Shops, banks and GP surgeries across the country shut early tonight amid fears of further rioting in the wake of the Southport stabbings.
Reports spread on social media suggesting a ‘riot’ was set to hit the West Yorkshire town of Huddersfield at 1pm today, while protesters gathered in Birmingham after rumours of a gathering spread online and thugs clashed with police in Plymouth.
Frightened by the despairing scenes of violence and looting in other UK cities in recent days, many businesses have chosen to pull down the shutters ahead of time – while police have been mobilised in the town centre.
Elsewhere, staff and students at Oxford University were warned to avoid the area around the Carfax Tower in the city centre ahead of a feared protest.
A GP surgery in Birmingham also closed as hundreds of Muslims turned out to counter a rumoured far-right gathering while in Plymouth, arrests were made as anti-immigration protesters clashed with…
