Mosques beef up safety over worry rallies will spill over into riots

Hundreds of mosques are beefing up their security of fears that planned rallies in the wake of the Southport stabbings will spill over into full-on riots this weekend.

Many of the religious hubs are have already noted a rise in malicious calls threatening ‘targeted attacks’ – with some of the planned demonstrations gathering outside mosques or Islamic centres.

It comes after false online speculation that the three little girls killed in the knife rampage at a Taylor Swift holiday camp died at the hands of an asylum seeker who had travelled to the UK on a boat. The claims are thought to have originated from a Russia-linked fake news outlet.

After a remembrance vigil for Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, on Tuesday thugs travelled into the seaside town and centred a violent riot around the local mosque – whose windows were smashed in a brutal attack.  

And as fliers for protests across Britain spread on social media, hundreds of mosques are hunkering down as they prepare protective measures in anticipation of riots this weekend.

Zara Mohammed, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said: ‘There is really deep-seated anxiety amongst Muslim communities, particularly for this weekend.

‘Yesterday we hosted a mosque security community briefing and we had representation from hundreds of mosques across the country and there was palpable fear.

‘We had mosques saying that they’d had threats on the phone about targeted attacks… we had a lot of anxiety around security and having enough protection.’

Asked about how mosques are preparing, she said: ‘So it’s around protective measures: ensuring that the doors and windows are secure, carrying out a risk assessment, making sure CCTV cameras are working, and having some paid security staff on site.’

In humbling scenes in Southport after the riots, the community came together to try and rebuild the mosque, while one woman was pictured delivering hanging baskets filled with purple flowers.

Two adults were critically injured and eight other children already suffered stab wounds, with five of them now in a ‘stable condition’. 

The Home Office today warned thugs ‘we will be watching you’ as Britain braces for a summer of riots in the wake of the Southport stabbings.

Towns and cities across the country are preparing to be hit by protests this weekend with flyers circulated for rallies in Blackpool, Dover, Nottingham, Leeds and Hull – using social media apps to call on ‘patriots’ to gather and demand ‘enough is enough’.

Extra prosecutors have been put on standby as the government prepares to deliver ‘swift justice’ as the chairman of the National Police Chief’s Council admitted there will be ‘difficult days ahead’. 

Home Office minister Lord Hanson has told would-be rioters to ‘be prepared to face the full force of the law on this criminal activity’, as the prospect of more than a dozen more protests looms in the coming days. 

He said: ‘If you are organising this now, we will be watching you. We have powers under existing legislation to stop you organising this now and to take action accordingly.’

Riots have already swept across parts of the UK including London, Hartlepool and Manchester, fuelled by disinformation spread online about the suspect involved in an attack that killed three children and injured at least 10 others in Southport.

Iqbal Ahmed, 32, was trapped inside Southport Islamic Society Mosque for five and a half hours as hundreds of rioters pelted police with bricks, concrete and fireworks outside.

The yobs also torched a police van and set alight a clothes bin outside the mosque.

Mr Ahmed said he arrived for prayers at 7.30pm and was taunted with racist insults before heading to an upstairs prayer room where he and the others were forced to take shelter until 1am this morning.

As well as dodging broken glass, he said rioters were making sinister phone calls to the mosque on withheld numbers throughout the night threatening to kill them and their families.

His Volkswagen car, parked outside the mosque, also had its windscreen shattered by a hooded rioter.

CCTV from the mosque caught the moment the yob jumped up onto his car bonnet and aimed a brick through the window, having been directed to do so by another man.

Mr Ahmed said: ‘I thought they were going to kill someone. It was ferocious, I didn’t expect that level of violence. It was shocking.’

Merseyside Police has made seven arrests since battles flared on the seaside town’s streets, as it warns further arrests will be made over the coming weeks. 

And the force slammed the ‘disrespect’ of anyone planning to protest around Southport, as the local community works to rebuild their town and clean up the ‘destruction’ of this week’s riot.

Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said: ‘The disrespect that they showed towards victims and grieving families and the community is despicable, and I want to reassure residents that we are fully prepared for any possible disorder in the future.’

She continued: ‘People who maliciously spread misinformation wants to cause division and hatred in our communities and it’s completely unacceptable.’

