Sunderland protesters attack police office and set car alight – MASHAHER

A police office has been attacked and the property next to it set alight as protesters clashed with police in Sunderland during a demonstration linked to the Southport knife attack.

It follows beer cans and stones being thrown at police in riot gear outside a mosque in the city, and other clashes between rioters and the force.

Northumbria Police said its officers had been “subjected to serious violence” and advised members of the public to avoid the area.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said “criminals attacking the police and stoking disorder on our streets will pay the price for their violence and thuggery”.

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

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

Members of the crowd chanted in support of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, while others shouted Islamophobic slurs.

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

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service confirmed it was at the scene of the fire by Sunderland Central Police office.

Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus said it had been asked by British Transport Police to close Sunderland Rail Station at about 22:15 BST.

Go North East also said at 23:00 BST that it would be terminating all of its bus services short of Sunderland overnight.

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.”

Sunderland Central MP Lewis Atkinson said the police had his full support in response to the criminal “thuggery”.

A cinema in Sunderland, Omniplex, was also forced to close during the evening in the interest of public and staff safety, it said.

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.