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[Text/Ruan Jiaqi, Observer Network]

One wave of violence has not yet subsided when another wave of violence arises. This week, a small town in the UK was attacked with a knife, resulting in the death of three girls. The next day, less than a few hours after a vigil was held in the community involved, violent riots broke out in the town again.

According to the BBC, hundreds of demonstrators gathered near a mosque on St. Luke's Road in Southport, Merseyside, on Tuesday (30th) local time. They threw bricks, bottles, fireworks and stones at the main entrance of the mosque. Many people also wore hoods and covered their faces with scarves. The local police equipped with riot gear immediately arrived at the scene and confronted them, which eventually escalated into a violent conflict.

39 police officers were injured in the clashes, 27 of whom were taken to hospital and 12 were discharged after treatment. Merseyside Police said eight police officers suffered serious injuries, including fractures, lacerations, suspected nasal fractures and concussions. Other police officers suffered head injuries and serious facial injuries, and one police officer was knocked unconscious. A police car was also set on fire, and three police dogs were injured in the chaos.

According to Merseyside Police, the violence is believed to involve supporters of the British far-right group "English Defence League" (EDL), which is extremely anti-Islamic. Police accused the false online claims that the identity of the suspect in the knife attack was related to Islamists of fueling the violence, and that the EDL was using this case against children to incite hatred and violence.

"There has been a lot of speculation and assumptions about the identity of a suspect currently in police custody, and some are using this to bring violence and disorder to our streets," said Alex Goss, assistant chief constable of Merseyside Police. "We have already said that the man arrested was born in the UK and speculation now is not helpful to anyone."

He added that many of those involved in the riots "don't live in Merseyside and don't care about the people who live here", but offenders destroyed garden walls, attacked police officers with bricks and set fires and damaged cars parked in the mosque's car park.

"This is not the way to treat a community, especially a community still reeling from the events of Monday." Goss angrily said the police force was facing "serious violence" and it was "disgusting" that such a thing was happening in a "badly hit" community.

Southport Labour MP Patrick Hurley also pointed out in an interview with the BBC that the "riots" were led by "people outside the town".

He condemned that the "thugs who came in by train" were using the "death of three children to achieve their own political goals" and that these people had "hijacked" the grieving town and family, with no respect for the victims' families or the town.

On the 30th local time, accompanied by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the new British Prime Minister Starmer inspected the attack site.

Later in the evening, he warned protesters on the social platform X that "those who hijacked the victims' vigil with violence and brutality insulted the community at a time of grief. They will feel the full force of the law."

On July 29, local time, a knife attack occurred at a children's dance school in Southport, Merseyside, killing three children and injuring eight children, five of whom were seriously injured. Two adults, including a dance teacher, were seriously injured. The police believed that the two were injured in order to protect the children who were attacked.

Police released the identities of the three girls killed on Tuesday, as more than 1,000 people attended a peaceful vigil outside the Atkinson Gallery on Lord Street.

A 17-year-old male suspect born in Cardiff, England, has been arrested. His name cannot be disclosed for legal reasons. British media only said that his parents were allegedly from Rwanda and moved to Southport in 2013. Police said the motive for the attack was "unclear", but the incident has not been found to be related to terrorist activities. Merseyside Police will continue to increase police presence in the area "to provide visible police force and reassure the community."

According to the American Broadcasting Corporation, the worst child attack in the UK took place in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot and killed 16 kindergarten students and one teacher in the gymnasium of a school in Dunblane, Scotland. Since then, the UK has banned private ownership of almost all types of handguns.

Mass shootings and gun homicides are rare in the UK, the Press Trust of India reported. From March 2022 to March 2023, about 40% of homicides used knives, and the recent increase in knife crimes has aroused public anxiety and called on the government to take more measures to ban bladed weapons.

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