UK 'Major incident' after reports of stabbing and 'number of casualties' in Southport

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Police have declared a "major incident" in Southport after reports of a stabbing and a "number of reported casualties".

Police said a knife had been seized and that a man had been detained but urged the public to avoid the area near Hart Street.

In a statement, Merseyside Police said: "We can confirm that emergency services are in Southport following a major incident this morning, Monday 29 July.

"At around 11.50am, we were called to a property on Hart Street to reports of a stabbing.

"There are a number of reported casualties and more details will be confirmed when possible.

"Armed police have detained a male and seized a knife. He has been taken to a police station.

"Please avoid the area while we deal with this incident. There is no wider threat to the public."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Sky News
Archive [July 29 2024]
 
Some people think that that's exactly what she should have said.
https://nitter.poast.org/Slatzism/status/1818252744009904452#m
https://archive.md/J8Jlg
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How dare she comment on something that concerns her directly and not everything else that's going on in the world! I bet Tay-Tay also hasn't issued a public statement about [insert other barbarity probably happening in the Middle East/Africa/Asia/Latin America here].
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:story:Wow, the BBC are really grasping for straws at the point. They couldn't even find a neighbor saying "but he was such a nice guy!" like the media does when they try to portray murderous scrotes positively so they had to settle for banalities like

>Dad went to work every day
>They had a car

Going to work every day and having a car, two feats no murderers or their families have ever managed to carry out throughout history.
Yep. And being a “stay at home mom” isn’t fucking relatable to most of us anymore, because we have to go to work unless we married someone wealthy. 1/2 parents working while being supported by my tax $ isn’t making me think “oh wow what salt of the earth relatable people”.
 
Shades of poll tax riots? Blast from the past, pure kino, and the comments are worth a scan:
[Link if vid doesn't embed]
People used to know how to riot back in the day. The NF vs SWP era was intense. People would turn out en masse with pickaxe handles, iron bars and in some cases molotovs lol. They would overwhelm the police and beat the shit out of them if they started getting heavy handed. The protests in the UK now are usually a bunch of fat middle aged men and cat ladies waving Israel flags and the young ones always run away when the police start stomping towards them even though they outnumber the police like 30 to 1.

I personally dislike violence, but the people need to realise that the police are there as a deterrent and their power comes from peoples own values to respect the law and thus the badge they are wearing (just look at how 5ft 4 female police are keeping 10-20 young males from pushing her over and breaching the police line)... the government is terrified of the people deep down, it always has been even if we go back the the middle ages and before. The peasants knew how to cause a ruckus and would use their numbers and tenacity to grind down standing armies and mercenary companies.

The police in the UK should thank their lucky stars that they are "policing" a tame and subdued people like the British natives for the most part. In other part of the world they would have been ran though pretty quickly and the country would be in flames and there is nothing they can do about it.
 
Recorded yesterday, Carl Benjamin on Michael Malice’s show specifically to speak about what’s unfolding in the UK with regard to all this. I’m not really a Sargon fan (“We just need to get Trump to tweet about Gaymergate!”), but I’m not fussy about messengers at this point.


I am friendly with a few UK journos socially and they will normally join in with me expressing despair about what’s happening there and how the media won’t say what’s actually going on or who’s responsible. But on this topic, they won’t be drawn. There must have been some stern warnings from TPTB about this powder keg.
 
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A Home Office spokesman told MailOnline: 'Prevent safeguards people who may be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. It is entirely up to an individual whether they accept the support offered through Prevent.

'The support people receive through Prevent is rightly confidential and it would not be appropriate to comment on whether or not an individual has been offered support.'


So he was offered this shit or forced to? frankly I don't think he should've been even considered for that just for telling an annoying bitch with a camera to fuck off but this seems like just a formality.
It won't be until there's a true economic collapse that Enoch Powell with be proven right.
Buddy I been to countries were shit is way worse than here or the other side of the pond and nobody was rebelling against shit, in Brazil you get gendershit and racebaiting blasted to your face 24/7 while paying insane taxes as a bunch of favela kids are shooting at your house.

