UK police brace for more far-right protests as government warns of tough response

LONDON (AP) — Several suspects arrested in violent protests that erupted after the fatal stabbing of three children in northwest England made court appearances Friday as officials braced for more clashes that Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned and blamed on “far-right hatred.”

Starmer vowed to end the mayhem and said police across the U.K. would be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law and order on our streets.”

Demonstrations are being promoted online over the coming days in towns and cities including Sunderland, Belfast, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester, using phrases including “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats.”

John Woodcock, the British government’s adviser on political violence and disruption, said there was a “concerted and coordinated” attempt to spread the violence.

“Clearly, some of those far-right actors have got a taste for this and are trying to provoke similar in towns and cities across the U.K.,” he told the BBC.

The attack Monday on children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem, though mass stabbings are rare.

A 17-year-old, Axel Rudakubana, has been charged with murder over the attack that killed Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England. He also has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder for the eight children and two adults who were wounded.

Starmer visited Southport on Thursday for the second time this week, meeting with police, community leaders and residents and then going to the children’s hospital where many of victims were treated.

His office announced a vague support package to help the victims and bring the community closer, but the announcement did not mention how that would be accomplished or if funding was being provided.

A violent demonstration in Southport on Tuesday was followed by others around the country — fueled in part by online misinformation that said the attacker was Muslim and an immigrant. Rudakubana was born in Britain to Rwandan parents and lived close to the scene of the attack.

Suspects who are under 18 are usually not named in the U.K., but judge Andrew Menary ordered that Rudakubana could be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation.

Far-right demonstrators have held several violent protests, ostensibly in response to the attack, clashing with police outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday and hurling beer cans, bottles and flares near the prime minister’s office in London the next day.

The violence has put the Muslim community on edge and hundreds of mosques across the nation are increasing security after the Southport attack, Zara Mohammed, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said.

At the Southport Mosque, Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders gathered to say they were “united to defeat all forms of hatred and extremism in our country.”

Merseyside Police, which is responsible for Southport, said it had made seven arrests so far and had a team of specialists reviewing hundreds of hours of footage to identify anyone involved.

“If you took part in this disorder, you can expect to receive a knock on your door by our officers,” Detective Chief Inspector Tony Roberts said.

Police officers were pelted with bottles and eggs Wednesday in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England.

Sixteen people, so far, have been arrested in the uproar, including an 11-year-old boy accused of torching a police car. A 13-year-old boy and a woman were also arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.

Five of those arrested were held in custody after appearing in Teesside Magistrates’ Court on violent disorder charges. Two others admitted they were involved in the disorder and were bailed until sentencing next month.

Ryan Sheers, who a prosecutor said was bitten by a police dog after repeatedly trying to push through a line of officers, wept during the hearing.

Outside court, Sheers, a former McDonald's worker, denied being involved despite admitting he had done so in court.

“Didn't get involved in nothing,” Sheers said. “We didn’t smash no town up."

At a news conference Thursday, the prime minister said the street violence was “clearly driven by far-right hatred” as he announced a program enabling police to better share intelligence across agencies and move quickly to make arrests.

“This is coordinated; this is deliberate,” Starmer said. “This is not a protest that has got out of hand. It is a group of individuals who are absolutely bent on violence.”

Starmer said his so-called National Violent Disorder Program would enable police to move between communities — just as the “marauding mobs” do. Officers will harness facial recognition technology to identify culprits and use criminal behavior orders often imposed on soccer hooligans that prevent them from going to certain places or associating with one another.

Starmer put some of the blame on social media companies, though he didn’t announce any measures to address that and said there was a balance to be struck between the value they offer and the threat they can pose.

“Violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime. It’s happening on your premises,” he said.

