Last night’s peaceful vigil was derailed by violent scenes.
The heartbroken mother of one of the three children killed in the Southport stabbings has delivered a powerful message to rioters who turned yesterday’s peaceful vigil into a night of destruction and violence.
Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Aguiar all died after a horrific attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party being held in the town.
Sunrise in Southport. A scene of devastation surrounding the mosque on St Luke’s Road after an angry mob attacked police last night. Bricks, bottles, fireworks sit alongside bits of a burnt out police vehicle – metal melted in the heat. @GMB pic.twitter.com/AD0wZS2zIm
— Richard Gaisford (@richardgaisford) July 31, 2024
Two adults and five other children remain in critical conditions in hospital.
Large crowds gathered last night with the intention of holding a peaceful vigil for the victims, however, it quickly turned into a violent and islamophobic-charged protest sparked by the alleged arrival of members of far-right group English Defence League.
The clashes resulted in a mosque being badly damaged and more than 50 police officers being injured.
Dozens of local residents turned up outside Southport mosque with brushes and shovels this morning to help with the clean-up operation.
Norman Wallis, chief executive of Southport Pleasureland, described the streets of the town this morning as “like a war scene.”
“There are hundreds of people who have responded, and we’ve ended up with lots of people down here today, all from the local community and helping with the fantastic clean-up.”
He added: “It’s horrendous what those hooligans have done last night. It was like a war scene. People from out of town just causing absolute mayhem.”
Now Jenni Stancome, mother of Elsie Dot Stancombe, has taken to social media to make a powerful appeal for the violence to stop.
Jenni Stancombe, the mother of seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe took to social media to make the appeal. https://t.co/BpdJG1P5MC
— ITV News (@itvnews) July 31, 2024
According to the Liverpool Echo, Jenni Stancombe wrote: “This is the only thing that I will write, but please stop the violence in Southport tonight.”
“The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this,” she added.
Last night, Merseyside Police assistant chief constable Alex Goss said: “Tonight, Merseyside Police has faced serious violence in Southport and I am so proud to have witnessed off-duty officers (many of whom had not long finished a full shift) parade back on duty to support their colleagues who had displayed such courage whilst under constant and sustained attack.
“I would also like to thank officers from Greater Manchester Police, Cheshire Police, Lancashire Police and North Wales Police who also provided mutual aid and support,” he added.
“Sadly, offenders have destroyed garden walls so they could use the bricks to attack our officers and have set cars belonging to the public on fire, and damaged cars parked in the Mosque car park.”
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One of the heroes of Monday’s events, Joel Verite, described the ‘nightmarish’ scene he discovered when he entered the dance hall and discovered injured children and the evil attacker.
A colleague of Joel’s at Level Up Gym in Southport, Kyle Shaw, spoke to the Mirror on how he heroically jumped onto the killer with police officers, before carrying stabbed young girls away from the scene.
“He’s been a true hero shown nothing but fearlessness and in that second reacted in the best way we could hope for,” he said.
“I think he’s truly displayed how much of a fantastic person he is, within that split second he’s decided what he’s going to do.
“I sent him a message to say I hope he was ok, he said on Instagram he was a little bit overwhelmed,” he continued.
“He said it was a traumatic experience. He was one of the first on the scene. He went in with the police and helped to detain the man and then helped to carry a child out.
“I don’t even have words for it, what a hero to pick the kids up and carry them out. He took himself to a different place and did what he had to do.”
