Sunderland

, a city in northeast England, witnessed a surge of rioting late Friday night, with police officers facing “serious violence” from a mob of several hundred people rampaging through the city centre. The mob attacked police and set fire to at least one car, as captured in footage shared on social media. This unrest follows a mass stabbing earlier in the week that claimed the lives of three young girls.
As police across the country prepared for planned

far-right rallies

and other demonstrations over the weekend, the disturbances in Sunderland served as an ominous sign of potential further unrest.

The Metropolitan Police in London stated that they had a “proportionate and risk-based” plan in place for rival pro-Palestinian and anti-immigration protests scheduled for Saturday. On Wednesday night, the Metropolitan Police arrested 111 people as a rally in Westminster turned violent.
Regional mayor Kim McGuinness expressed her appall at the fresh eruption of violence in the northeast, which followed a relatively calm night across the country on Thursday. She condemned the actions of those who used tragedy as an excuse to commit violence, abuse others, attack the police, and damage property, labeling them as nothing more than “thuggery.” Her sentiments echoed those of Prime Minister Keir Starm, who had made similar comments the day before.
The unrest in Sunderland and other parts of the country has been fueled by online misinformation about the British-born 17-year-old suspect, Axel Rudakubana, who faces murder and attempted murder charges for the stabbing rampage that left five children and two adults critically wounded. The tragedy has shocked Britain and has fused with growing anti-immigration sentiment on the right of English politics, pushed by openly Islamophobic far-right figures.

In response to the violence, mosques across the country have stepped up security measures, with faith leaders reporting that Muslim places of worship are hiring paid security staff and checking their CCTV cameras. Zara Mohammed, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told AFP that “the

Muslim community

is deeply anxious right now.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to tackle the disorder with a new “national capability” that will allow for the sharing of intelligence, wider deployment of facial-recognition technology, and criminal behaviour orders to restrict troublemakers from travelling. He has also accused “thugs” of “hijacking” the nation’s grief to “sow hatred” and vowed that anyone carrying out violent acts will face the full force of the law.
As the weekend approaches, police nationwide are mobilising for potential trouble, with far-right social media channels advertising “enough is enough” anti-immigrant rallies and anti-fascism groups vowing to stage counter-protests. The phrase “enough is enough” has emerged as a rallying online slogan for the far-right and others following Monday’s attack.