SHOPS LOOTED, BURNT
Footage aired on the BBC showed rioters forcing their way into a Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham. They also pushed a burning bin into the building. It was not clear whether asylum seekers were inside.
Ten officers were injured there, but local police said none of the hotel staff or its clients had been hurt.
In the northeastern English city of Middlesbrough, hundreds of protesters squared up to riot police carrying shields. Some threw bricks, cans and pots at officers.
Protesters there seized a camera from an AFP crew and broke it. The journalists were not injured.
The fresh disturbances came after police said more than 150 people had been arrested since Saturday following skirmishes at far-right rallies in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Blackpool and Hull, as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Rioters threw bricks, bottles and flares at police – injuring several officers – looted and burnt shops, while demonstrators shouted anti-Islamic slurs as they clashed with counter-protesters.
The violence is the worst England has seen since the summer of 2011 when widespread rioting took place following the police killing of a mixed-race man in north London.
Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in Liverpool issued a joint appeal for calm.
“We’re now seeing it (trouble) flooding across major cities and towns,” said Tiffany Lynch of the Police Federation of England and Wales.
Riots first flared in Southport on Tuesday night following Monday’s frenzied knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in the northwest coastal city, before spreading up and down England.
Discussion about this post