It comes after the force pledged to hunt down the ‘despicable’ yobs who fought with cops on the town’s streets.

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Roberts added: ‘Extensive work is ongoing to identify all those responsible for the despicable actions and we are determined to find everyone involved in this incident.

‘We continue to explore all lines of inquiry, which includes a specialist team who are currently reviewing hundreds of hours of footage as well as images to identify everyone involved. If you took part in this disorder, you can expect to receive a knock on your door by our officers.’

Southport locals – including Elsie’s mother – pleaded for the violence to stop this week after police vans were set on fire and bricks were hurled during a riot outside a mosque in Southport that left 53 officers injured.

But her wishes were ignored as yobs took to the street, fuelled by false speculation online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had travelled to the UK on a boat.

The misinformation is believed to have originated from a Russian-linked fake news website.

The claims were amplified by social media account Channel3 Now, which masquerades as an American news website and whose inflammatory post was viewed by nearly two million people before being deleted. 

The allegations were leapt on by Russian state media, hard-Right activist Tommy Robinson, and misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate, who added fuel to the fire by telling his 10 million followers that an ‘illegal migrant’ has stabbed ‘6 little girls’, adding: ‘Wake up.’

Last night, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer slammed ‘outsiders’ who boarded trains and buses to riot, warning that any future unrest would be met with ‘the most robust response in the coming days and weeks’.

On Wednesday night, the Met Police made 111 arrests after a ‘Stop the Boats’ protest outside Westminster. Footage emerged of a 73-year-old woman being handcuffed as she shouted: ‘I’ve got a pacemaker’.

That same night, 12 people were arrested in connection with riots on the streets of Hartlepool, including a boy, 11, on suspicion of arson after a police van was torched.

Asked if he was worried Britain could face a summer of riots, Sir Keir Starmer added:  ‘So far as the far right is concerned, this is co-ordinated, this is deliberate, this is not a protest that has got out of hand.

‘It is a group of individuals who are absolutely bent on violence.’ 

The Prime Minister has further slammed extremists he said are trying to exploit public anger – adding that they would face ‘the full force of the law’. 

Now Britain is bracing for further planned rallies that could spill over into violence and disorder in the coming weeks.

Facial recognition technology will be used to curb violent disorder and train ticket sales will be monitored this weekend, the government has said. 

And now as tensions build again, senseless thugs plan protests for areas such as Southport, Leeds and Bristol.

Others are set to take place in Blackpool, Liverpool, Sunderland, Portsmouth, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and across Northern Ireland.

Fears have also been ignited that protests in popular sea-side towns including Blackpool and Portsmouth, could disrupt summer plans as families descend on the coast for the holidays.

Many adverts for the rallies are loaded with anti-immigrant rhetoric, with protests in Belfast taking place outside an Islamic centre and an advertised ‘mass deportation’ planned to take place outside a mosque in Liverpool. Some appear to be using AI technology to push their cause.

Anti-racism charity Hope not Hate further warned about planned demonstrations in London, Aldershot, Sunderland, Hull, Liverpool, Cardiff and Manchester.

One claims that they are acting against ‘the Christian West under siege’ while others claimed they were ‘patriots’.

Two counter-protests are also being advertised online.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it is aware of calls ‘to block roads using women and children’ and for a march to an Islamic centre in Belfast to be held on Saturday.

PSNI Chief Superintendent Stephen Murray said: ‘We are aware of specific calls to block roads using women and children between 12 midday to 2pm in Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus, Bangor and north, south, east and west Belfast.

‘We are also aware of calls for protest at 12 midday at Belfast City Hall and a 1pm march to the Islamic Centre, University Road, Belfast. 

‘To date no such procession has been notified to the parades commission. It is unclear at this time what the actual provenance for these posts or appetite for this activity is.

And South Yorkshire Police also said it was ‘aware of a planned protest in Rotherham this weekend’ and that there may be ‘an increased police presence across the county’.

A force spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of heightened tensions nationally following the tragic incident in Southport earlier this week.’

They continued:  ‘As with all protests, our role at any planned events will be to balance the rights of those who wish to protest, together with those who may be impacted by it.

‘While a protest may be peaceful and non-violent, on occasion we are aware the actions of protestors may not always be legal.

