Unrest in Sunderland city centre as protesters target mosque

Protesters clashed with police as they gathered in Sunderland for a planned demonstration linked to the Southport knife attack.

Stones and beer cans were thrown at police in riot gear outside a mosque in the city.

Mounted officers pushed back demonstrators, some of whom were in masks, from the mosque on St Mark’s Road.

Northumbria Police said it advised members of the public to avoid the area.

Police also had beer barrels thrown at them, as young men chanted “whose streets, our streets”.

Cars in the city centre have also been targeted by the group, with one overturned car being set on fire.

The unrest follows riots in Hartlepool on Wednesday night, which Cleveland Police said was linked to protests over the fatal knife attack on a group of children in Southport, Merseyside, on Monday.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said she was “appalled” by the scenes in Sunderland.

“Make no mistake, if your response to tragedy is to use it to commit violence, to abuse others, attack the police and damage property you stand for nothing except thuggery,” she said.

“You don’t speak for Sunderland. You don’t speak for this region,” she added.

A crowd of about 200 anti-racist protesters also gathered outside the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool after rumours of a far-right protest there.

The group chanted “say it loud, say it clear: Refugees are welcome here”.

Director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said extra prosecutors had been called into work this weekend to deal with the disorder.

“We have deployed dozens of extra prosecutors who are working round the clock this weekend, supporting the police, and ready to make immediate charging decisions so that justice is swiftly delivered,” he said.