Police in the north of England town of Rotherham were struggling to hold back a mob of far-right activists Sunday who were seeking to break into a hotel believed to be housing asylum seekers, as the latest about of rioting following a stabbing rampage at a dance class last week that left three girls dead and several wounded showed few signs of abating.
Footage from Sky News showed a line of police officers with shields facing a barrage of missiles as they sought to prevent the rioters from entering the Holiday Inn Express hotel. A small fire was also visible while windows in the hotel were smashed.
More demonstrations are expected to take place around the country, with many counter-demonstrators also set to make their presence felt.
On Saturday, far-right activists faced off with anti-racism protesters across the U.K., with violent scenes playing out in locations across the U.K., from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, to Liverpool in the northwest of England and Bristol in the west. Further arrests are likely as police scour CCTV, social media, and body-worn camera footage.
In just one incident on Saturday, Merseyside Police said about 300 people were involved in violent disorder in Liverpool, which saw a community facility set on fire.
The Spellow Lane Library Hub, which was opened last year to support one of the country’s most deprived communities, suffered severe damage to the ground floor. Police said rioters tried to prevent firefighters from accessing the fire, throwing a missile at the fire engine and breaking the rear window of the cab.
Police have also warned that widespread security measures, with thousands of officers deployed, mean that other crimes may not be investigated fully.
“We’re seeing officers being pulled from day-to-day policing,” Tiffany Lynch from the Police Federation of England and Wales told the BBC. “But while that’s happening, the communities that are out there that are having incidents against them — victims of crime — unfortunately, their crimes are not being investigated.”
The violence erupted earlier this week, ostensibly in protest of Monday’s stabbing attack in Southport. A 17-year-old male has been arrested.
False rumors spread online that the young man was a Muslim and an immigrant, fueling anger among far-right supporters, Suspects under 18 are usually not named in the U.K., but Judge Andrew Menary ordered Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan parents, to be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation. Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder, and 10 counts of attempted murder.
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