On the other hand I been paying more attention to what's happening in Argentina, they are doing bad but they been worse before and yet there wasn't this level of "fuck you, fuck you, fuck everybody else" attitude back then. I don't know if this is just due to Milei or if there's something to do with current year colliding with the local culture but it made me thing that current year ideology is actually meant to demoralize and keep the masses quiet even as the entire nation goes to shit, its not a byproduct of economical largesse else you wouldn't see it in third world countries, but it is there.

Another example is Trump's return, dude was practically finished back in 2020 and yet here he comes again. Is the economy good? nope, but ask any boomer and the shit we're going thru now its nothing compared to the malaise of the 70's, or even some parts of the 80's. And yet people are going against the tide (of the system).
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That didn’t take long.
CUCKMAXXING speedrun [no commentary].
In an age where we can apparently track people’s every move and they’re just free. Incredible isn’t it?
Nope, this shit was never meant to catch mass murderers, not even regular criminals who are openly selling drugs and stolen credit cards on telegram groups. This was built to keep tabs on regular people.
It's understandable. I don't blame her for wanting it all to go away.
There was a knock on her door, 2 bri'ish glowies who told her there is a script for these situations and she better read it out loud "or else".

That's what happened.
Memo to media: beware, because one day, karma will paid you an unexpected visit.
Its already slowly happening tho its less karma and more them becoming so shit even a glorified chatbot can replace them.

If you mean violence I've yet to see any leftist journo getting 1/1000th of the shit right-wing journos get, and that's still far from getting shanked to death while walking to their car.
In other part of the world they would have been ran though pretty quickly and the country would be in flames and there is nothing they can do about it.
Third world people are incredibly tame which is why most of those countries are so shit. They might sperg out on camera but when push comes to shove they bend over and take it, and the cycle of exploitation continues.
 
Media are memory-holing the horror as fast as they can. They have their new, gift-wrapped and served on a silver platter, narrative to run with now: ghastly underclass racist yobs running amok. Optics be damned - the rioters did the right thing regardless - the niggers and mudslimes were always - ALWAYS - going to be the real victims in this anyway. They ALWAYS are. It's not as if the thought of 'optics' ever crossed the minds of the locals - the trouble on the streets was simply an expression of pure, and entirely justified, rage. And everyone fucking knows it - especially the pondscum media, which is why they're so desperate to defame the natives.

[been biting my tongue on this one - too tempted to fedpost].
 
BBC are saying that Starmer is to meet with the police to discuss the riots.

Well, Starmer, if you had bothered your arse to talk to the fucking locals, not one single riot would have happened. Instead of getting his photo-op with wreath-laying and then fucking off he could have said:

"I know you are angry about what has happened. I know you will see me as the figurehead for the UK and will therefore direct your anger at Me and want change immediately. I'm not going to give you fancy words or empty promises because that doesn't happen, and cannot happen now while we are in mourning for the most vulnerable in society; the children. I cannot begin to understand the pain, hurt and shame you are going through as a community, as a people and as a parent.
There will be an investigation and I am personally looking into the details of this attack and what turns a 17 year old into the coldest blooded killer since Myra Hindley. In [days/weeks] I will return here to Southport and meet the fine people that live here. Today, It would be an insult for me to be here and do that. We will, together, work towards a positive solution to end these acts. For now, my thoughts and prayers are with you all."

That would have calmed things down. Now? Starmer HAS TO immediately end all migrants coming in by boat, it's an easy fix and an easy way to placate the masses. He won't because 1) he doesn't care, none of them do and 2) This is all part of the plan. He's not panicing because he knows this is just part of the roadmap.
 
Here's some updated press coverage:

How Disinformation Fed a Far-Right Riot After a Deadly Stabbing in England
The New York Times (archive.ph)
By Megan Specia
2024-07-31 23:19:35GMT
Less than two hours after mourners gathered in Southport, England, on Tuesday evening to honor three children killed in a brutal stabbing attack, hundreds of rioters flooded the streets of the already traumatized town.

More than 50 police officers were injured in the ensuing violence, as demonstrators threw bricks at a mosque, attacked the police, set cars on fire and damaged a convenience store.

Although some details of the unrest remain opaque, one thing is clear, according to the police, lawmakers and experts in online extremism: Disinformation and far-right agitators fueled the violence.

Supporters of the English Defence League, an extremist anti-Islam organization, were part of a large group that attacked a mosque in Southport around 7.45 p.m., according to a statement from the Merseyside Police Service, which covers the region.

