UK PM to meet with police chiefs after second night of protests over Southport murders

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LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet senior police leaders on Thursday, his office said, after a second night of clashes between protesters and police prompted by the deaths of three young girls in a frenzied knife attack at a dance class.

There were angry scenes in London on Wednesday evening as thousands of anti-immigration protesters gathered near Starmer’s Downing Street office and residence chanting “save our kids” and “we want our country back”.

The previous night more than 50 police officers were injured in violent clashes in the English seaside town of Southport, where Monday’s stabbings took place.

A 17-year-old male was in police custody on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after the bloody rampage on Monday at a “Taylor Swift yoga and dance workshop”, a summer vacation event for children aged 6 to 11.

Starmer’s office said he would use Thursday’s meeting with police to “offer them the government’s full backing following multiple high-profile incidents of extreme violence and public disorder on our streets”.

“While the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs, he will be clear that criminals who exploit that right in order to sow hatred and carry out violent acts will face the full force of the law,” his office added.

The disorder took place after false information was spread on social media that the suspect was a radical Islamist migrant.

Police are legally restricted in the details they can provide about the alleged teenage attacker, but they have said the incident was not terrorism-related and that he was born in Britain, quashing speculation on his origins.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Sandra Maler)