On Monday, the seaside town of Southport in Merseyside was enjoying the sun and the first week of the summer holidays. Away from the beach and the pier, about 20 little girls were taking part in a summer holiday dance class, learning routines to their favourite Taylor Swift songs in a community centre.

But at midday, when parents were arriving to pick up their daughters, people in the area heard terrible screams. An attacker had entered the class, stabbing three of the girls to death, injuring eight others and leaving two adults in a critical condition. A 17-year-old boy was arrested.

The shock and grief stunned the town. But before many had time to even recover from their shock rumours and misinformation began circulating on social media about the killer. Despite police information to the contrary, social media posts insisted that the suspect had arrived in the UK on a small boat, was an immigrant and on a terrorism watchlist.

The next evening a vigil for the victims brought together 1,000 people from the town to mourn, but a short while later another gathering was amassing. The Guardian’s North of England editor, Josh Halliday, was in Southport. He explains how a group of young men had arrived outside the local mosque. Soon a police van was on fire, the mosque was attacked, bricks were being thrown and shops were looted. The mob turned on the police and more than 50 of the officers were hurt.

What was behind it? Joe Mulhall, the director of research at Hope Not Hate, monitors far-right activists. He says almost immediately after the attack on the little girls, a false narrative was being pushed on social media and amplified by well-known figures. He says he was shocked by the speed and intensity of the reaction, and believes the far right were treating the tragedy as an opportunity to spread division. Josh tells Helen Pidd how the town is coping with this disorder on top of the horror they had already endured.

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