London: The 17-year-old suspect in custody for the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport has been charged with murder, said the UK police on Wednesday, as the deadly rampage sparked protests in London with some blaming immigrants for the rise in knife crime. The teen will be remanded in custody and will appear at the Liverpool Magistrates Court on Thursday, the police said.
Two girls aged 6 and 7 previously died following Monday's attack in Southport outside a Taylor Swift-themed kids’ yoga and dance class, while a third girl, aged 9, succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday. The 17-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder shortly after the attacks just before noon. Police said he was born in Cardiff, Wales, and had lived for years in a village about 5 km from Southport.
Police said the person charged cannot be named for legal reasons because he is under 18 years of age. Disturbances in Southport on Tuesday took place after false information was spread on social media that the suspect behind the stabbings was a radical Islamist migrant.
Protests engulf UK after stabbing rampage
In London on Wednesday, thousands gathered near the prime minister's Downing Street residence, shouting "Save our kids", "We want our country back" and "Stop the boats", as well as English football chants. Police have said the attack was not terrorism-related and that the suspect was born in Britain, quashing speculation on his origins.
Prior to that, the British police clashed with angry far-right protesters, who hurled stones and water bottles and set fire to a police van, outside a mosque in Southport, near the site of the incident. The clashes left 53 officers injured, with eight treated in hospital for serious injuries including fractures and head wounds. Three police dogs were also hurt. Four men, aged between 31 and 39, have been arrested.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “thuggery” and said the crowd had hijacked what had earlier been a peaceful vigil attended by hundreds in the center of Southport to mourn the dead and 10 surviving stabbing victims. "Those who have hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery have insulted the community as it grieves. They will feel the full force of the law," he said on X.
Over 100 people were separately arrested for offences including violent disorder, assaulting an emergency worker and breaching protest conditions. A few hundred protesters hurled beer cans and flares near British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's residence in Downing Street in central London on Wednesday. The streets in Southport were littered with bricks from broken walls, smashed bottles, large garbage bins and their contents. Charred tarmac bore witness to police vehicles set alight a night earlier.
Taylor Swift fans raise money
Swift said she was “completely in shock” and still taking in “the horror” of the event. “These were just little kids at a dance class," she wrote on Instagram. “I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.” Her fans have so far raised more than 270,000 pounds ($346,000) to help the families of the victims and for the hospital where some of the children were being treated.
It is the latest shocking attack in a country where 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. Notably, Britain’s worst attack on children occurred in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot 16 kindergarteners and their teacher dead in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland.
In Monday's attack in the normally quiet town in northwest England, in addition to the three girls killed, eight other children were stabbed. Five remained in critical condition in hospital, along with two adults who tried to protect them.
(with inputs from agencies)
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