against Islam and Muslims, especially the Muslim community,” Bashir said. “All of that happened and the police did nothing, I am telling you the truth. What kind of police are letting the people burn everything down?”
Across the road from the supermarket, the Bash Cafe, selling Arabic coffee and falafels, was badly damaged by fire.
The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said it had attended a shop and a cafe on fire on the Donegall Road on Saturday night. It said the cause of both fires had been determined as deliberate.
Masked men in Manchester chanted “England” and “Oh Tommy, Tommy!”, a reference to the founder of the far-right English Defence League Tommy Robinson, as they ransacked a Sainsbury’s local in Picadilly Gardens, leaving with expensive wines.
In footage of the incident, one man can be heard further encouraging the looters, shouting: “Go get the beers!” The men were chased by riot police before being detained.
Rioters in Sunderland set an overturned car on fire, set alight a disused police building and torched a Citizen’s Advice Bureau, while others targeted a mosque and chanted Islamophobic insults.
The far-right has drawn widespread condemnation as the organising force behind the scenes of disorder in the wake of the killings of three young girls in Southport.
False claims had spread online that the suspect, later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana from Lancashire, was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.