Violent protests breakout in Liverpool following Southport incident

Anti-immigration protests have been taking place in a number of cities across the country.

Violent protests in Liverpool have led to officers being injured as objects such as bricks, chairs and bottles were thrown at police.

Merseyside Police said a number of officers were injured during “serious disorder” in Liverpool city centre on today, with one officer being hit on the head by a chair.

In Liverpool, bricks, bottles and a flare were also thrown at officers as they lined The Strand in the city centre.

Another officer was kicked and knocked off his motorcycle by a demonstrator and others tried to kick riot shields.

Violent protests have spread across the UK since the incident in Southport.

Cities across the country have seen clashes between anti-immigration demonstrators and counter-protesters, with police forming lines with riot shields to keep groups apart.

A man throws a brick during a protest in Liverpool, following the stabbing attacks on Monday in Southport, in which three young children were killed. Credit: PA

Ministers prepared to meet on Saturday to discuss the potential for further disorder after a series of violent clashes over the past three days.

On Saturday it was not possible to search “Tommy Robinson” on TikTok, with the social media platform instead showing the message: “This phrase may be associated with behaviour or content that violates our guidelines.”

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, from Lancashire, is accused of the attack, but false claims spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.

Thousands of people had turned out to pay their respects to Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, at a vigil in Southport on Tuesday.

Violence later erupted outside a mosque in the town and 53 police officers and three police dogs were injured.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer later condemned “thugs” who had travelled to the town to cause unrest.

The unrest poses the biggest challenge yet to Sir Keir’s premiership, evoking the scale of public disorder last seen during the 2011 riots.

There were a series of clashes in August 2011 in cities and towns across England, which started in Tottenham Hale, north-east London, after the killing of Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police on August 4.