Protests turn violent in Sunderland as UK unrest spreads after Southport killings

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People take part in a protest outside a mosque in Liverpool, UK, on August 2, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Police officers stand near a "Road closed" sign, on the junction of Tithebarn Road and Hart Street, near the scene where a teenage suspect was arrested after people were stabbed in Southport, UK, on August 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 03 August 2024
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Protests turn violent in Sunderland as UK unrest spreads after Southport killings

  • Anti-immigrant demonstrators threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque in the city before overturning vehicles, BBC reported
  • The riots were sparked by the murder of three girls in a knife attack by a 17-year-old man wrongly described as an immigrant

LONDON: Protesters attacked police and started fires in Sunderland on Friday as violence following Monday’s killing of three children in northwest England spread to another northern city.
Anti-immigrant demonstrators threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque in the city before overturning vehicles, setting a car alight and starting a fire next to a police office, the BBC said.
Northumbria Police said its officers had been “subjected to serious violence” and they were continuing to deal with ongoing disorder.

“The scenes that we are seeing are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the force in a statement on X.
The demonstration in Sunderland was one of more than a dozen planned by anti-immigration protesters across the UK this weekend, including in the vicinity of at least two mosques in Liverpool, the closest city to where the children were killed.
Several anti-racism counter-protests were also planned.
British police were out in force on Friday across the country and mosques were tightening security, officials said.
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 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 emphasized that the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born in Britain.




Axel Rudakubana, the 17-year-old charged with the murder of three young girls in a knife attack at a summer dance class, is depicted in this courtroom sketch made at Liverpool City Magistrates Court in Liverpool, Britain, on August 1, 2024. (BBC/Handout via REUTERS)

Swift justice
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.
British police chiefs have agreed to deploy officers in large numbers over the weekend to deter violence.
“We will have surge capacity in our intelligence, in our briefing, and in the resources that are out in local communities,” Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told BBC Radio.
“There will be additional prosecutors available to make swift decisions, so we see swift justice.”




People arrive to meet Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss clashes following the Southport stabbing at Downing Street in London on August 1, 2024. (REUTERS)

Mosques across the country are also on a heightened state of alert, the Muslim Council of Britain said.
Zara Mohammed, the council’s security general, said representatives from hundreds of mosques agreed to strengthen security measures at a briefing on Thursday. Many at the meeting also reported concerns for the safety of their worshippers after receiving threatening and abusive phone calls.
“I think there’s a sense within the community that we’re also not going to be afraid, but we will be careful and cautious,” Mohammed said in an interview.
Police in Southport, where protesters attacked police, set vehicles alight and hurled bricks at a mosque on Tuesday evening, 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 Center in Belfast over the weekend.


Zelensky hails arrival of French jets as ‘strengthening Ukraine’s security’

Updated 2 sec ago
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Zelensky hails arrival of French jets as ‘strengthening Ukraine’s security’

Zelensky said: “This is another step in strengthening Ukraine’s security“

KYIV: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday hailed the delivery of the first Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France, to help Kyiv defend its airspace against Russia.
“The first Mirage 2000 jets from France have arrived, adding to our air defense capabilities,” Zelensky said, adding that “France’s president (Emmanuel Macron) keeps his word, and we appreciate it. This is another step in strengthening Ukraine’s security.”


Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday hailed the delivery of the first Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France, to help Kyiv defend its airspace against Russia. (AP/File)

Taliban hands management of Afghan hotel to German firm

Updated 3 min 58 sec ago
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Taliban hands management of Afghan hotel to German firm

  • The Cinderella International Group has been managing the renamed Kabul Grand Hotel since February 1
  • The Afghan-German national did not disclose the value, but said the deal was signed after the expiration of the previous contract with the Serena hotel chain

KABUL: A luxury Afghanistan hotel that saw several bloody attacks during the 20-year insurgency is now being managed by a German company a week after the Taliban government took control of it, the firm’s CEO told AFP.
In the deadliest attack on the Serena — popular with business travelers and foreign guests — four gunmen in 2014 made it through multiple levels of security and killed nine people, including an AFP journalist and members of his family.
In 2008, a suicide bombing left six dead, in an attack blamed on the current Taliban interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The Cinderella International Group has been managing the renamed Kabul Grand Hotel since February 1, according to a 10-year contract won after a tender from the Taliban government, chief executive Aaron Azim said Wednesday.
The Afghan-German national did not disclose the value, but said the deal was signed after the expiration of the previous contract with the Serena hotel chain.
The line of hotels, owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, had managed the Kabul location for 20 years.
On Friday, the Serena chain said the establishment’s operations had been handed over to the Hotel State Owned Corporation (HSOC), an arm of the Taliban government, without providing further details.
The Taliban authorities, who took power in 2021, said they had entrusted the management of the hotel to an international company with “enough experience in the field of hotel management,” without identifying the firm.
Azim said his company has been present in Afghanistan for 20 years, working on road construction and in the mining sector.


