Protesters clash with police as ministers to meet to discuss potential disorder

A number of protests got under way in cities across the UK on Saturday.

People protest outside Leeds Town Hall following the stabbing attacks on Monday in Southport (Owen Humphreys/PA) (PA Wire)

Riot police have been involved in face-offs with protesters in parts of the UK as ministers prepare to meet to discuss the potential for further disorder.

Planned demonstrations in cities across the country got under way on Saturday as tensions remained high after the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport, Merseyside, on Monday.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, from Lancashire, is accused of the attack, but false claims spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.

Merseyside Police said a number of officers were injured during “serious disorder” in Liverpool city centre on Saturday, with one officer being hit on the head by a chair.

Bricks, bottles and a flare were also thrown at officers as they lined the The Strand in the city centre.

Another officer was kicked and knocked off his motorcycle by a demonstrator and others tried to kick riot shields.

Elsewhere on Saturday, bricks were thrown at officers in Stoke-on-Trent, fireworks were thrown amid tense exchanges between an anti-Islamic group and an anti-racism rally in Belfast, and windows of a hotel which has been used to house migrants were smashed in Hull.

Greater Manchester Police said a dispersal notice had been authorised for the city centre and Merseyside Police said greater stop and search powers had been granted for officers to deal with planned demonstrations.

Scuffles broke out as opposing groups faced each other in Nottingham’s Market Square with bottles and other items thrown from both sides, and chants of “England till I die” and “Tommy Robinson” were drowned out by boos from counter-protesters.

Around 150 people carrying St George flags shouting “you’re not English any more” and “paedo Muslims off our street” were greatly outnumbered in Leeds by hundreds of counter-protesters shouting “Nazi scum off our streets”.

On Saturday it was not possible to search “Tommy Robinson” on TikTok, with the social media platform instead showing the message: “This phrase may be associated with behaviour or content that violates our guidelines.”

Cleveland Police denied claims that the organiser of a march in Middlesbrough on Sunday had been arrested on terrorism charges.

The force issued a statement saying a 29-year-old man had been arrested on Friday over firearms offences after Mr Robinson had posted: “Lad who organised Middlesbrough march been locked up on terrorism charges.”

The weekend protests followed a night of “unforgivable” violence in Sunderland, which saw a Citizens Advice office burned down.

A priest at Sunderland Minster said yobs tried to smash a gravestone to use for missiles during widespread violence in the city, adding that it was “an act of sacrilege”.

Sunderland Central Labour MP Lewis Atkinson said a link could be drawn between the disorder in his constituency on Friday and the ashes of the EDL, which was founded by Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

The far right has drawn condemnation from MPs across the political spectrum after disorder in London, Manchester, Southport and Hartlepool over the past three days.

Cleveland Police said two boys, aged 11 and 14, have been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder after the protests in Hartlepool.

The EDL has disbanded but its supporters remain active, and Mr Atkinson said evidence suggested a Nazi offshoot of the group was involved in the violence in his constituency on Friday, in which a police station was torched and a mosque attacked.

Northumbria Police Chief Superintendent Mark Hall said four officers were injured during the violence in Sunderland and 10 people have been arrested.

He told reporters that those involved in the disorder should “expect to be met with the full force of the law”, adding: “This was not a protest, this was unforgivable violence and disorder.”

Qari Asim, chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, said the Muslim community is “deeply worried and anxious about the planned protests by the far-right groups across the country”.

An ⁠extra 70 prosecutors will be on standby this weekend to charge people who set out to cause violent disorder as the authorities prepare to deal with dozens of demonstrations.

Campaign group Hope Not Hate has identified more than 30 events taking place.

Thousands of people had turned out to pay their respects to Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, at a vigil in Southport on Tuesday.

Violence later erupted outside a mosque in the town and 53 police officers and three police dogs were injured.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer later condemned “thugs” who had travelled to the town to cause unrest.

The unrest poses the biggest challenge yet to Sir Keir’s premiership, evoking the scale of public disorder last seen during the 2011 riots.

There were a series of clashes in August 2011 in cities and towns across England, which started in Tottenham Hale, north-east London, after the killing of Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police on August 4.