LONDON – UK police are bracing for potential further violent far-right demonstrations in the wake of several skirmishes after online misinformation attributed the stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class to a Muslim immigrant.

Demonstrations were being promoted online over the coming days in towns and cities including Sunderland, Belfast, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester, using phrases including “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to end the mayhem and said police across the UK would be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law and order on our streets

The British government’s adviser on political violence and disruption John Woodcock said there was a “concerted and coordinated” attempt to spread the violence. The murders on Monday of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport shocked a country where knife crime is a longstanding and vexing problem, though mass stabbings are rare.Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana was charged with murder over the knife attacks. He was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder for the eight children and two adults who were wounded.

Far-right demonstrators held several violent protests in response to the murders, clashing with police outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday and hurling beer cans, bottles and flares near the prime minister’s office in London the next day. Police officers were pelted with bottles and eggs in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, where a police car was set ablaze. Seven men aged 28 to 54 were charged with violent disorder and were due in court Friday, the local Cleveland Police force said. The Muslim Council of Britain urged mosques to review and strengthen their security protocols during Friday prayer amid fears of protests “seeking to intimidate Muslim communities and mosques. Starmer condemned the violence and blamed it on “far-right hatred” at a news conference on Thursday. This is coordinated; this is deliberate,” the prime minister said. (Al jazeera)…[+]