The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has criticised the rioters who ‘hijacked Southport’s grief by sparking riots in Southport and across the UK after the tragic death of three young girls at The Hart Space on 29th July.
The knife attack claimed the lives of Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven; Bebe King, aged six, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, aged nine as they attended a Taylor Swift themed dance and yoga class in Southport on 29th July 2024. Several other girls and adults were badly injured and others left traumatised.
The following night saw a riot in Southport with homes, cars, shops and Southport Mosque all damaged, while police vans were set on fire and over 50 police officers were hospitalised. Riots have since taken place in other parts of the country, including Liverpool.
The Home Secretary revealed that more than 40,000 officer shifts were worked by public order officers over 10 days, with over 6,600 public order officers deployed on one day alone. Rest days were cancelled and additional hours were worked.
In total, around 1,280 people have been arrested, around 800 charges have been made and over 570 individuals have been brought before the courts for offences such as violent disorder, assaults on emergency workers, arson and encouraging violent attacks online.
Families leave tributes to the three girls who died in Southport in the Town Hall Gardens in Southport. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
Speaking in Parliament, Yvette Cooper said: “Just before the parliamentary recess, I made a statement to this House on the horrendous attack that took place in Southport on 29 July.
“Five weeks on, our hearts still ache for the three precious little girls who lost their lives, for their loved ones, and for the other children who were injured or endured unspeakable horror that day.
“The House will know that a suspect has been charged, and the investigation into the attack is ongoing. Those grieving families, the Southport community and the country will need answers, but, for that reason, the legal process must now take its course.
“That day in the House, all of us came together in sorrow and in solidarity with the families and the people of Southport, and I spoke of the bravery, compassion and distress of the police, the paramedics and the firefighters I had met that morning, who were first on the scene. It is truly appalling that within hours of that statement, the same Southport police were facing the most disgraceful violent attacks from criminals and thugs. Police officers were pelted with bricks and bottles. The local mosque — a place of worship — was subjected to violent attack.
“While millions of decent people across the country were praying for bereaved families, a criminal minority of thugs and extremists saw only an opportunity to hijack a town’s grief.
“The Merseyside chief constable, Serena Kennedy, spoke at the funeral of Alice da Silva Aguiar, where she said she hoped that anyone taking part in the violent disorder was
‘hanging their head in shame at the pain’ that they had caused the bereaved family.
Families leave tributes to the three girls who died in Southport in the Town Hall Gardens in Southport. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
“In the days that followed, we saw further disgraceful violent disorder in a number of towns and cities. There were repeated attacks on the same police officers whose job it is to keep communities safe, and over 100 officers were injured.
“This disgraceful disorder and racist hatred, including that whipped up by a hateful minority online, was an insult to those grieving over Southport.
Let us be very clear: those violent and criminal attacks were not protests. They were not about grievance. They were thuggery, racism and crime. Plenty of people across the country have strong views about crime, policing, immigration, asylum, the NHS and more, but they do not pick up bricks and throw them at the police. They do not loot shops or attack places of worship, and they do not set buildings alight knowing that other human beings are inside. There is a lot to debate on all kinds of policy issues, but no one should make excuses for violence or thuggery that risks public safety.”
Yvette Cooper also spoke about the next steps the Government will take after the events of this summer.
People clean up after the riot in Southport. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
She will ask the His Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and fire and rescue services to work quickly with the NPCC, the College of Policing and the national lead for public order, to review the lessons from this summer’s events to ensure tht strong co-ordination and intelligence systems are in place and that there is sufficient public order policing for the future.
Secondly, the Government will put thousands more neighbourhood police officers and police community support officers back on the streets.
Thirdly, Yvette Cooper said: “I have been concerned for a long time that not enough is being done to counter extremism—including both Islamist extremism and far right extremism—as there has been no proper strategy in place since 2015. I have ordered a rapid review of extremism to ensure that we have the strongest possible response to the poisonous ideologies that corrode community cohesion and fray the fabric of our democracy.
“Alongside that, the Deputy Prime Minister is overseeing cross-Government work to consider how we support our communities and address issues of cohesion in the longer term.
“Fourthly, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology will strengthen the requirements for social media companies to take responsibility for the poison being proliferated on their platforms with the roll-out of the measures in the Online Safety Act 2023, and we will continue to be clear that criminal content online results in criminal sanctions offline.
“Fifthly, we stand ready to support the police through the special grant for policing, and crime commissioners to ensure that the Riot Compensation Act 2016 works effectively in the areas that are affected.
“The country recoiled in horror at the scenes of violence and disorder in some cities and towns earlier this summer, but let there be no doubt: the minority of criminals and thugs who sought to cause havoc do not represent Britain. Instead, across the country we saw decent people coming together to support each other, to clean up the damage and to rebuild communities: the bricklayers who repaired the wall of the Southport mosque; the residents who donated funds and books to restock the Spellow library; and the volunteers in Sunderland who found a new site to offer community advice.
“There are many more examples, and those small, unassuming acts of selflessness should serve as a message to the criminals and extremists that they do not speak for Britain and they never will.”
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