The Archbishop of Canterbury has added his voice to urgent appeals for peace after days of rioting and violence across the UK. 

Over 100 arrests have been made after far-right protesters clashed with police and vandalised buildings over the weekend.

Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool, Hartlepool, Sunderland and Belfast are among the towns and cities that have been affected by the riots, which were sparked by the deaths of three girls at a dance class in Southport on Monday. 

Appealing for calm, Archbishop Justin Welby condemned anyone using Christian symbolism or the name of God to justify violence. 

"Britain has a proud tradition of free speech and peaceful protest – those must always be protected. But violence and hatred targeted at minority communities is never justified and always abhorrent. It is completely unacceptable that Muslim and asylum-seeker communities are feeling so unsafe and I encourage people to reach out and support them," he said on X.

The Archbishop said he was praying in particular for the families of the victims of the Southport stabbing and said that they "must be allowed and supported to grieve, not caused further pain and distress by violence that does nothing to support their healing or their pursuit of justice".

He added, "Using Christian symbolism or the name of God to justify violence is offensive to everything that Christ stands for. There is never any justification for this and I urge any Christian doing it to repent." 

The Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath, appeared alongside other local faith leaders in a video message urging calm. 

"In the midst of this tragedy, as we experience pain, grief and anger, what we need is for the whole community to come together. We need to be really human, be there for one another," he said. 

The Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, Thomas Neylon, said, "There are other ways of resolving issues which you might feel we don't agree with in our country so let's use those methods to bring about the peace and the healing that we need at this moment."

Sarah Clark, the Acting Bishop of Durham, which covers Sunderland, said it was "really distressing" to see such "terrible" images of violence in Sunderland.

"Our church communities stand together with all condemning this awful violence and the small minority who incite hatred and intimidation on our streets - our prayers for all affected," she said on X. 

Rev Marie-Anne Kent, of St Philip and St Paul with Wesley Church in Southport, told the BBC Breakfast programme that churches in the area were opening as a safe space for people.

She expressed sadness that "families and young people who have been traumatised by the events of Monday, and yet we've been overtaken by the violence".

Despite this, she said she had also seen "so many acts of kindness". 

"Southport has really pulled together, and every act of kindness is saying we are against this hate, these acts of violence," she said.