A police station was set on fire in Sunderland on Friday as officers tried to contain several hundred protesters on another night of disorder.
Video footage on social media showed flames coming from Sunderland Central police station.
Nick Lowles, from the organisation Hope Not Hate, posted a photo of the blaze on X and wrote: “A police station has been set alight in Sunderland tonight. A far right and racist protest has culminated in this. Shame on all those who continue to excuse these protests.”
The crowd, some of whom wore balaclavas, also threw beer barrels and stones at police who came under a sustained attack outside a mosque on St Mark’s Road.
An overturned car was set on fire and rioters set off fire extinguishers against officers. Northumbria police advised members of the public to avoid Sunderland city centre due to the “ongoing disorder”.
The protest, promoted by far-right activists on social media, began at the newly refurbished Keel Square. Social media footage showed young men throwing stones at the police and shouting “whose streets, our streets” as well as Islamophobic chants.
I'm so curious to see how far this will go, especially if the police response is overwhelming as Starmer's indicating. With the cost of living crisis only going to worsen this strikes me as a stupid version of the Freikorps being driven by the post-WW1 German economic collapse. A racist lynching or the police shooting a protester could both really explode this thing.
Only the Freikorps went after Socialists, here the police isn‘t supposed to stop the Left but the Right. Also interesting but different. Ah, and I don‘t think the Freikorps were driven by the economic collapse as much as the Social Democrats.
Watch as Starmer's response is used to crush the left and appease the right.