Anti-immigration protesters clashed with police officers in Rotherham, England, on Sunday, August 4, 2024. Photo: Hollie Adams/Reuters

Protestors throw a blazing garbage bin outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham on Sunday, August 4, 2024. Photo: Stringer/Reuters

Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King were killed in the Southport attack. Photo: Handout

The stabber, 17-year-old Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, was born in Wales to Rwandan parents. Photo: Unknown

The unrest has been blamed on rumours that the attacker was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a boat in 2023, with an incorrect name being widely circulated. There were also unfounded rumours that he was Muslim.

The BBC and other media outlets had accurately reported that the suspect, a 17-year-old, was born in Wales to Rwandan parents.

Violence breaks out

The following evening, more than a thousand people attended a vigil for the victims in Southport. Later on, violence broke out near a local mosque. People threw bricks, bottles and other missiles at the mosque and police, a police van was set alight and 27 officers were taken to hospital.

The day after the Southport riot, violent protests in London, Hartlepool and Manchester broke out, which police linked to Southport. More took place throughout the week - with many targeting mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.

Footage geolocated by CNN shows protesters on Sunday vandalizing and setting ablaze two Holiday Inns in northern England: one in Tamworth, which had previously been criticized by a local politician for housing asylum seekers, and another in Rotherham.

Police officers injured in riots

In Tamworth, protesters threw projectiles, smashed windows, and started fires, injuring one police officer, according to local authorities. Meanwhile in Rotherham, protesters threw wooden planks, used fire extinguishers against officers, set fire to objects near the hotel, and smashed windows to gain entry to the building, police said.

The Rotherham hotel at the time was “full of terrified residents and staff,” according to a statement by Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield.

British Prime Minister Keir R. Starmer condemned the weekend’s violent protests, which saw at least 147 people arrested since Saturday night. Those involved in violence will face the full force of the law, he warned.

Turning to the violent scenes in Rotherham, PM Starmer described “marauding gangs intent on law-breaking” and emphasised that violent rioters do not “represent our country.”