SOUTHPORT, United Kingdom, Aug 20, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - King Charles III will on
Tuesday visit Southport in northwest England, Buckingham Palace announced,
three weeks after a knife attack which killed three young girls sparked
nationwide riots.

"His Majesty The King will travel to Southport to express his continued
support for those affected by the 29th July attack and the riot which
followed in the town, and to thank frontline emergency staff for their
ongoing work serving local people," the palace said in a statement.

The monarch will meet members of the Southport community outside the town
hall early in the afternoon, before then meeting regional leaders,
representatives from the emergency services and others.

They will include local groups and faith leaders impacted by the violent
disorder which hit Southport the day after the July 29 mass stabbing.

Ahead of those public engagements, Charles will meet privately with some of
those impacted by the knife attack, which claimed the lives of three young
girls and injured 10 others, including eight children.

The meeting will include some of the surviving children who were present at
the community centre targeted, as well as their families.

The children were attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class when an
assailant entered the building and began attacking them.

Axel Rudakubana, who was aged 17 at the time, has been charged with murder
and attempted murder over the stabbing spree.

A motive for the atrocity has not been disclosed, but police have said it is
not being treated as terrorism-related.

More than a dozen English towns and cities saw unrest and riots in the week
that followed the events in Southport.

Officials have blamed far-right elements for helping to stir up the disorder,
which targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers as well as police
officers and other properties.

The authorities have cited misinformation spread online that Rudakubana was a
Muslim asylum seeker for fuelling the violence.

He was actually born in Britain to parents who hail from Rwanda, an
overwhelmingly Christian country.