A burnt-out car after a night of violent anti-immigrant demonstrations in Sunderland. /Hollie Adams/Reuters
British Muslims voiced fear about far-right protests that have targeted UK mosques in recent days, as community leaders bolstered security at Islamic centers before more demonstrations planned for Saturday.
Agitators have targeted Islamic places of worship since unsubstantiated rumors spread online that the teenage suspect behind a knife attack that killed three girls in northwest England on Monday was Muslim.
Demonstrators threw bricks at a mosque on Tuesday night in Southport – the north-west town where 17-year-old British-born Axel Rudakubana is accused of carrying out the mass stabbing – in riots police blamed on the far-right English Defence League. Then on Friday evening, protesters shouted Islamophobic chants and threw beer cans and bricks at police outside a mosque in the northeastern city of Sunderland.
"The Muslim community is deeply anxious right now, really distressed about what they've seen," Zara Mohammed, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said on Friday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused "gangs of thugs" of "hijacking" the nation's grief to "sow hatred" and pledged that anyone carrying out violent acts will "face the full force of the law."
On Thursday night, the MCB held a meeting with mosque leaders to discuss security ahead of the further threat of violence this weekend.
People stand under a billboard showing Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a protest outside a mosque in Liverpool. /Hollie Adams/Reuters
READ MORE
Denmark's Mandarin-speaking badminton champ
Refugee team seeks first Olympic medal
Hungarian judo star fights for his sport
"It is just really shocking to see how coordinated and planned this is, how quickly a disinformation fake news campaign has resulted in this," the MCB's Mohammed said of the Islamophobic protests. But it "hasn't come out of a vacuum," she added, pointing to "a strain of anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiment" in the country, including from political leaders.
Lawmaker Lee Anderson of the anti-immigration right-wing Reform UK party, which won a breakthrough five seats at last month's general election, sparked controversy earlier this year by accusing London Mayor Sadiq Khan of being "controlled by Islamists."
His populist party leader, Nigel Farage, was accused of stoking this week's trouble after he posted a video questioning "whether the truth is being withheld from us" over the Southport attack.
"This is not something new but the scale is becoming wider," said Iman Atta of the Tell Mama project, which records incidents of Islamophobia.
She said that "language" used around migration helps "drive those who are extreme to actually become more emboldened to come out."
PM Starmer said the perpetrators will "feel the force of the law". /Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Earlier, Merseyside Police said extra officers had been deployed in and around Liverpool city center "to help prevent disorder or criminality" there. Despite a minor skirmish near a mosque, the evening passed off peacefully. Liverpool lies close to the seaside town of Southport where Monday's knife attack occurred.
Far-right elements have been blamed for the disturbances in the aftermath of the stabbing spree targeting children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party. Officials have said online disinformation about the origins of suspect Rudakubana, who is British-born, helped fuel the unrest.
He faces murder and attempted murder charges over the stabbing rampage that also left five children and two adults critically wounded. Police have said the case is not being treated as terror-related, but have not revealed a motive.
Anger over the tragedy has fused with growing anti-immigration sentiment on the right of English politics, pushed by openly Islamophobic far-right figures.
After violence in Southport late Tuesday, unrest rocked the northern cities of Hartlepool and Manchester as well as London 24 hours later. In Southport, the mob targeted a mosque, prompting hundreds of Muslim places of worship across the country to step up security amid fears of more anti-Islamic demonstrators.
The burnt-out interior of a building next to Sunderland Central Police Station after a night of violent anti-immigrant demonstrations. /Hollie Adams/Reuters
South Yorkshire police said Friday they knew of a planned protest in the town of Rotherham, while officers in south Wales said they were preparing for events being planned for Saturday in Cardiff.
Police in Northern Ireland noted social media posts calling for roadblocks "using women and children", as well as a march to an Islamic center in Belfast on Saturday.
London's Metropolitan Police said it had a "proportionate and risk-based" plan for rival pro-Palestinian and anti-immigration protests Saturday. Its officers arrested 111 people as a rally in Westminster turned violent late Wednesday.
Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday