King Charles III consoles imam over rioters’ ‘terrifying’ attack on Southport mosque

SOUTHPORT, United Kingdom: King Charles III offered his “deepest” sympathies on Tuesday to the imam of a mosque targeted by far-Right rioters the day after the Southport killings that the experience must have been “terrifying”.

The monarch met Ibrahim Hussein alongside emergency responders and community leaders who helped restore calm in the wake of the street violence that followed the deaths of three young girls at a dance class.

Hussein said of his conversation with the King: “He was referring to the community and how terrifying it must have been for us. How scary and terrifying it must have been for us and our mosque and our community.

“For His Majesty to take time from his heavy schedule and visit a small town such as this means a lot to us.”

The imam said of the riots: “They wanted to kill us. We were terrified obviously because the whole building was shaking. Fire bombs were thrown. It was awful, the slogans and the shouting and the chanting.”

The King also met Diane, 50, and her husband Dan, 48, whose home backs on to the community centre where the fatal attack took place, and whose 12-year-old daughter witnessed it from her bedroom.

The couple comforted the families of the victims and have continued to allow police to use their facilities as investigations continue.

Diane said: “The King said he was shocked, really shocked at what happened, and said it was kind of us to open our house. We said it was the right thing to do.”

The 75-year-old monarch inspected a vast sea of floral tributes laid outside Southport town hall in memory of the victims -- Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.

All three died in the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the town just over three weeks ago which also left ten people injured, eight of them children.

As well as the children, the king also met their families and police liaison officers working with them.

Buckingham Palace said he also wanted to thank “frontline emergency staff for their ongoing work serving local people”. Charles had earlier been criticised by some for not issuing a public statement on the riots.

Although the monarch conveyed his condolences to the families of the three girls killed, he did not comment on the unrest until nearly two weeks later.

Traditionally, the monarch does not comment on anything that could cause political controversy.