A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of the girls in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in the northwestern seaside town of Southport, a crime that has shocked the nation.

Violent incidents erupted in the following days in Southport, the northeastern town of Hartlepool, and London in reaction to false information on social media claiming the suspect in the stabbings was a radical Islamist migrant.

In an attempt to quash the misinformation, police have emphasised that the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born in Britain.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a second visit to Southport since the murders.

“As a nation, we stand with those who tragically have lost loved ones in the heinous attack in Southport, which ripped through the very fabric of this community and left us all in shock,” he said in a statement.

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British police chiefs have agreed to deploy officers in large numbers over the weekend to deter violence.

Mosques across the country are also on a heightened state of alert, the Muslim Council of Britain said.

Zara Mohammed, the council’s secretary general, said representatives from hundreds of mosques agreed to strengthen security measures at a briefing on Thursday.

Police in Southport - where on Tuesday evening protesters attacked police, set vehicles alight and hurled bricks at a mosque - said they were aware of planned protests and had “extensive plans and considerable police resources” on hand to deal with any disorder.

Police in Northern Ireland also said they were planning a “proportionate policing response” after learning of plans by various groups to block roads, stage protests and march to an Islamic Centre in Belfast over the weekend.

Reuters

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