‘Our officers will aim to prevent, where possible, crime and disorder. Where it does occur, we will provide an effective, lawful and proportionate response.’

Thames Valley Police also said it is aware of a ‘potential planned protest this weekend in High Wycombe’ and that officers would ‘swiftly respond’ if it escalates into violent disorder.

And South Wales Police said a policing operation will be in place for ‘planned events being held in Cardiff’ on Saturday.

In a highly unusual move, a judge yesterday lifted reporting restrictions to allow 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana to be named as the suspect in the attack on a children’s dance class in Southport. 

Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff to parents who originated from Rwanda, appeared in court charged with the murder of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven. 

He is also charged with the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as with possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade. 

Judge Andrew Menary condemned the ‘idiotic rioting’ and said the ‘exceptional’ decision to name Rudakubana would ‘undoubtedly remove some of the misreporting as to the identity of the defendant’.

He was remanded to youth detention accommodation and will next appear in court in October.

The attack, which happened at a dance class on Hart Street in Southport just before midday on Monday, has sparked incidents of violent disorder in some towns in England.

Thugs attacked a mosque in Southport and fought a pitched battle with police on Tuesday, setting fire to a police van, injuring 53 officers and three police dogs.

More than 100 people were arrested in London on Wednesday night following disturbances at a protest under the banner ‘Enough is Enough’ at which flares were thrown at a statue of Sir Winston Churchill. 

In Hartlepool, a police car was set alight on Wednesday night and officers were pelted with bricks, bottles and eggs.

Cleveland Police have so far made 12 arrests, one of which was an 11-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of arson after a police vehicle was set alight. 

Tense protests also took place in Manchester and Aldershot outside hotels thought to be housing asylum seekers.

Yesterday, Sir Keir said police forces would establish ‘surge teams’ of officers to help out neighbouring forces facing riots.

He paved the way for greater use of controversial facial recognition technology to help identify rioters, and urged police to use powers to ban thugs from travelling to take part in protests in the same manner as football hooligans.

The PM warned social media bosses they had a responsibility to deal with the spread of misinformation online, which has helped fuel this week’s violence.

And he said a new National Violent Disorder Programme would help gather intelligence about potential violent gatherings, including monitoring rail ticket sales.

Ministers fear that public anger over the Southport killings could erupt into violent outbreaks all over the country. One Labour MP in the Greater Manchester area described the mood in his own constituency as a ‘tinderbox’.

Sir Keir urged the public to give Southport residents ‘the space to grieve’ – and warned against actions that could threaten Rudakubana’s trial. 

The PM said Britain was a country which would ‘not allow understandable fear to curdle into division and hate in our communities – and that will not permit, under any circumstances a breakdown in law and order on our streets’.

Reform MP Lee Anderson suggested that Sir Keir had failed to understand public anger over the killings.

In a message on social media, he warned the PM was ‘not reading the room’.

The proposal to roll out the use of facial recognition technology, which is used routinely only in London and South Wales, triggered a backlash from civil liberties groups. 

Silkie Carlo, of Big Brother Watch, said the ‘alarming’ plan would extend the use of ‘dangerously inaccurate’ technology which is widely used in Russia and China but ‘banned in Europe’.

She added: ‘To promise the country ineffective AI surveillance in these circumstances was frankly tone deaf and will give the public absolutely no confidence that this government has the competence or conviction to get tough on the causes of these crimes and protect the public.’ 

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said he was ‘concerned’ that there could be a repeat of the violence that followed the Southport stabbings.

Mr Rotheram told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘We’re always concerned, aren’t we, that there could be a repeat of violence somewhere in the Liverpool City Region.’

He added: ‘I hope that there aren’t further incidents – we’re very much aware of them.

‘I’m speaking to Serena Kennedy, who is the chief police officer in the Liverpool City Region, in Merseyside, on a regular basis.

‘We’ve got the contingencies – we know exactly what we’d need to do to ensure that these things are nipped in the bud.’

Mr Rotheram added it was important ‘that we do something about social media’ because it had ‘whipped up the lies’ about the alleged perpetrator of the stabbings that ‘fuelled some of the disorder that we saw on the streets’.