As carpets are unfurled outside the Southport mosque ahead of Friday prayers, the chairman there has this message for violent protesters: “You have hijacked the grief.”
Ibrahim Hussein speaks just around the corner from where the horrific stabbing attack unfolded on Monday.
A day later – his mosque was targeted by far-right protesters who smashed windows and set a police car on fire.
He tells me there is a real sense of fear in the community now – ahead of more planned demonstrations this weekend.
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“I’m not afraid for myself I’m afraid for my community,” he says.
He states, however, that his mosque is “just a building that we can rebuild… it’s only bricks”, but “mindless” rioters are taking the focus away from those “who are suffering”.
He describes the demonstrators as “taking something that should be community spirited” and turning it into something “so ugly”.
With more than a dozen protests planned for towns and cities across the country in the next 48 hours – there’s uneasy anticipation in Southport.
This is a community in mourning, but also one which has been living under a police order, allowing officers extra stop and search powers to protect the public.
Driving near to the crime scene I see a young man being spoken to by police – his bag on the floor.
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Concerns over more violent disorder in the coming days has meant that these protests are at risk of fuelling a fear already present in the lives of those who live in this seaside town.
A town – already changing in the aftermath of the attack.
‘People are very fearful’
Evidence of that comes in the form of a group of security guards providing free security to concerned businesses.
Ian Roberts is one of them.
He’s at PlayTown – a soft play centre – sitting inside a locked corridor at the bottom of a staircase, which is normally open to the public.
He opens the door only for parents and children coming in to play, of which there are far fewer than usual.
And he’s doing this for free, on top of his normal job which he will start later, finishing at 4am.
Then he will be back again tomorrow.
“If it makes people feel safe then that’s what we need to do,” he tells me, “that’s what the community need – that safety – to feel they can bring their children out and enjoy without worrying.”
He adds: “People are very, very fearful… it’s going to take a long time for people to feel back to normal, if they ever do.”
Upstairs, managing the soft play centre, I meet Liberty Buxton.
She says it’s “heartbreaking” but they are going to be physically raising the reception desk on all sides and securing the site for the long term.
Already a number of children’s parties have been cancelled here.
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“We are building it up so nobody can jump over and nobody can get through,” she says.
She adds that everyone feels a lot safer with Ian, the security guard, on the door at the moment.
But she also describes how violent protests have only added to a sense of insecurity in Southport.
“You’re setting things on fire and it’s not going to bring anybody back it’s not going to stop the situation from happening,” she says.
“It’s going to cause more arguments – more fear in people.”
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The backdrop to the unrest is grief. And it should not be a backdrop.
The message from residents in Southport is clear, coming to terms with such horror – mourning – should be front and centre.
And violent unrest is at risk of overshadowing all of that.
