By Sophie Aires
Spellow Lane Library on County Road in Walton had recently been damaged after riots near a mosque on 3 August. The library opened last year to serve deprived communities in the area. Merseyside police have stated that around 300 people were involved in the riots on County Road, Walton in Liverpool. The force suggested that from the start the group “were intent on committing serious violence and disorder," after they gathered at around 20:00 BST. The riot seems to have come as a result of rising tensions following the killing of three young girls at a Taylor-Swift-themed dance party in Southport, Merseyside on the 29 July.
The library was set on fire whilst rioters attempted to stop firefighters from putting it out, causing the building to suffer severe damage to its ground floor. Police have stated that when firefighters arrived a missile was thrown at the fire engine, breaking the rear window of the cab. Alongside the destruction of the library, a convenience store was burned, other shops were broken into and wheelie and industrial bins were set alight.
The riot followed two rival protests in which two police officers were injured and six people were arrested. Violence broke out after a group who had been taking part in an anti-racism rally outside St George’s Hall faced an anti-immigration demonstration at the Pier Head.
The community has since come together in order to help rebuild through donations and fundraising and the library has also benefited from author and celebrity book donations. Already, nearly £200,000 has been raised for the library and over 150 members of the book community are donating blacklist copies to the library as part of crime writer Marnie Riches’ Reading not Rioting Campaign.
Riches told The Bookseller “[she] saw that the library in Liverpool had been destroyed by far-right rioters and that it had recently been refurbished. [She] was so upset because [she is] a northern writer and a writer of working-class origin, so libraries are very important to [her] and [she] understand[s] their role in the community…These rioters have injured a community because a library is a place of social cohesion and learning and self-improvement and ordinary people have nothing to read.”
Riches hashtag on X shows the love and support that the library has received following the traumatic event. The hashtag #ReadingNotRioting has encouraged author donations in aid of restoring the library. One member said “I learned to love books in Merseyside Libraries. Now I write books, so here’s my parcel to help rebuild Spellow Lane Hub in gratitude for what I've received.” Paula Harmon, author of The Case of The Black Tulips tweeted that, “[a]long with many other authors, [she was] delighted to send some donations to Spellow Lane Library after their devastating and appalling fire.”
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