The targeting of the mosque, and the subsequent riot, came after false rumors circulated on social media on Monday, soon after news emerged that a man had stabbed multiple children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

The rapid spread of misinformation about the attacker’s identity left the authorities fighting a two-pronged battle on Tuesday: one on the streets of Southport, where the police were pelted with bricks and other objects, and another online, where lawmakers, local officials and the police seemed powerless to halt viral falsehoods.

On Monday afternoon, the police said they had arrested a 17-year-old in the stabbings. On Wednesday, he was charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder, a police statement said. In line with British law regarding minors, the police did not identify the suspect, but said he lived in the nearby village of Banks.

On X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, users shared false information about the attacker. Some posted what they claimed was the attacker’s name, which the police said was incorrect, but that information continued to spread. Others spread falsehoods about the attacker’s immigration status, incorrectly claiming he was an asylum seeker or that he had come to England illegally. Some of the posts received millions of views, fanning the flames of far-right narratives that oppose immigration.

Tommy Robinson, an anti-Islam agitator who founded the English Defence League, and Andrew Tate, another extremist online personality, were among those who fueled speculation.

Mr. Robinson shared a social media post in which a man asked: “Why has our government let this Syrian fella in” to stab “innocent children.”

Mr. Tate posted a video on X on Monday night in which he told viewers that an “undocumented migrant decided to go into a Taylor Swift dance class today and stab six little girls, so someone arrived in the U.K. on a boat, nobody knew who he was, nobody knows where he’s from.” The video has been viewed more than 14.9 million times.

As misinformation about the suspect spread, the police issued statements saying that he was born in Cardiff, Wales. But false claims continued to proliferate.

Since Mr. Musk acquired X in 2022, he has rolled back many of the platform’s content- moderation policies, reinstated the accounts of previously banned extremists, including Mr. Robinson, and laid off workers responsible for policing misinformation.

Instead, Mr. Musk has favored an approach that allows X users to fact-check one another’s posts. The program, called Community Notes, began in 2021 but expanded rapidly under Mr. Musk. Several of the false posts that were viewed widely on X, including Mr. Tate’s, received Community Notes that pushed back on the misinformation, even as the posts remained visible.

As the riot took place on Tuesday night, Alex Goss, the assistant chief constable of the Merseyside police, said in a statement, “There has been much speculation and hypothesis around the status of a 17-year-old male who is currently in police custody and some individuals are using this to bring violence and disorder to our streets.”

He added, “We have already said that the person arrested was born in the U.K. and speculation helps nobody at this time.”

Many of those involved in the unrest, he noted, “do not live in the Merseyside area or care about the people of Merseyside.”

The outbreak of violence was deeply distressing for a community still grappling with raw emotions after Monday’s attack. Thousands had gathered for a vigil to honor the victims, crowding a central square and grasping bouquets of flowers and teddy bears.

In an interview on Wednesday morning with BBC radio, the lawmaker who represents the area, Patrick Hurley, said the rioters were “utterly disrespecting the families of the dead and injured children” and called them “beered-up thugs” who were not from Southport. He added, “Even if this lad, the 17-year-old, turns out to be Muslim, under no circumstances does that justify any attack on a mosque.”

The police have said that they are still investigating the motive for the attack, but that it was “not being treated as terrorist-related.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer also condemned the rioters and vowed to hold those who took part accountable. “Those who have hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery have insulted the community as it grieves,” Mr. Starmer wrote in a statement. “They will feel the full force of the law.”

Mr. Robinson denied in a social media post on Wednesday that the English Defense League still existed. But experts say that while its membership declined in the 2010s, its supporters have continued to mobilize around certain events.

The Merseyside Police said their officers had suffered serious injuries during the unrest, including fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and a concussion. Others had head injuries and facial injuries, and one was knocked unconscious, the force said. The North West Ambulance Service, which covers the region, said that 39 patients, all of whom were police officers, had been treated for injuries, with 27 taken to the hospital.

The same police and ambulance services had been the first responders the community relied on one day earlier, Serena Kennedy, the chief constable for the area, pointed out. Then, they, too, were targeted. She told reporters on Wednesday that the police were prepared for more possible violence in the coming days.

