Merseyside’s top police officer has told criminals involved in rioting in the city ‘we are identifying you and we are coming for you – you are not safe’. Chief Constable Serena Kennedy was speaking after 12 people were brought before the court on Monday after the violence at the weekend.

Merseyside Police has arrested dozens of people after scenes of violence and rioting in Southport on Tuesday evening and on Saturday in both Liverpool city centre and on County Road in Walton. On all three scenes police officers were attacked, while the County Road violence saw a community library set on fire.

Speaking on Monday, as the first of those were being charged over the ugly scenes, CC Kennedy said she expects her force to make many more arrests in the coming days, weeks and months. She told the ECHO: “The message I would want to send is that you may be sitting at home with a cup of tea, thinking you have got away with the events of Saturday or Tuesday, you absolutely haven’t- we are coming for you.

“We have got hours of CCTV footage, hours of social media footage that people are sending us, local people who are horrified at what they saw on their streets, who want us to come for you. We are reviewing that, we are identifying you and we are coming for you. You will see arrests carrying on over the next few days, the next few months. You are not safe, you cannot sit behind your door, thinking you are safe because we are coming for you.”

CC Kennedy also answered questions of whether she believes her force are equipped to handle potential further violence after the difficult levels of disorder we have seen across the region. On Saturday, some questioned the police’s decision to let a counter-protest come close to those gathered at the Pier Head before fighting and violence broke out.

The top officer said: “I was watching on Saturday and Saturday evening, I don’t think we were overwhelmed, I think we had sufficient resources to make sure we could keep the communities of Merseyside safe. If you were watching you could see we were pushing forward, we were dispersing those groups, we didn’t let them get a stronghold in any one position. Once we got additional resources we were able to use the arrest teams to get people in custody.

“I think there was sufficient space between both groups, it’s very difficult when you are managing groups. Normally there would be a designated space for people to protest, but these were people intent on demonstrating violence towards my officers. The anger and level of venom towards my officers is pretty unprecedented. They say they are doing this in the name of three little girls who were murdered, which is appalling. How they can say that, while sitting with their own families is beyond me. They are disgusting thugs who we do not want on the streets of Merseyside.”

She added: “We have got sufficient resources in Merseyside and we are now planning to a week on Monday to make sure we keep communities safe. Are we ever going to be able to put a ring of steel around the city and stop people wanting to come here intent on committing violent disorder? No, because we are not engaging with them, this is not lawful protest. This is not a protest, it is wanton violence and disorder by thugs and criminals. We are seeing people travelling into Merseyside to commit violence, unfortunately local people are joining in.”