*MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*
Violence and mayhem were spreading like wildfire through the capital last night with police apparently powerless to act.
Scenes of mob rule became more terrifying by the minute as widespread arson and anarchy was added to the orgy of looting.
By midnight flashpoints had multiplied around London, with Clapham, Hackney, Dalston, Peckham, Woolwich and Lewisham added to the list which already included Enfield, Walthamstow and Tottenham.
Taking over the streets: A large crowd gathered in this street in Hackney, east London, before clashing with he police;
Late night looters: A group of youths run through the streets in Dalston, east London, after breaking into the area's Kingsland shopping centre;
Stealing: A group of looters flee from clothes store Blue Inc in Peckham after stealing clothes;
And there were fears that the chaos could spread nationwide, with Croydon to the south of the capital ablaze, and even Birmingham joining in the destruction as hundreds of youths smashed shop windows and looted the contents.
With cars, shops and homes burning, police tactics were coming under ever-increasing attack.
Riot officers were unable to deal with the sheer scale of the violence and there were questions about the Metropolitan force’s lack of leadership following the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson.
The police lack of control allowed mobs of children aged as young as seven to rampage through the streets at will. Mobs of masked youngsters, some on BMXs, roamed the streets ransacking stores in daylight and hurling petrol bombs at police. At least 35 officers were hurt and tens of millions of pounds of damage was caused to homes and businesses in ‘copycat criminal activity’ across London.
Smashed: This Maplin shop in Birmingham and a bookmakers in Peckham were vandalised by the rioters;
Raid: This group targeted a jewellery store at the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham;
Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tim Godwin took the extraordinary step of appealing to parents whose children were running wild, telling them: ‘I do urge that parents start asking where they are.’
David Cameron was forced to quit his holiday and fly back to chair an emergency summit this morning.
The orgy of violence has its roots in the police shooting of suspected gangster Mark Duggan last Thursday.
But by last night it had descended into ‘pure criminality’ and ‘thieving on a mass scale’.
On another calamitous day for the capital, it emerged that:
- Some 215 arrests had been made, the youngest being a boy of 11;
- Police promised to track down the internet provocateurs who called on others to join the looting;
- Pamphlets were handed out advising thugs to burn clothes if caught on CCTV to evade capture.
- There were reports that Mark Duggan did not fire on police, but an officer shot him dead because he feared he was in danger from the gunman;
- It emerged that Duggan was armed with a blank-firing gun which had been converted to hold live ammunition;
Rampage: A group of looters raid a local shop in Hackney, stripping the shelves bare of drink and cigarettes, while a cash machine is also ripped apart;
Stripped bare: The looters jumped over counters and threw food such as crisps and sweets to the floor in order to get to the things they wanted;
Milling about: Hundreds of people gather outside a parade of shops in Hackney before things turned violent in Hackney;
Last night London was in lockdown as police lined the streets braced for violence led by ‘burglars, thugs and bullies’.
Scotland Yard invoked special powers in four trouble hotspots – Lambeth, Haringey, Enfield and Waltham Forest – allowing officers to stop and search suspects without reasonable suspicion.
But the move backfired when violence erupted in Hackney, East London in retaliation to the search operation.
There, armed gangs on BMX bicycles attacked a crowded bus during the evening rush-hour and then chased the screaming commuters as they tried to escape.
Riot police were forced to evacuate homes in the area. Screaming children were led to safety as cars and buildings continued to burn.
London's burning: A riot officer watches as a shop burns in Croydon as riots spread out of London yesterday evening;
Police were unable to prevent the attacks because all the riot officers on the streets were caught up in running battles with gangs who pelted them with lumps of wood, chairs and bottles.
The mob set fire to several buildings and three police cars. Witnesses reported seeing children aged as young as seven involved. They smashed the windows of stores, grabbing what they could before riot police arrived.
Other thugs fought each other over a bag of diamonds which had fallen on to the street after it had been looted from a jewellers.
A police officer could be seen lying on the ground after being struck on his shield by a missile.
Other officers created a cordon around him while he was treated by colleagues.
At one point child rioters tried to hijack a bus so they could drive it at police. As shop protective grilles were ripped up and a security camera smashed, two teenage girls giggled to each other, saying: ‘We’re gonna get gold!’
There were also reports that white people were being targeted for robbery by gangs roaming the streets.
Smash and grab: A group of youths kick the door in of the JD Sports store in Hackney, while another group escapes from a store, one carrying a television he has taken;
Mindless: A group of youths attacks a helpless photographer in Brimingham as the violence spread north last night;
Police advised businesses across the capital to close as the violence also spread to Peckham, Deptford and Lewisham in South London.
More than 300 officers from 12 outside forces were brought in to help the Met deal with riots. But areas of the capital were left entirely unprotected. In affluent Clapham, a 200-strong mob tore along the high street while one witness said: ‘There isn’t a single officer here.’
Metropolitan Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said Scotland Yard was on high alert and said the looting was ‘disgusting behaviour, ripping apart people’s livelihoods and businesses’.
He said a third more officers were on the ground than Sunday night, which was three times more than Saturday when the riots started.
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