Merseyside's Muslim community on high alert amid fears of more violence - Liverpool Echo

Members of the region's community are 'anxious', with a police presence expected at mosques in the region over the coming days

Merseyside's Muslim community is on high alert and extremely anxious over fears of further violent protests targeting mosques in the region. There are reports of potential further gatherings around Islamic places of worship following Tuesday's violent riot outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday evening.

Scenes outside the Southport mosque this week, which saw a violent mob throw bricks at the building before clashing with police and injuring more than 50 officers, were followed by further incidents of unrest across the country last night. There were clashes in London, Hartlepool and Manchester overnight while a demonstration in Aldershot saw a tense stand-off with riot police. In the capital, more than 100 people were arrested after protesters in Whitehall launched beer cans and glass bottles at police and threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.

Demonstrators wearing England flags and waving banners saying “enough is enough” and “stop the boats” had congregated outside Downing Street in the wake of the killing of three young girls in a knife attack in Hart Street in Southport on Monday, which social media posts had wrongly claimed was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat.

A 17-year-old male has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder following the attack at a Taylor Swift dance class in the seaside town. He is appeared in court today and was named for the first time as Axel Rudakubana. His name was revealed today after Judge Andrew Menary at the crown court ruled in favour of an application from the media not to impose reporting restrictions in the case.

Following this week's violent scenes, there have been further reports circulating on social media about possible further gatherings taking place around mosques in the region in the coming days. One message sent out on the Telegram messenger network suggested such a protest could be held outside a mosque in Liverpool tomorrow (Friday) evening. There are concerns that Friday prayers - the busiest time of the week for mosques - could also become a target for far-right gatherings - with a police presence expected at sites around Merseyside.

Ibrahim Syed is the co-ordinator for the Liverpool Region Mosque Network. He described the mood in the community following this week's events. Mr Syed said: "The community is anxious, people were very anxious seeing what was happening last night. We have been sending messages to all mosques in the region telling them to be on alert.

"The police have been really good. We have a direct line of connection with them and they are providing a presence at the mosques. We are concerned about Friday prayers tomorrow, when there will be lots of people heading to mosques in the region and the police will provide a presence across all our mosques at that time."

Mr Syed, whose organisation seeks to promote inter-faith relations across the region, said he had been "disheartened" by the violence that erupted in Southport on Tuesday. He and his colleagues had been warned by police not to go to the town because of potential dangers to them.

He added: "What we want to do now is plan to de-escalate, the worst thing anyone could do is to retaliate. We have seen the positives of the community coming together in Southport to rebuild the wall outside the mosque. Our mosques have good relationships with the wider communities where they are based."

Speaking about some of the misinformation and speculation that led to this week's violent protests, he added: "Some of the rhetoric we see is conflating all immigration with Islam and this is done to deliberately play into the ideology of certain people and certain groups. This is how the anti-Muslim feeling is spreading. The majority of Muslims in this country are people like me who were born and brought up here in the UK."

This afternoon, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will meet with senior police leaders in Downing Street to express his full support for their efforts to deal with the violence. He is expected to praise their “bravery” in dealing with both the incident in Southport and its aftermath, and encourage them to use their powers to “stop mindless violence in its tracks."