Police have been granted extra time to question a teenager in connection with a knife attack that killed three children at a dance class. Four men were arrested for violent disorder after unrest broke out near a mosque in the town of Southport where the attack occurred. The attack involved 70 individuals who allegedly became violent after reading social media posts linking the stabbings to an Islamist terrorist plot, according to police. The teenager arrested in connection with the stabbings, who was born in Cardiff but raised in Lancashire, has no known links to Islam.
The three children who died in the attack were aged six, seven, and nine years old. Eight children were injured, as well as two adults who remain in critical condition. The unrest broke out after a peaceful vigil took place in honour of the victims. Elsie’s mother, Jenni Stancombe, took to social media to publicly appeal for calm after the violence erupted.
Merseyside Police have obtained stop-and-search and antisocial behavior orders under Sections 60 and 34 respectively, and extra police have been drafted in to monitor the situation. Additional arrests have not been ruled out. A clean-up operation has commenced, and members of the community have come together to help. The mosque, which sustained damage in the unrest, has benefitted from the work of volunteers who donated their time and resources to rebuild parts of the building.
A crowdfunding campaign launched by a Taylor Swift fans group has raised more than £300,000 for the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. The hospital has treated many of the victims. The police are continuing to investigate the matter, and the four individuals responsible for the violent disorder are expected to be charged with multiple criminal offenses. Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, who spoke to the press during a recent briefing, has vowed to apprehend anyone associated with the violence, stating that her goal is to “bring to justice every person who is identified committing criminal damage and acts of violence against our officers and our communities.
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