A VIOLENT mob has hurled bricks and lager cans at cops while wielding flares in another night of chaos.
Hundreds of people have gathered in Sunderland city centre this evening following riots in Hartlepool and London on Wednesday.
Footage shows thugs in balaclavas and hoods squaring up to cops and lobbing flares and beer cans.
Other yobs have reportedly brought bricks and trolleys to the gathering.
Mounted cops have joined riot police and tear gas has reportedly been fired at the crowd.
It comes after an 11-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of arson after a police car was set alight during a night of violence in nearby Hartlepool.
Shocking footage showed a blaze tearing through a cop car amid riots in the Teesside town last night.
The violence in Hartlepool came just hours after more than 100 people were arrested at a similar stand-off outside Downing Street.
Horror footage showed the violent clash at its peak – with cops in riot suits battling to hold the masses at bay.
Bricks and bottles were lobbed at the police, as they fought to push the crowds back.
Cleveland Police confirmed yesterday that eleven people have been arrested for various offences including public order and affray.
Several officers suffered injuries after missiles were launched by yobs amid the chaos.
The riots came after three young girls were killed in a rampage at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport on Monday.
The mum of victim Elsie Stancombe has condemned the riots and urged protesters to stop.
Jenni Stancombe said: “This is the only thing that I will write, but please stop the violence in Southport tonight.
“The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.”
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana was yesterday named as the teen charged over the knife attack in the Merseyside town.
Rudakubana was unmasked after a judge lifted reporting restrictions just days before his 18th birthday.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar were knifed to death in the mass stabbing in Southport.
Eight other children suffered stab wounds in the horror, with five in a stable condition in hospital along with two adults.
Rudakubana, 17, rocked back and forth in the dock as he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today charged with three counts of murder.
He is also accused of ten counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article – a curved kitchen knife used in the attack.
The prosecution said he had an “autism spectrum disorder diagnosis” and had been “unwilling to leave the house and communicate with family for a period of time”.
By Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate
IN moments of crisis and tragedy, it’s second nature for us to go on to social media to look for the latest information.
After we heard the first shocking reports that children had been stabbed in Southport, we went to social media to try and find out the truth – who did this and why?
But the problem with our reliance on social media as a source of information is that all platforms are designed in ways that show us lies first and the truth last.
Journalists working for a newspaper or broadcaster try to tell us what they can prove, which can be unclear in the immediate wake of a tragedy.
Social media platforms, instead, look at how much engagement their posts get.
That’s because they don’t actually care about the value to society of that information, rather the value to them.
Before anyone could report the truth in Stockport, selfish and cynical losers were using social media to exploit this tragedy and push hateful lies.
With zero evidence, they claimed that Muslims were behind the attack and that the police were hiding the truth.
And they know that the more outrageous the lie, the more people will see it.
The consequences were plain to see, as gangs of thugs descended on Southport, shamefully using the deaths of three young girls to whip up hate and attack the police.
Let’s be clear, social media companies are to blame. They let people break their rules with impunity.
The reason they do this is simple: hate and lies are big business for social media.
That’s how the truth loses, and the lies of extremists and weirdos enter the mainstream.
Social media companies pretend this is complicated, but the basic solutions are simple.
First, we need to force these companies to come clean on how their algorithms boost dangerous lies.
Second, we need to hold them accountable with fines and penalties.
American social media giants are to blame for this chaos. It’s them, not the people of Southport, who should be paying for the cleanup and coppers’ medical bills.