But the unrest was not isolated to Southport. On Wednesday evening, a far-right demonstration outside government buildings in London turned violent, with protesters clashing with the police. The group chanted, “We want our country back” and “England ’til I die.”

The Metropolitan Police of London said more than 100 people had been arrested on offenses including violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker. Some officers also suffered minor injuries, the police said.

Nick Lowles, the chief executive of Hope Not Hate, a British anti-extremism watchdog group, said that the horrific nature of the attack had evoked strong emotions, which had then been inflamed by misinformation.

“It’s far more than just the traditional far right; some of these narratives are in the mainstream now,” he said. “And each time a more mainstream person says it, it gives it more legitimacy.”

Mr. Lowles pointed to the normalization of extreme anti-immigration attitudes in recent years. “We’ve have had the rise of Nigel Farage and Reform U.K., whose rhetoric is not as violent but no less extreme,” he said, noting that Mr. Farage, a newly elected lawmaker and leader of the insurgent hard-right party, had put out a video questioning official information about the attacker.

The violence occurred a short walk from where the initial stabbings took place. As the evening light turned to darkness on Tuesday, smoke from the riot drifted over the memorial that had sprung up, the acrid black fumes visible on the horizon over the piles of flowers.

Mr. Goss, of the Merseyside Police, said that a number of off-duty police officers had been called in to support their colleagues, and he applauded their dedication while criticizing others who had taken part in the disorder.

“This is no way to treat a community,” he said, “least of all a community that is still reeling from the events of Monday.”
Starmer summons police chiefs over far-right violence in wake of Southport stabbings
Politico EU (archive.ph)
By Sam Blewett and Bethany Dawson
2024-08-01 07:01:58GMT
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called police chiefs to No. 10 Downing Street for an urgent meeting on Thursday afternoon after skirmishes between far-right protesters and officers spread to Westminster.

More than 100 demonstrators were arrested after violent clashes around parliament, as protesters descended on the capital in the wake of the deadly stabbing at a children’s dance class in Southport on Monday.

Flares were hurled at the gates of Downing Street — the residence and office of the British prime minister — as well as at a statue of former PM Winston Churchill. Beer cans and glass bottles rained down on police in riot gear, leaving some with minor injuries.

There were chants of “Oh Tommy, Tommy” — a reference to Tommy Robinson, the founder of the extreme nationalist English Defence League (EDL) group, who promoted the demonstration despite reports that he has fled the U.K. amid contempt of court hearings. Shouts of “we want our country back” and “stop the boats” also rang out.

Starmer’s meeting with senior cops comes after Merseyside police charged a 17-year-old boy from Banks, Lancashire, with the murders of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9. The teenager also faces 10 counts of attempted murder.

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said in a midnight press conference that the charges are a “significant milestone” but that it remains “very much a live investigation.” The suspect will appear at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, but cannot be named for legal reasons because he is under 18.

Starmer, in his meeting with the senior policing leaders this afternoon, is expected to say that far-right groups exploiting the right to protest to wreak havoc must face the “full force of the law,” London Playbook reported. He is expected to give officers his full backing and commit to work in partnership with forces across the U.K. but will urge them not to hesitate to use their powers to halt the violence, which has been whipped up by misinformation.

Former police counterterrorism chief Neil Basu accused newly elected Reform UK MP Nigel Farage of “giving the EDL succor, undermining the police, creating conspiracy theories, and giving a false basis for the attacks on the police,” according to the Guardian.

Violence also broke out on Wednesday in the town of Hartlepool, where police officers were injured after they were pelted with bottles and eggs, and a police car was torched.

New Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash said the clashes were “deeply concerning,” adding: “Violence is never the answer.” Eight arrests have been made, with more expected to follow. Officers will be investigating whether the disorder was linked to the EDL.

Meanwhile, Southport remained under a Section 60 order giving police enhanced powers to stop and search suspects, amid fears of further violence.
With Britain’s far right on the march, Labour has a problem
Politico EU (archive.ph)
By Andrew McDonald
2024-08-01T07:33:45
LONDON — Less than a month into the reign of the U.K.’s new Labour government, unspeakable tragedy struck.

In the seaside town of Southport, situated in north west England just outside Liverpool, three young girls — Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine — were killed Monday in a knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed danced class.

A 17-year-old has been detained by police. But, in line with usual British police practice, the suspect has not been named.

