Riots broke out on Friday night in Sunderland, England, where a wave of violence sparked by the killing of three girls at a dance class in Southport spread.

Protesters chanting anti-immigrant slogans threw stones at a police force deployed near a mosque in the city, torched a car and started a fire next to a police station, the BBC reports.

During the clashes, three police officers were injured and two of them are hospitalized, according to the information from the local police department, which also mentions eight arrests.

British authorities have been put on high alert ahead of anti-immigration protests planned for the weekend.

A 17-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the murder of the three girls at a dance skills event in Southport, a crime that has shocked the whole country.

Episodic protests have erupted in recent days in Southport, Hartlepool and London, after false information circulated on social media that the arrested man was a Muslim extremist who was in Britain illegally.

In a statement, the British Home Secretary said that “criminals who attack the police and incite unrest in the streets will pay the price.”