- Protesters clashed with police in Sunderland
- Rioters threw stones, beer cans, and barrels
- Mayor condemned the violence as “thuggery”
Protesters battled with police in Sunderland as they gathered for a scheduled march in response to the Southport knife attack.
Stones and beer cans were thrown at officers in riot gear outside a mosque in the city.
Mounted officers pushed back demonstrators, some of whom were wearing masks, from the mosque on St Mark’s Road.
Northumbria Police claimed its officers had been “subjected to serious violence” and urged the public to avoid the area.
Police were also pelted with beer barrels as young men chanted, “whose streets, our streets.”
Members of the audience yelled in support of far-right activist Tommy Robinson while others hurled insults at Islam.
The mob has also targeted cars in the city center, setting fire to one overturned vehicle.
The violence comes after riots in Hartlepool on Wednesday night, which Cleveland Police claimed were related to protests after a fatal knife assault on a group of children in Southport, Merseyside, on Monday.
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said she was “appalled” by the events in Sunderland.
Make no mistake, if your reaction to tragedy is to conduct violence, mistreat others, attack police, and damage property, you represent nothing but thuggery, she said.
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You do not speak for Sunderland. You do not speak for this region.
According to the statement, Omniplex, a Sunderland cinema, was also forced to close in the evening for public and employee safety.
A mob of roughly 200 anti-racist protestors gathered outside Liverpool’s Abdullah Quilliam Mosque following suspicions of a far-right protest.
The gathering chanted, “Say it loudly and clearly: Refugees are welcome here.”
Stephen Parkinson, Director of Public Prosecutions, stated that extra prosecutors were summoned into work this weekend to cope with the unrest.
We have dispatched dozens of extra prosecutors working around the clock this weekend to support the police and make immediate criminal judgments so that justice may be served quickly, he said.
