Funeral held for nine-year-old victim of UK stabbing that sparked riots

Hundreds of mourners gathered Sunday in Southport, northwest England, for the funeral of a nine-year-old girl killed in last month's knife attack, which sparked more than a week of nationwide disorder.

Family, friends, community leaders and emergency responders all joined Alice da Silva Aguiar's parents for an emotional ceremony at a Catholic church in the seaside town, nearly two weeks after the mass stabbing that shocked the country.

Attendees had been asked to wear white, a tradition for some in Portugal, where Alice's parents hail from.

Locals lining the main road clapped as the funeral cortege -- bearing a small white coffin, resting on a carriage pulled by two white horses with colourful feathers -- passed by.

"Of course we're here -- it's the Southport spirit," said one man who turned out. "We're here to pay our respects."

Pink ribbons and balloons had been tied to lampposts and garden walls near the church.

Several hundred people packed inside the venue for the service -- featuring short addresses, readings, prayers and hymns -- which was relayed on loudspeakers to those who had gathered outside.

Jinnie Payne, the headteacher of the primary school the nine-year-old attended, was among those to speak movingly.

"Alice, you will forever be in our hearts," she told the congregation.

The July 29 mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class killed two other girls -- Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven -- and injured 10 others including eight children.

Those wounded have all since been released from hospital.

 'Unimaginable violence' 

 Bebe's parents, Lauren and Ben King, described Saturday how their "world was shattered by the loss of our precious daughter".

"She was taken from us in an unimaginable act of violence that has left our hearts broken beyond repair," they said in a statement released through police, adding she was "full of joy, light, and love".

The couple also revealed their elder daughter, Genie, witnessed the attack and managed to escape.

The stabbings sparked a riot in Southport the following evening, on July 30, and violence in more than a dozen English towns and cities as well as Northern Ireland over the ensuing week.

Officials have blamed the violence on far-right agitators and opportunist "thugs" accused of using the tragedy to further their anti-immigration, anti-Muslim agenda.

Misinformation spread online in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing spree claimed that the perpetrator was a Muslim immigrant.

British-born Axel Rudakubana has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the attack. His parents hail from Rwanda, which is overwhelmingly Christian.

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