Southport's two days of hell

I was born and raised in Southport, and, on Monday, spent hours waiting in fear for official news to come through. The WhatsApp groups and Facebook comments were filled with terrifying stories of what may have happened and just how many people were affected.

Most of those suggestions had lots of details wrong but ultimately the key point remained true - children and adults had been stabbed by a lone attacker who’d embarked on a spree of unimaginable terror.

I filled those few hours with conversations asking friends and family if one other was OK, whether they were in the affected area, and if all their loved ones were safe. When the official news came through, the heartbreak and devastation were cataclysmic.

For a town like Southport, this kind of incident is unheard of. Realistically, that’s also the case across almost anywhere in Lancashire or the vast majority of the country. “This kind of thing doesn’t happen here” we say. Yet it absolutely had and the consequences were worse than anyone could have imagined.

Like so many others, I hugged my children extra tight that night amid a combination of relief they weren’t affected and sorrow for those who were. Southport is a small town in many ways and you’re usually only a connection or two away from anyone else so you can’t help but wonder if you know those involved.

We now know three young girls - six year-old Bebe King, six; seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar - lost their lives through injuries sustained at the hands of the knifeman. We also know another five kids and two adults are in critical condition and a further three children suffered injuries.

On Tuesday, I spoke with Southport’s MP Patrick Hurley who conveyed the shock, distress and confusion which was being felt across the town. I know he was right in saying that because me and those around me were feeling exactly that. Disbelief was attached to every aspect of what had happened.

Later on, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited the town, something which usually only happens when there’s positive things to be discussed.

Alongside what felt like thousands of others I attended the vigil which took place in the town centre on Tuesday evening and I was profoundly moved. The size of the attendance was more than expected, with the crowd well beyond the Town Hall Gardens in every direction.

As I said, Southport is a small town and I recognised people from school, old work colleagues and so many other familiar faces among the sea of people who gathered to mourn, to show support, to be part of the community.

I hadn’t attended in any professional capacity but simply as one of the people who felt affected by the horrifying incident. I went home feeling at least a little reassured that as a town and a community we could find ways to help those at the heart of this senseless tragedy. The fundraisers were already under way, the offers of help and support were out there and the willingness was more than apparent.

That hope turned to dismay, horror and fear within an hour. A so-called “peaceful” protest wrongly targeted at a mosque turned into exactly what the thugs behind it wanted it to - a riot.

I’ll repeat those names from earlier - Bebe, Elsie Dot and Alice. They are the ones we should be focusing on. They are the ones who should have our attention. They are the ones who have lost their lives at unfathomably cruel ages.

And yet they are not who have the focus. I’m almost angry at myself for allowing this post to be so derailed by those who sought to exploit the tragedy for malicious purposes but the scenes which unfolded on Tuesday night were like nothing this town has ever witnessed.

I watched in horror as black smoke filled the air from a police van which had been set on fire. I watched in disgust as cowards whose only strength came in their numbers kicked down walls and used the bricks to throw at the police.

I consoled my terrified children as they tried to make sense of what was happening and why anyone would be doing this and when they would stop. There were no adequate answers then and there are none now.

The people who led this riot knew that deliberately circulated misinformation would sufficiently rile up a crowd into an act of hatred. From there, the damage and disorder which came next was inevitable.

In the hours that, as these mobs attacked the very police officers who had responded to horrific attacks, did no-one question why the police were an appropriate target? 

Did no-one who looted the corner shop run by an incredibly kind family stop realise there was no link between this and helping the families of the victims?

Did these people who were supposedly so angry about attacks on children stop to consider the impact of their actions on all the children in the areas around them?

Of course they didn’t. Because this was never about those in the incident. It was about seizing an opportunity to cause damage, to target a completely uninvolved Muslim community, and to inflict pain and suffering on anyone they could. 

So many of these men, and it was almost entirely men, were adorned with face masks and constantly videoing their misdeeds. So many had turned up with beer, cider and likely Class A drugs ready for their night of fun. So many arrived with a visible sense of excitement to get involved as they ran down to just in with chaos which was already under way.

As all of this happened, those affected pleaded that it could stop. In a social media message shared far and wide, Jenni Stancombe, Elsie’s mum, asked for people to stop:

“This is the only thing that I will write but please please stop the violence in Southport tonight. The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.”

The far-right thugs who started this and those were swept up in it would never have been interested in listening to the grieving mother of a child they purported to act on behalf of. In the end, 39 police officers were treated by North West Ambulance Service crews, while three police dogs were also hurt.

In the aftermath, Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss observed that many of the officers who put themselves on the frontline had not long finished a full shift when they returned to duty to help. ACC Goss added:

“Sadly, offenders have destroyed garden walls so they could use the bricks to attack our officers and have set cars belonging to the public on fire, and damaged cars parked in the Mosque car park.

“This is no way to treat a community, least of all a community that is still reeling from the events of Monday.”

This morning, I’ll be among those helping to put my street and those around it back together. The scum who inflicted this damage and misery have long left without a thought for the impact of what they did.

Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking what happened last night was an act of revenge against what happened on Monday. It was an opportunistic and calculated effort to use the deaths of children to feed an agenda which existed long before that impossibly evil act.

The likes of Nigel Farage, who was happy to spread misinformation with a pretend questioning tone and an “I don’t know” shield should reflect on how they use their influence. But we know he won’t. And neither will so many others with the influence of big social media followings.

It’s true to say most of those involved had travelled from out of town to take part in last night’s disorder but we must be aware there is also some problem close to home. Comments on local Facebook groups tell us that and videos from the scene show faces which are known to be local.

Meanwhile, the EDL and other groups will arrange more scenes like this across the country and run away without facing any of the consequences, without having to live with the impact of the devastation they caused.

Communities like mine will have to pick up the pieces and that’s what we’ll do here.

Jamie Lopez is the editor of The Lancashire Lead, where this post originally appeared.