UK revokes Russian diplomat’s accreditation in tit-for-tat move

Updated 12 min 37 sec ago
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UK revokes Russian diplomat’s accreditation in tit-for-tat move

  • Russia’s ambassador to London was summoned by the Foreign Office

LONDON: Britain is revoking the accreditation of a Russian diplomat, the foreign ministry said Thursday, after Moscow last year expelled a British official accusing him of espionage.
Russia’s ambassador to London was summoned by the Foreign Office and told it was in “response to Russia’s unprovoked and baseless decision to strip the accreditation of a British diplomat in Moscow in November,” the ministry said in a statement. The UK “will not stand for intimidation of our staff in this way,” it added.


North Gaza’s Indonesia Hospital resumes emergency services

Updated 06 February 2025
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North Gaza’s Indonesia Hospital resumes emergency services

  • Indonesia Hospital was one of the first targets hit by Israeli attacks in October 2023
  • It treats patients with minor trauma to lessen overcrowding at Al-Awda Hospital

JAKARTA: The Indonesia Hospital in north Gaza has resumed 24-hour emergency services, the NGO that funded it has said, as efforts are underway to start repairs to the hospital after it was severely damaged by Israeli forces.

The hospital in Beit Lahiya, a four-story building located near the Jabalia refugee camp, was built from donations organized by the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee. Like other health care facilities in Gaza, it was severely damaged by Israeli attacks.

But its round-the-clock emergency services have resumed this month at the request of the Gaza Ministry of Health, following the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to north Gaza since Jan. 27.

“As the only functioning hospital, Al-Awda, is not only full but overcrowded, the Gaza Ministry of Health has asked for the emergency department at the Indonesia Hospital to reopen,” Hadiki Habib, who heads MER-C’s latest batch of emergency medical team in Gaza, said during a live-streamed press conference on Wednesday.

“So our emergency department resumed its 24-hours operation on Feb. 1, and we mainly take care of minor trauma cases … We hope to expand our services once essential repairs at the hospital are done.”

Two specialist doctors and a nurse from the Indonesian medical team will be working alongside volunteer Palestinian doctors to provide services at the emergency department, Habib said, adding that many patients had infected wounds and injuries from Israeli attacks on Gaza, which were neglected before the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19.

As Palestinians begin the process of rebuilding their homes destroyed by Israeli bombardment, doctors are also recording new injuries from cleaning up the rubble that now covers much of Gaza.

“North Gaza, which was heavily impacted by the war, certainly requires special care, particularly in terms of health care, and this will be our focus as our expertise is in emergency health care,” said Yogi Prabowo, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee in Jakarta.

“We are also preparing to begin reparations and rebuilding of the Indonesia Hospital, including adding new facilities, such as buildings and health equipment.”

The Indonesia Hospital was one of the first targets hit when Israel began its assault on Gaza in October 2023, during which 47,500 people have been killed and more than 111,000 injured.

Israel frequently targeted medical facilities in the Gaza Strip, saying that they are used by Palestinian armed groups.


France delivers first Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine: minister

Updated 06 February 2025
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France delivers first Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine: minister

  • France announced the delivery of the first fighter jets as talk of a negotiated end to the nearly three-year war has risen with Donald Trump back in the White House and Ukraine’s troops struggling on

Paris: France on Thursday delivered a first consignment of Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine to help Kyiv defend its airspace against Russia, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday.
“The first of these aircraft have arrived in Ukraine today,” Lecornu said on X, without saying how many had been delivered. After France helped train Ukrainian pilots over recent months, “they will now help defend Ukraine’s skies,” he added.
Last June, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would transfer Mirage 2000-5 aircraft to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of military cooperation with Kyiv.
Of the 26 Mirage 2000-5 aircraft owned by the French air force, six were to be transferred to Ukraine, according to a budget report published by France’s National Assembly lower house.
The French defense ministry neither denied nor confirmed the figure for security reasons.
Ukrainian pilots and mechanics have been trained in eastern France to use the jets, which have undergone modifications including to combat Russian jamming.
France announced the delivery of the first fighter jets as talk of a negotiated end to the nearly three-year war has risen with Donald Trump back in the White House and Ukraine’s troops struggling on the battlefield in the east.
In August, Ukraine received its first consignment of US-made F-16 fighter jets.