Tottenham in North London exploded after a man was killed by the local police. The people marched on the police station and then took to the streets attacking buses and buildings., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Crowds attack police, burn cars after UK protest
8:21am IST
LONDON (Reuters) - Crowds attacked riot police and set two squad cars and a bus alight in north London on Saturday following a protest at the fatal shooting of a man by armed officers earlier in the week.
Disorder spread after up to 200 people gathered near Tottenham police station during the evening.
The Metropolitan force said bottles were thrown at officers on a foot patrol and one of the vehicles was pushed into the middle of the main road before it was set on fire.
Riot police sent to the scene came under attack from a crowd throwing bottles and missiles, said the force.
One officer was in hospital and seven others were injured in the riots, police said.
"It's very much an ongoing situation," a police spokesman said. No officers are reported to have been injured.
The earlier protest was held over the shooting of a 29-year-old man who was killed after an exchange of gunfire with police on Thursday.
The man had been in a taxi when it was stopped by armed officers as part of a pre-planned operation. One policeman escaped unhurt after a bullet struck his radio.
"It's really bad," local resident, David Akinsanya, 46, told the BBC.
"I'm feeling unsafe ... I saw a guy getting attacked. There seems to be a lot of anger in Tottenham tonight ... as I left they were starting to attack the police station."
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Tottenham riot: 'very volatile' situation contained, for now
Scale of rioting much smaller than in 1985, but for two to three hours it looked like the police might lose control
Sandra Laville, crime correspondent guardian.co.uk, Sunday 7 August 2011 01.25 BST
Buildings burn on Tottenham High Road after a protest against the shooting of a man by police last week turned violent
Twenty six years on from the Broadwater Farm riots Tottenham burned in fury again on Saturday night – 48 hours after the police had shot dead a man on the streets in an apparent exchange of fire.
Eyewitness reports suggested some of the youths involved – who numbered between 150 and 300 – were as young as 10; far too young to remember the death in October 1985 of Cynthia Jarrett during a search of her home by police officers, which sparked the Broadwater Farm riots and led to the death of PC Keith Blakelock.
The scale of the rioting on Saturday was much smaller; contained to a about 500 metres along Tottenham High Road. It had begun at about 5.30pm, according to Scotland Yard, when a group of about 150 protesters gathered outside the police station to protest at the shooting dead on Thursday night of 29-year-old Mark Duggan, during a Trident operation in Tottenham Hale.
Duggan was the passenger in a minicab, on his way to see his girlfriend. A father of three, he was well known in the local area.
Accounts of the shooting are confused, but a non–police issue firearm was recovered from the scene and a bullet apparently fired from it had lodged in the radio of one of the firearms officers on the operation. Duggan was pronounced dead at the scene after officers fired twice, according to initial reports.
Forensic tests are being carried out on the firearm and the bullet and the Independent Police Complaints Commission immediately began an independent inquiry into the shooting.
Calls for calm by the local MP, David Lammy, were heeded until Saturday night, when the protest outside the station turned violent at about 8pm, with two police cars set alight near Forster Road.
Until then the protest was being handled by police in the borough. But Territorial Support Group officers had been on standby, according to sources, because of the tension in the area since the shooting dead of Duggan. By 8.20pm the incident had escalated to the beginnings of a full scale riot.
As more people gathered in the short stretch of Tottenham High Road a bus and a shop were set on fire, and for two to three hours it looked like the police could have lost control.
At the Yard, operational control of the riot was taken under the command of Commander Simon Pountain, from Central Operations.
Reinforcements were sent to the High Road, including mounted police, as missiles, including petrol bombs and beer bottles, were seen raining down on the police lines.
London fire brigade – which has emergency procedures in place – was held back until the police deemed it safe to let them in to tackle the blaze.
It was, one police source said, a "very volatile" situation. And although it appeared more contained by midnight, a police source said officers were prepared for the situation to escalate once more.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011
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