The parents of one of three girls murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed event in northern England last month called for an end to the nationwide rioting that followed their deaths at an emotional funeral for their young daughter.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, and two other girls died and eight were injured after being stabbed in an attack at the event at the seaside town of Southport two weeks ago.
Days of riots followed in Southport and in towns and cities across the United Kingdom, triggered by false online posts wrongly identifying the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant. A teenager, born in Britain, has since been charged and police say the incident is not being treated as terrorism.
At Aguiar's funeral, the area's police chief told the congregation that her grieving Portuguese parents, Sergio and Alexandra, had asked her to deliver a public appeal for calm.
"You have shown great courage in asking me to be here today ... to give a message from you, Alice's family, to say that you do not want there to be any more violence on the streets of the United Kingdom in the name of your daughter," Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said.
"I am ashamed, and I'm so sorry that you had to even consider this in the planning of the funeral of your beautiful daughter Alice.
"And I hope that anyone who has taken part in the violent disorder on our streets over the past 13 days, is hanging their heads in shame at the pain that they have caused you, a grieving family."
More than 900 people have been arrested and 466 charged with offenses over the disorder, mainly targeted at migrants and Muslims, with dozens already sentenced and jailed as cases are fast-tracked through the courts.
Police and politicians believe the speedy, tough response from the authorities combined with thousands attending counter-protests since Wednesday have deterred people from taking part in further protests, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced as "far-right thuggery".
Starmer has cancelled holiday plans to deal with the response, and many more arrests and charges are expected over the coming months, prosecutors said. Justice minister Shabana Mahmood said the impact on the already stretched judicial system would be felt for years to come.
At Aguiar's highly emotional funeral, her white coffin covered in pink flowers was brought to the church in a white horse-drawn carriage as hundreds of applauding locals lined the streets.
"You were taken away from us too soon, and we often ask why? Why here? Why us? Why you?" her parents said in a tribute read out by the girl's uncle at the service.
"We will never get over this pain, but we promise to get all the answers. Mummy has seen too much, and we need to know. We feel shocked, unimaginable pain. We miss you ... For now our beloved angel, keep dancing. Mommy and daddy will always, always love you."
Two other girls, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, were also killed, and Bebe's parents issued a statement on Saturday saying her death had shattered their world. They revealed her older sister Genie had witnessed the attack and managed to escape.
Politicians and police have blamed online disinformation for fuelling the violence that followed, and education secretary Bridget Phillipson said schoolchildren would now be taught how to spot fake news and "putrid conspiracy theories awash on social media".
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he had written to the Association of British Insurers to ensure that payouts to shops damaged by rioting were made swiftly.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
14 Comments
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GuruMick
Lots of nasty players jumped on this tragedy to create anti Muslim violence .
The Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem {Israeli, Jewish } contributed online with anti Muslim vitriol and such like, including the "Muslims are taking over " trope.
Pukey2
Don't forget, Starmer (who has blatant links with Israel) and the Labour Party are milking this for all its worth and using this as a pretext to further clampdown on free speech which would apply to ANYONE, left or right. The UK is now going to ramp up privacy and surveillance laws. Very clever. The UK is already the CCTV capital of the world.
Mr Kipling
From 1945 to 2010 the UK averaged 30,000-40,000 net migration per year. In the last two years this has hit 750,000 per year. This is a huge strain on social services, housing, schools, the NHS etc Add to that the cost of just asylum seekers in 2023 to the UK tax payer was £4 BILLION. Both political parties have lied about their response to immigration. In the last election, REFORM, a political organization whose sole platform was reducing immigration got 14% of the votes but less than 1% of parliament seats. The media and both political parties want the people to believe that false social media and "racists right wing hooligans" are the cause of social unrest. Peoples concerns have been ignored for too long. The "far right" hit the streets and they have rightly been condemned for the violence but their concerns are shared by the majority of ordinary people.
wallace
China is considered the undisputed leader in CCTV surveillance with four times more CCTV cameras than the USA. China has around 200 million CCTV cameras, followed by the USA's 50 million and Germany's 5.2 million. The United Kingdom closes in at the fourth position with 6 million CCTV cameras.
Jimizo
Not their sole platform but certainly their main one.
They threw in other policies scribbled on the back of a ciggie packet.
Interesting that their star man, Farage, has seen his approval ratings sink even further since the riots. Some unkind people labeled them the ‘Farage Riots’. Even some of the rightwing tabloids turned on him.
Yes, there is a justified concern about immigration.
Those committing arson, looting, and assault and those chanting the name of a football hooligan haven’t done the far right any favours.
The serious adults need to get to work. Let’s see what they do.
tjguy
If only they would act as decisively when the violence and crime comes from the other side. I'm not against prosecuting crime. Both sides are guilty and violence is not justified as a means of protest.
BUT, it is easy to understand how they jumped to such a conclusion. If they clamp down equally hard on crime on both sides, this problem will disappear.
wallace
There were no new riots in England. There was a child/teen Nationalist riot in Northern Ireland. The prompt justice handed out to offenders and the quick action of the people to take back their streets stopped.
Jimizo
Who in particular and what crime did they commit?
I keep reading this but people don’t provide details.
jackandjill
More than 400 riot thugs have been arrested.
Opposing protestors have also been arrested.
Two Muslims were arrested for attacking a right-wing thug.
Jimizo
@Burning Bush
Cheers. That’s something tangible to go on.
Maybe that’s what tjguy was talking about.
Hard to tell.
GuruMick
UK foreign born residents in the middle of a graph of countries from Mexico {low} to Luxembourg {high }
UK around 14%...much the same as many UE countries and much lower than Australia .
One years figures for immigration {quoted above by Mr. Kipling } dont determine the next years figures.
Moving out of the EU created a drop in EU people emigrating to Britain....and ...gasp !...more Brown people from Muslim countries. {presumably, but I didnt dive deeply into the web page }
Good that Govt.s keep stats on these things which are available on the internet for information, not bias enforcement.
500,000 UK people left the UK.
Sadly, many went to Australia.
Did you know that in Victoria {state } the level of arrests of former UK people is the next down from Australian born. UK no.2 in arrests.
Disgraceful.
Cant these Poms learn to obey Aussie Laws ?
buchailldana
How that in their moment of grief they had to take time to condemn rioters who sullied their daughters memory.
Exceedingly bad taste from the defenders of the mobs.
Mr Kipling
An 11 year old girl stabbed in Leicester Square this afternoon. The media hasn't announced that it wasn't an immigrant with the knife. But the security guard who jumped on him was!