Counting the cost of UK's far-right riots: Burned books and shame

• Local authorities count the cost of riot damage
• Council budgets already tight
• Donations flood to help rebuilt Southport library

LIVERPOOL - Scorched chairs and tables and charred books scattered across an ash-covered floor - this is how far-right rioters left a library in Liverpool as waves of violent disorder swept Britain this week.

Spellow Lane Library Hub, in Walton, northern Liverpool, was set alight on Saturday night as rioters ran amok in the northwestern English city, looting shops, torching bins and firing rocks and bottles at emergency service vehicles.

The library, which only reopened after refurbishment last year, now stands boarded up.

"This is a valuable community service, I come here almost every Saturday. I'm horrified, shocked, disgusted, by what's gone on," Kevin McManus, who worked in the library decades ago, told Context from outside the building.

"It's mindless thuggery. I've lived here for 30 years and I'm completely taken aback."

Riots erupted in a string of English cities last week following the deaths of three schoolgirls killed in a knife attack in Southport on July 29.

Misinformation quickly spread on social media, with far-right activists falsely identifying the alleged killer as a Muslim migrant and targeting mosques in response.

Anti-racism groups have blamed political rhetoric surrounding migration, which portrays asylum seekers as putting extra strain on public resources.

Crowds gathered outside Downing Street in London a day after the Southport attack chanted "we want our country back" and "stop the boats", a slogan used by the Conservative government, especially ahead of the July general election, which it lost to the Labour party.

But the clean-up and repair costs caused by the riots will only put further strain on underfunded towns and cities.

"Communities believe [migration] is a legitimate grievance because it's been drummed into them. There is competition for resources, and the real reason for that is because of austerity," said Suresh Grover, founder and director of The Monitoring Group, a British anti-racism organisation.

"The language used in the election, I think it's one of the worst things I've seen in the last 40 years. It has allowed the far right to gather legitimacy."

Local authorities in cities across Britain have endured sharp spending cuts over the last decade, with government data showing sharp cutbacks on housing, transport and cultural services since 2011.

Spending remains more than 40% lower compared to the start of the Conservative government's austerity policies, while the costs of meeting rising demand for services such as adult social care and homelessness support are outpacing inflation, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Councils in the north of England and London faced the largest per-person cuts due to the nature of their funding, with already deprived areas suffering the most, the research showed.

"If you go to Southport, where the three girls were killed, there are shops closed in the city centre, the pier is closed," Grover said. "If you wanted something to honour those girls, it would be to actually restore and invest in that town."

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the riots as "far-right thuggery" and said those involved would feel the "full force of the law".

More than 400 people have been arrested so far.

More far-right protests were expected on Wednesday, but instead thousands of people took to the streets of areas including Bristol, Liverpool and London to march against racism and Islamophobia.

"I think the show of force from the police, and frankly, the show of unity from communities, together defeated the challenges that we've seen," London's Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters.

A fundraising campaign to get Spellow Lane Library Hub back on its feet attracted more than £200,000 in donations in less than five days.

"Liverpool has got a really proud history of rejecting fascism and rejecting the far right," said resident Liam Royle.

"People need to stop throwing bricks and turn to those who need to change things – the politicians. Those who maintain the class divide."   

(Reporting by Lucy Middleton; Editing by Jon Hemming.)