That’s an information void into which far-right conspiracies about an establishment cover-up to protect the perpetrator were poured — and turned quickly violent.

On Tuesday a large crowd, said by police to be connected to the extreme nationalist English Defence League, hurled projectiles at a mosque, set fire to police vehicles and attacked officers in Southport. Fifty-three officers were treated for injuries, with 27 taken to hospital. Four men have been arrested.

More unrest followed Wednesday night. Protestors let off flares outside No. 10 Downing Street and, 300 miles to the north east, others threw debris at police in the town of Hartlepool.

The protests were swiftly condemned by Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “thuggery,” and as an insult to a grieving community. “They will feel the full force of the law,” he vowed.

Beyond the immediate arrests, however, confronting the far right now presents an early, urgent problem for Starmer’s government.

The disorder was the second gathering linked to far-right activity in the space of less than a week, after tens of thousands of supporters of activist and English Defense League founder Tommy Robinson filled Trafalgar Square in London Saturday. A stabbing attack on a uniformed soldier earlier this month has also offered a rallying point for the far-right.

The Farage factor
Complicating matters as Labour looks for a response is Nigel Farage, the populist Reform UK leader and newly-elected member of parliament.

Neither Labour or the Tories before them have been able to halt the rise of a politician who has repeatedly distanced himself from the far-right — while adopting some of its more popular talking points.

Farage has spent the past 24 hours fending off claims he fanned the flames of Tuesday’s unrest with a video posted on X just hours before the riots took place. In it, he questioned why the incident in Southport was not being treated as “terror-related” and suggested the “truth” about the identity of the suspect was being withheld.

“I’m just asking questions because I’m struck that every time something appalling happens we’re told it’s non-terror or it’s mental health, there was nothing to worry our little heads about,” he said on his GB News show later.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said Farage should not “stir up this fake news online,” while Brendan Cox — widow of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed by a man with far-right views — went much further.

He told the BBC that Farage’s remarks make him “nothing better than a Tommy Robinson in a suit,” a reference to the far-right, anti-Islam EDL founder.

Farage told the PA news agency such comparison was “beneath contempt.” The Reform leader has long kept his distance from Robinson, even quitting his old party UKIP in 2018 over its then-leadership’s “fixation” with him. But, his critics argue, his comments on the knife attack confer a kind of parliamentary legitimacy to views that would previously have stayed on the fringes of British politics.

Reform made real gains in July’s election — winning 14 percent of the vote and bagging five MPs — making him harder to dismiss as a fringe figure.

New Labour MP Josh Simons, who ran the Labour Together think tank which commissioned work on countering the populist right, said his party must continue to “call out pathetic hate” and “have the courage to respond to violence with love and support.”

Labour is meanwhile facing calls for a clampdown on the methods used by Britain’s far-right — but here too there are few easy options.

“Misinformation has spread like wildfire online, feeding unverified narratives about the culprit, their background and their motivations,” Hope not Hate’s Director of Research Joe Mulhall said.

The new government could move to try and further counter disinformation on social media platforms such as X, where misinformation about the attack flourished. The U.K.’s Online Safety Act, introduced by the Conservatives, is in the process of being implemented.

But the act doesn’t legislate for the removal of specific pieces of content. Instead, it’s about holding platforms to account more broadly — a point Ofcom officials have repeatedly tried to stress to MPs. Though it has no current plans, Labour could try to legislate further in this area.

Some, including the former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, have called on Starmer’s government to go much further and proscribe the English Defense League. Rayner told LBC Wednesday that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will consider the proposal.

Others say Labour needs to relentlessly deliver to get at the root causes of the far right’s spread.

“Far-right and right-wing populism succeeds when it persuades a decent chunk of the majority that mainstream politics is not delivering for them, not working and we need something more radical,” Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director of the left-leaning IPPR think tank — which is close to Labour — said. “The big thing that progressives in the U.K. need to be thinking about is how we get back to a point where the vast majority of people feel that mainstream politics serves their interests,” he added.
Over 100 Arrested in London as Protests Break Out Across UK After Southport Attack
Bloomberg (archive.ph)
By The Press Association (Helen William and Rachel Vickers-Price)
2024-08-01 01:14:11GMT
More than 100 people have been arrested in London as further protests took place across the country in the wake of the Southport stabbings.

