Chairs and bottles thrown as protesters clash in resort

Nearly 1,000 protesters have been involved in disorder after a protest at one of England’s best-known seaside resorts.

Bottles were thrown at police, as officers struggled to contain the demonstrators, who were mainly from far-right groups, in Blackpool.

Some demonstrators were seen making racist gestures and heard shouting racist abuse as they were held back by police horses and dogs.

A number of people were arrested in connection with the disorder.

Protesters initially gathered near Blackpool cenotaph but proceeded through the town’s streets, forcing police to cordon off much of the town center by early evening.

The protest coincided with the resort’s annual Rebellion punk festival and some of those attending staged a counter-protest.

It led to a tense stand-off between the two groups, in which chairs, bottles and planks of wood were thrown.

Outside St John’s Church, one man fell to the ground and needed medical attention and a number of glass bottles were smashed against the church walls.

After clashes died down, a later flare-up saw about 40 protesters shaken by police, with several of them being arrested.

In a statement on X, Blackpool South MP Chris Webb said he was “angry to see senseless violence and disorder on the streets of my hometown”.

“The people responsible are harming residents and damaging livelihoods,” he said.

Blackpool was one of a number of towns and cities across England which saw unrest.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she would work with police forces to help ensure “consequences, arrests and prosecutions” for those responsible and warned that anyone engaging in “unacceptable disorder” would pay the price.

The protests came in the wake of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class being fatally stabbed in Southport on Monday.

Violence erupted the following evening in the Merseyside resort, with police blaming far-right groups.

False claims have spread online that the person responsible was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat and a Muslim.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire, has been charged with three counts of murder, 10 attempted murders and possession of a curved kitchen knife.

The 17-year-old, who was born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff and moved to the Southport area in 2013, has no known links to Islam.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to [email protected]

More on this story