UK's top cleric decries racist, Islamophobic violence in UK following stabbing attack

LONDON

England’s top cleric, the archbishop of Canterbury, said Thursday that those using stabbings in Southport to commit racist and Islamophobic violence should be "deeply ashamed."

"Those using the appalling stabbings in Southport to incite and commit violence against Muslim and asylum-seeker communities should be deeply ashamed. These actions only dishonour the grieving families – people facing the worst time of their lives," Justin Welby wrote on X.

For his part, London Mayor Sadiq Khan also condemned the violence in London late Wednesday, saying the scenes of disorder and violence were "completely unacceptable."

"There is no place for criminality on our streets and I fully support the Met police taking action against those intent on violence, causing disorder and spreading division in our city," he added.

Their remarks came after hundreds of far-right protesters clashed with police in central London late Wednesday, a day after similar skirmishes took place in Southport, England.

The violent incidents in Southport, a seaside town in the country’s northwest, occurred Tuesday following false reports widely spread by extremist far-right social media accounts that the suspect in a stabbing attack Monday in Southport who killed three young girls and wounded several more children at a children’s dance class was an asylum seeker.

Wednesday’s incidents followed unrest in Southport, where hundreds of protesters were provoked by members of the English Defense League (EDL) – an anti-Muslim xenophobic fascist group – clashed with police after attacking a local mosque with projectiles.

The incident was widely condemned by politicians after more than 50 police officers were injured.

Far-right groups, including the EDL and Britain First, as well as convicted far-right fascist activist Tommy Robinson, played an active role in spreading the rumors about the identity of the knife attacker.

More than 100,000 social media posts have been viewed millions of times since the attack under the hashtag #enoughisenough.

Authorities announced early Thursday morning that the 17-year-old man arrested following the Southport stabbings has been charged with three counts of murder.

Meanwhile, a restriction over the suspect's name in the Southport stabbing has been lifted and he has been identified as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, born on Aug. 7, 2006.