Merseyside Police knows – better than any force, perhaps – that in a social media age, an information vacuum can become a misinformation cauldron.

They have learnt from the aftermath of the Southport stabbing attack, where the force was criticised for being too slow to release information that could have calmed the riots that followed.

So, it feels like things have been done differently this time.

Liverpool parade latest: Nearly 50 injured in car ramming

The incident happened just after 6pm on Monday.

Videos – captured by fans on their phones – were online within moments. Shared and speculated upon, with guesses as to the attacker’s identity and motive.

But alongside the huge and immediate police investigation, the communication machine moved equally fast.

Within a few hours, police released a description of the man they had arrested – a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area.

A few hours after that, we had an extensive press conference during which police ruled out terrorism as a motive.

Again, they appealed for videos not to be shared online and for people not to speculate.

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said Merseyside Police “handled the situation fantastically” given how quickly footage of the incident was shared online.

He told Sky News that online misinformation can set “a lot of false narrative”.

The mayor added: “And we all know that speculation and social media are a wildfire of different vantages, and some of it is for nefarious reasons.

“So, it was right, of course, that the police reacted as quickly as they did to dampen down some of the types of posts that we were witnessing, you know, saying that there were other things happening throughout the city.”

Read more:
What we know so far
Eyewitnesses describe shock and sadness

Police commentator Graham Wettone also told Sky News the force had done well to quickly combat misinformation spreading online.

He said: “That’s always a problem in today’s day and age, social media taking over so much news reporting, with so many people as well present at the scene where that awful incident took place, mobile phones out, people recording it, and then posting it almost straight away.”

Dal Babu, a former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent, also highlighted it was “unprecedented” that the force “very quickly” gave the ethnicity and race of the suspect.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “I think that was to dampen down some of the speculation from the far-right that sort of continues on X even as we speak that this was a Muslim extremist and there’s a conspiracy theory.”

Mr Babu agreed that Merseyside Police appears to have learned lessons from what happened after the Southport stabbings.

He added: “The difficulty we have is in the olden days, when I was policing, you would have a conversation with trusty journalists, print journalists, radio journalists, broadcasting journalists, you’d have a conversation and say look can you please hold fire on sharing this information and people would listen.

“We don’t have that with social media, it’s like the Wild West and anything goes and so puts the police in a very, very difficult position.”

Meanwhile, the police investigation continues.

In central Liverpool, Water Street is cordoned off with police officers and vehicles in place.

Flags, sprays of paint flares and empty bottles still cover the road. Whereas they have been cleared elsewhere along the parade route, here they remain. Chilling symbols of the party, that within moments became a scene of utter horror.

King Charles and Queen Camilla are being urged to use their visit to Canada to seek an apology for the abuse of British children.

Campaigners have called on them to pursue an apology for the “dire circumstances” suffered by so-called “Home Children” over decades.

More than 100,000 were shipped from orphan homes in the UK to Canada between 1869 and 1948 with many used as cheap labour, typically as farm workers and domestic servants. Many were subject to mistreatment and abuse.

Canada has resisted calls to follow the UK and Australia in apologising for its involvement in child migrant schemes.

Campaigners for the Home Children say the royal visit presents a “great opportunity” for a change of heart.

“I would ask that King Charles uses his trip to request an apology,” John Jefkins told Sky News.

John’s father Bert was one of 115,000 British Home Children transported to Canada, arriving in 1914 with his brother Reggie.

“It’s really important for the Home Children themselves and for their descendants,” John said.

“It’s something we deserve and it’s really important for the healing process, as well as building awareness of the experience of the Home Children.

“They were treated very, very badly by the Canadian government at the time. A lot of them were abused, they were treated horribly. They were second-class citizens, lepers in a way.”

More on this story:
The forgotten legacy of British children sent to Canada

John added: “I think the King’s visit provides a great opportunity to reinforce our campaign and to pursue an apology because we’re part of the Commonwealth and King Charles is a new Head of the Commonwealth meeting a new Canadian prime minister. It’s a chance, for both, to look at the situation with a fresh eye.

“There’s much about this visit that looks on our sovereignty and who we are as Canadians, rightly so.

“I think it’s also right that in contemplating the country we built, we focus on the people who built it, many in the most trying of circumstances.”

The issue was addressed by the then Prince of Wales during a tour of Canada in May 2022. He said at the time: “We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past.”

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King Charles and Queen Camilla are on a two-day visit to Canada.

On Tuesday, the King will deliver the Speech from the Throne to open the 45th session of Canada’s parliament.

Camilla was made Patron of Barnardo’s in 2016. The organisation sent tens of thousands of Home Children to Canada. She took on the role, having served as president since 2007.

Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.

A spokesperson for the Canadian government said: “The government of Canada is committed to keeping the memory of the British Home Children alive.

“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada deeply regrets this unjust and discriminatory policy, which was in place from 1869 to 1948. Such an approach would have no place in modern Canada, and we must learn from past mistakes.”

Eyewitnesses have described the “frantic” moment a people carrier ploughed into crowds at Liverpool FC’s trophy parade.

Thousands of fans were in the city centre when the incident unfolded – with 27 people needing hospital treatment and two in a serious condition.

Peter Jones told Sky News that Water Street was bustling at the time, with the car “flying past” him.

“People were chasing it and trying to stop him, windows smashed at the back,” he said.

The 44-year-old described police and paramedics running to the vehicle when it came to a stop, as the injured were treated on the side of the road.

Follow the latest developments in our live blog

‘They’ve been quiet ever since’

Many of those who had been enjoying the jubilant atmosphere – marking Liverpool’s Premier League title – were young football fans.

Four of those taken to hospitals were children, including a victim who was badly hurt.

Harry Rashid was attending the parade with his wife and two young daughters – telling Sky’s Gillian Joseph “there was a lot of confusion and a lot of screams”.

Footage shows car drive into crowd at speed

In the aftermath, some bystanders surged towards the car and were trying to smash the windows as many of the injured lay on the ground.

Mr Rashid added: “It was very distressing to see all that. My daughters were with me – they started crying and we just tried to get out of there as soon as possible.”

Unsure of what was happening, he wanted to get his family to a safe place because he feared there could be a second vehicle.

When asked how his daughters were faring, the father said: “They’ve been quiet since the incident occurred. We are heading back from Liverpool to the Midlands, and they haven’t really said a word.”

Liverpool parade collision: What we know so far

‘We can’t stop shaking’

Chelsea Yuen said the people carrier drove straight towards her – along with her friend Francesca and her daughter.

“We were literally like sardines walking up the street, and then we heard beeping and screaming,” she told Sky News.

“Me and my friend Francesca jumped out of the way and pulled her little girl out the way.”

Yuen said she could see the windows of the car had been smashed in – and witnessed people begging with the police to intervene.

“I’m just in shock,” she added. “We can’t stop shaking.”

‘We could just hear screams and screams’

Many more fans watched the incident unfold from flats overlooking Water Street.

One of them was Natasha Rinaldi, who had been following the parade from her friend’s living room window.

She told Sky News that “people sounded desperate” as the car sped towards the crowds.

“Some of my friends were down there and the car was so near them,” she added. “It was a horrible scene.”

Trying to make sense of the incident, Ms Rinaldi added: “We still don’t understand what happened, how it happened, why it happened.”