King Charles III visited Southport on Tuesday to show his support for the traumatised town after the murder of three young girls in a knife attack in late July that sparked several days of riots in England.
On his arrival in the town in north-west England, the king stopped in front of the flowers and stuffed animals left in front of the town hall in memory of the victims. He greeted the large crowd, including many children. Charles III spent about 45 minutes with the children who survived the attack, which took place on 29 July during a dance class inspired by American pop star Taylor Swift.
Thanks to emergency personnel
Three girls aged six, seven and nine were killed. Eight other children were injured, as were two adults who were trying to protect them. All have now been released from hospital. A suspect, aged 17 at the time of the incident and now an adult, was arrested on the spot.
The king is expected to meet with the families of the three girls killed in London on Wednesday, according to the British PA news agency.
The king’s visit, which he said had been under pressure to speak out about the violence, was to “express his support for those affected by the July 29 attack and the subsequent riots in the city,” and to thank emergency services and law enforcement.
During the visit, Charles III, who is currently on holiday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, is also expected to meet with representatives of the emergency services, police, fire brigade and local community groups, including religious leaders.
Online rumours
The day after the girls’ murders, violent clashes between protesters and police broke out in Southport, particularly near the local mosque, which was targeted. A week of racist and Islamophobic riots followed in many cities in England and Northern Ireland, fanned by far-right agitators amid online rumours about the suspect, initially presented as a Muslim asylum seeker who arrived by boat. He is in fact a teenager, Axel Rudakubana, born in Cardiff, Wales, to a family, according to media reports, originally from Rwanda, a country with a very Christian majority. His motives are unknown but the terrorist lead has not been retained.
The king and his wife Camilla had quickly published a message of condolences to the victims’ families after the attack. Charles III then remained silent during the riots which targeted mosques and hotels housing migrants and were marked by ransacking and looting of shops and public services. Around 500 people have since been charged with violence or incitement to hatred online, resulting in more than 120 convictions, mostly prison sentences.
The 10 days of silence from the king, who was quick to celebrate the multiculturalism of the United Kingdom, had been compared to the neutrality to which his mother Elizabeth II was fiercely attached, to the point that he had sometimes been accused of lacking empathy.
This article is originally published on estrepublicain.fr