Police officers stand outside a damaged butchers shop on Murray Street in Hartlepool, England, Thursday Aug. 1, 2024, following a violent protest on Wednesday evening, where demonstrators set fire to a police car and pelted officers with missiles, including glass bottles. There were scenes of violent unrest in London, Hartlepool and Manchester in the wake of the killing of three young girls in a knife attack in Southport, which social media posts had wrongly claimed was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

Protesters confront police during the "Enough is Enough" protest in Whitehall, London, Wednesday July 31, 2024, following the fatal stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance and yoga class on Monday in Southport. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Police officers are deployed on the streets of Hartlepool, England, following a violent protest in the wake of the killing of three girls who were fatally stabbed in northwest England, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

A police car burns as officers are deployed on the streets of Hartlepool, England, following a violent protest in the wake of the killing of three girls who were fatally stabbed in northwest England, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Far-right groups seek to stir anger over an attack they have sought to link — without evidence — to immigrants. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at 10 Downing Street, London, England, Thursday, August 1, 2024, following clashes after the Southport stabbing. The Prime Minister says he will set a national policing unit to crack down on violent protesters after clashes with police across England on the past two nights. (Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)

This court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook shows 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, center, covering his face as he appeared in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Thursday Aug. 1, 2024. (Elizabeth Cook /PA via AP)

Protesters scuffle with police during the "Enough is Enough" protest in Whitehall, London, Wednesday July 31, 2024, following the fatal stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance and yoga class on Monday in Southport. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Protesters confront police officers during the "Enough is Enough" protest in Whitehall, London, Wednesday July 31, 2024, following the fatal stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance and yoga class on Monday in Southport. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

BEIRUT (AP) — More than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in the past three weeks, a top official with the U.N. children’s agency said Monday, warning of a “lost generation” in the small country grappling with multiple crises and now in the middle of war.

Israel has escalated its campaign against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group, including launching a ground invasion, after a year of exchanges of fire during its war with Hamas in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes, most of them fleeing to Beirut and elsewhere in the north over the past three weeks since the escalation.

Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director for humanitarian actions, has visited schools that have been turned into shelters to host displaced families.

“What struck me is that this war is three weeks old and so many children have been affected,” Chaiban told The Associated Press in Beirut.

“As we sit here today, 1.2 million children are deprived of education. Their public schools have either been rendered inaccessible, have been damaged by the war or are being used as shelters. The last thing this country needs, in addition to everything else it has gone through, is the risk of a lost generation.”

While some Lebanese private schools are still operating, the public school system has been badly affected by the war, along with the country's most vulnerable people such as Palestinian and Syrian refugees.

″What I’m worried about is that we have hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian children that are at risk of losing their learning," Chaiban said.

More than 2,300 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes, nearly 75% of them over the last month, according to the Health Ministry. In the last three weeks, more than 100 children were killed and over 800 were wounded, Chaiban said.

He said displaced children are crammed into overcrowded shelters where three or four families can live in a classroom separated by a plastic sheet, and where 1,000 people can share 12 toilets. Not all of them work.

Many displaced families found have set up tents along roads or on public beaches.

Most displaced children have experienced so much violence, including the sounds of shelling or gunshots, that they cower at any loud noise, Chaiban said.

Then there is “evacuation orders upon evacuation orders. We’re at the beginning, and already there’s been a profound impact," he said.

The escalation has also put over 100 primary health care facilities out of service, while 12 hospitals are either no longer working or partially functional.

Water infrastructure has also come under attack. In the last three weeks, 26 water stations providing water to almost 350,000 people have been damaged, Chaiban said. UNICEF is working with local authorities to repair them.

He called for civilian infrastructure to be protected. And he appealed for a cease-fire in Lebanon and in Gaza, saying there needs to be political will and a realization that the conflict cannot be resolved through military means.

“What we must do is make sure that this stops, that this madness stops, that there’s a cease-fire before we get to the kind of destruction and pain and suffering and death that we’ve seen in Gaza,” Chaiban said.

With so many needs, he said, the emergency response appeal for $108 million in Lebanon has only been 8% funded three weeks into the escalation.

Children play next to their family's tent after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People walk past tents set up as temporary shelters by displaced families fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south and Dahiyeh, on Beirut's corniche, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)WLD

Children play as their father, left, set up a tent as temporary shelter after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A displaced family fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sits next to their tent on Beirut's corniche, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)