LONDON, Aug 1, (AP): British police said Thursday they have charged a 17-year-old with murder over a stabbing attack that left three little girls dead and several more in critical condition. The charges came as the traumatized town of Southport cleaned up after a bout of far-right violence, and agitators fired up by anger and misinformation clashed with police near the prime minister’s residence in London.
The Merseyside Police force said the teenager, who has not been named because of his age, faces three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder over people injured in the attack during a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance and yoga class.
He is due to appear in court in Liverpool later Thursday.
About two dozen children were attending the summer vacation workshop on Monday when an attacker with a knife burst in. Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, died from their injuries. Ten other people were injured, among whom five girls and two adults are in critical condition.
Far-right demonstrators have launched several violent protests, ostensibly in response to the attack, clashing with police outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday.
A few hundred protesters hurled beer cans and flares near British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s residence in Downing Street in central London on Wednesday evening. More than 100 people were arrested for offenses including violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker, London's Metropolitan Police force said.
Police also faced violent demonstrators in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, as far-right groups seek to stir anger over an attack they have sought to link - without evidence - to immigrants.
Hours earlier, residents of Southport swept shattered glass and broken bricks from streets after far-right protesters clashed with police outside a mosque in the seaside town.
On Tuesday night a crowd of several hundred people hurled bricks and bottles at riot police in Southport, set garbage bins and vehicles on fire and looted a store, hours after a peaceful vigil for the girls, aged 6, 7 and 9, were killed. More than 50 officers were injured, including more than two dozen who were taken to hospitals, officials said.