LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom (AFP) — Far-right protesters clashed with British police during tense rallies Saturday as unrest linked to disinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three young girls spread across the UK.
The violence, which has seen scores of arrests across England and put Britain’s Muslim community on edge, presents the biggest challenge yet of Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s month-old premiership.
It has also put hard-right agitators linked to football hooliganism in the spotlight at a time when anti-immigration elements are enjoying some electoral success in British politics.
Demonstrators threw chairs, flares and bricks at officers in the northwestern English city of Liverpool, while scuffles between police and protesters broke out in nearby Manchester.
Merseyside Police said “a number of officers have been injured as they deal with serious disorder” in Liverpool city center.
The BBC reported that protesters smashed the windows of a hotel which has been used to house migrants in the northeastern city of Hull. Police said three officers had been injured and four people arrested.
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, fireworks were thrown amid tense exchanges between an anti-Islam group and an anti-racism rally.
In Leeds, northern England, around 150 people carrying English flags chanted, “You’re not English any more” while counter-protesters shouted “Nazi scum off our streets.”
Opposing groups of protesters also faced off in the central city of Nottingham and Bristol in the southwest.