Violent outbreaks have taken place across Britain, including violent unrest in Hartlepool, Manchester, and Aldershot.

Police in Hartlepool were attacked with missiles, glass bottles and eggs, Cleveland Police said.

A police car was also set alight during the violence after a large group of people gathered in the Murray Street area of Hartlepool on Wednesday evening.

In Manchester, demonstrators turned out in large numbers outside the Holiday Inn hotel on Oldham Road at around 6pm, the Manchester Evening News reported.

Around 40 people, which the paper reports included children and men wearing balaclavas, gathered outside the Oldham Road premises in what the paper said "appeared to be a stand against asylum seekers currently being housed in the hotel".

In Aldershot, local MP Alex Baker took to social media to rebuke violence in her community, stating that there is "no justification for disorderly behaviour and the scenes do not represent Aldershot and Farnborough".

"I have been liaising with Hampshire Police this evening regarding a significant incident at Potter's International Hotel in Aldershot, where a peaceful protest descended into intimidating behaviour," she said in a statement shared on X.

"I have visited the scene myself this evening and have been in touch with the Chief Inspector. This incident was exacerbated by people from outside our community who came here determined to cause unrest. I would like to pay tribute to the brave police officers who worked hard to restore order.

"There is no justification for disorderly behaviour and the scenes do not represent Aldershot and Farnborough. We all support our shared right to peacefully protest, but we will not stand for people coming into our towns determined to stir up trouble and divide our community."

In London, a large protest was staged under the title of Enough is Enough, with arrests made after demonstrators clashed with officers in Whitehall on Wednesday.

The Metropolitan Police said: "Over 100 people have been arrested for offences including violent disorder, assault on an emergency worker, and breach of protest conditions. Some officers suffered minor injuries."

Demonstrators were seen launching beer cans and glass bottles at a line of police in riot gear in front of Downing Street and throwing flares onto the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.

The angry scenes also included loud chants of "we want our country back" and "Oh Tommy Robinson", referring to the right-wing activist.

Cleveland Police also said it had made four arrests for various offences including public order and affray after violence broke out in Hartlepool on Wednesday.

Road closures were put in place and the public were warned to stay away.

Chief Superintendent David Sutherland said: "At this stage we believe the protest is in connection with the incident in Southport earlier this week.

"Our officers are facing missiles, glass bottles and eggs being thrown at them and have made arrests as they remain in the area to protect the safety of those living in the community."

In Manchester, local councillor John Flanagan took to social media to respond to the violence, labelling those involved in the "sickening" incident as "mindless idiots".

"I'd like to condemn these mindless thugs, attacking innocent men who are asylum seekers. They have been there for months and we have not had any issues or problems. They have been in a place of safety," the councillor for Newton Heath said.

"It's sickening to think they are being targeted because of their race or their religion, and I hope this isn't tied with the disgraceful scenes in Southport where a mosque was attacked last night.

"These idiots are attacking innocent people. My initial reaction is to contact GMP and support them. The whole of the city and reasonable thinking people will be horrified and sickened by these actions. Idiots is too soft of a word - I hope the police use the full force of the law.

"We cannot allow our country and our city to descend into anarchy, which seems to be being driven by madness on social media."

It comes after violence erupted in Southport on Tuesday following a vigil for three girls killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.

Police officers in Southport suffered serious injuries when bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set alight during violent protests.

Five people have been arrested over the unrest so far, which saw 53 officers and three police dogs injured.

The unrest comes as a 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport.

Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were fatally stabbed on Monday when a knifeman entered the dance class on Hart Street in Southport, Merseyside.

Eight other children suffered knife wounds - with five of them in critical condition - while two adults were also critically hurt.

The 17-year-old has been remanded in custody to appear on Thursday, August 1, at Liverpool Magistrates Court, Derby Square.
UK prime minister and police hold crisis meeting over unrest as stabbing attack suspect due in court
Associated Press (archive.ph)
By Jill Lawless and Brian Melley
2024-08-01 08:19:14GMT
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer summoned British police chiefs for a crisis meeting on Thursday over violent unrest that followed a stabbing attack that left three young girls dead. A 17-year-old suspect was due in court to face three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder.

The attack on children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem. The deaths have also been used by far-right activists to stoke anger at immigrants and Muslims – though the suspect is not an immigrant, and his religion has not been disclosed.

The suspect has not been named because he is under 18, but police say he was born in Britain. He has not been charged with terrorism offenses but faces three counts of murder over the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.

He also has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over eight children and two adults who were injured. Several of the victims remain in critical condition.

Far-right demonstrators — fueled, in part, by online misinformation — have held several violent protests, ostensibly in response to the attack, clashing with police outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday and causing a melee near the prime minister’s office in London the next day.

Starmer’s office said he would tell police leaders that “while the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs, he will be clear that criminals who exploit that right in order to sow hatred and carry out violent acts will face the full force of the law.”

Hundreds of protesters chanting “we want our country back” hurled beer cans and bottles near the prime minister’s Downing Street residence in London on Wednesday evening, and launched flares at a nearby statue of wartime leader Winston Churchill. More than 100 people were arrested for offenses including violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker, London’s Metropolitan Police force said.

Police officers were pelted with bottles and eggs in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, where a police car was set ablaze, as far-right groups seek to stir anger over an attack they have sought to link to immigrants. A smaller disturbance was reported in Manchester.

On Tuesday night a crowd of several hundred people hurled bricks and bottles at riot police in Southport, set garbage bins and vehicles on fire and looted a store, hours after a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims.

“I am absolutely appalled and disgusted at the level of violence that was shown towards my officers,” Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said. “Some of the first responders who attended that awful scene on Monday ... then were faced with that level of violence.”

Police said a name circulating on social media purported to be the suspect’s — spread by far-right activists and accounts of murky origin purporting to be news organizations — was incorrect and that the suspect was born in Britain, contrary to online claims he was an asylum-seeker.

Patrick Hurley, a local lawmaker, said the violence by “beered-up thugs” was the result of “propaganda and lies” spread on social media.

“This misinformation doesn’t just exist on people’s internet browsers and on people’s phones. It has real world impact,” he said.

Britain’s worst attack on children was in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot and killed 16 kindergartners and their teacher in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland. The United Kingdom subsequently banned the private ownership of almost all handguns.

While knives are used in about 40% of homicides each year, mass stabbings are unusual. But a recent rise in knife crime has stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more to clamp down on bladed weapons, by far the most commonly used instruments in U.K. homicides.
 
If - I stress if - the information sourced from the neighbours is true, in that the parents called the coppers to the house that morning to try and detain the lad during a psychotic break, and the coppers refused to do anything but left him at liberty to go stab wee lassies, there is going to be a royal shitshow as this unfolds. Justifiably so.

The shittiness of NHS mental health care is such that you can't get a crisis team to come and see anyone, even anyone who is clearly detainable. The cops have been patching up the hole as best they can, but Mark Rowley lost his shit over this last year and said the Met weren't going to do what are basically mental health crisis callouts any more.

The coppers can't detain someone 'properly' for Mental health Act purposes, and the NHS tells the coppers there are no beds and refuses to take the detainable off their hands. So cops' whole days are tied up in calls sitting with the absolutely batshit mental where they can't meaningfully do anything.

If - again, if - the rumours are true and the cops implemented the "we can't help you, fuck off" policy in relation to this lad on that particular morning, the parents and the public generally are entitled to hold the police and NHS in some part responsible for the deaths and severe injuries and severe trauma that occurred.

If someone goes violently insane, and I mean that quite literally, there has to be someone who comes and makes sure that individual is detained securely and safely somewhere that they can't hurt anyone or themselves. We cannot have a mental health framework in this country that no longer does that, and I'm afraid it's what we have right now.

You can't run every public service on a worn-out showstring and cross your fingers that nothing that bad will actually happen. This is something that bad. Worse than that. And if there is a systems failure here, if the system of public protection broke at a crucial moment, there will be hell to pay.

I suspect the delay in charging him has been due to the need to have the psychiatrists in and determine whether he was even fit to be charged.
 
The shittiness of NHS mental health care
Brits wouldn’t tolerate their pets receiving the level of care that has become par for the course from the NHS. Worshiping the NHS is much more the national religion than the C of E is in England. So regardless of whether anyone is held to account for any of this, nothing will change on that front until someone burns that institution to the ground.
 
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