A building set alight during the rebellion in England against the capitalist econmic crisis and police brutality. Scores of cities have been struck across the country., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
London rebellion and UK unrest:
Tuesday 9 August
Guardian Blog
Violence in Manchester, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton
6.32am: A total of 768 arrests have now been made in connection with violence, disorder and looting in London in recent days, has Scotland Yard said.
5.35am: West Midlands police have launched a murder enquiry after a car hit three men on Dudley Road in Birmingham in the early hours of Wednesday morning – although it remains unclear if the collision was related to the disturbances in other parts of the city.
At least two of the pedestrians were killed, while a third remains in a critical condition at Birmingham's City Hospital. Reports named the men as brothers, and one eye-witness told Sky News: "The car swerved towards my friend and his brother, and they were hit." Others described it as a hit-and-run.
West Midlands Police say a man had been arrested in connection with the deaths and a car had been recovered.
The deaths were first reported by Upinder Randhawa of Sangat TV, who was on air throughout the night.
A large crowd gathered outside the hospital after the three men were taken there, and there were emotional scenes as news of the first of the deaths spread.
4.19am: Avon and Somerset Police have said nineteen people were arrested in Bristol overnight with four people are due to appear before Bristol magistrates this morning, charged with offences including criminal damage, violent disorder, theft and assaulting a police officer.
3.57am: Gloucestershire Police have confirmed three arrests have been made in relation to the disorder and have posted a statement on Facebook.
Since approximately 11pm yesterday evening Gloucestershire Police have been dealing with disorder within Gloucester.
Initially the force began to receive reports of anti social behaviour and vandalism, including a bin being set alight in Barton Street.
Within the next hour groups of youths, some with their faces covered, were reported to be causing other disruption elsewhere in the city, including attacking shop windows in the city centre.
Shortly after midnight reports came in of a fire at a derelict college building in Brunswick Road.
There are a significant number of police officers deployed in Gloucester at present, and the Fire Service are dealing with the building fire.
Support has been called upon from colleagues in a neighbouring force, who have supplied officers included mounted officers, and the force helicopter is also being used to monitor the situation.
So far three arrests have been made but more are likely to follow.
Police officers have not suffered any injuries, however a number of bottles and rocks have been thrown at police vehicles.
3.02am: More on Gloucestershire as it's unfolding: The BBC is reporting that a fire has taken hold at the old Brunswick Road campus of the Gloucestershire College of Art and Technology, which has been derelict since the college moved in 2007. There are also reports that the Gloucester library is on fire which is nect door to the college. There has been some disorder around the city, with roaming youths setting fires in bins.
Sky news is reporting that riot police are patrolling Barton Street and Tredworth areas, with several roads are closed off.
2.40am: There is news coming out of Gloucestershire that police are dealing with what they called a "gathering" in the Brunswick area.
1.57am: Here is a summary of developments over the course of today and this evening:
• Rioting and looting has spread to Manchester and the Midlands from London with plans to prevent another night of violence on the streets of the capital appearing to have worked.
• David Cameron flew back from his holiday early to join police chiefs in warning rioters they would face the full weight of the law. He will chair another meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday.
• Hundreds of rioters stretched police resources on the streets of Salford and Manchester over the course of Tuesday evening and night. Fire bombs were thrown at shops and looters made off with clothes, electrical items and alcohol. Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan of Greater Manchester police said: "Criminals have brought shame in particular on the streets of Salford and Manchester."
• Police in Birmingham are investigating reports that a gun was fired during fresh rioting in the city that saw 80 people arrested. The trouble saw looting and vehicles set alight in Birmingham as well as in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.
However, police said the disorder was not as severe as Monday's looting in Birmingham city centre, which led to 142 arrests and saw 13 people taken to hospital.
• Around 200 missile-throwing youths have gathered in the south Liverpool area of Toxteth causing disorder and damage, Merseyside police said. In the second night of trouble in the city, the force urged all members of the public to avoid the Smithdown Road area while officers deal with the violence.
• The Independent Police Complaints Commission has announced there is no evidence that Mark Duggan, whose death in a police shoot-out led to the London riots, fired on police before he was killed. However, a loaded handgun was recovered from the scene. This is all consistent with the account of the officers on the scene, who never claimed to have fired on Duggan first. The officer who fired the shot is believed to have acted because he feared for his life.
• Shops and businesses around London closed early, fearing violence later. The Metropolitan police said it would deploy 16,000 officers in London, and revealed that plastic bullets may be used if required. The deployment was up from 6,000 the night before. In Enfield, north London, there were scuffles involving groups of vigilantes.
1.53am: Peter Beaumont has filed this eyewitness account from the scene of explosions earlier tonight in Tottenham at a council-run recycling plant:
About 12.30 we were woken by shouting and a small bang like a bin being pushed over and the sound of a revving engine, followed by a small explosion.
Opening the window my wife could see a tall column of thick black smoke rising above the houses right beyond our garden full of sparks, perhaps two hundred feet tall. As we were getting dressed heard a second boom.
To give a sense of how frightening it was, we felt scared enough to think about getting in the car and leaving Tottenham. Other neighbours in the street, many of them looking very frightened told us it was the local council depot which also has a recycling centre attached.
Apparently fuel is stored there for council trucks which is what we could hear going off.
Rounding the corner to the street that runs parallel to ours we could see a wall engulfed in flames, while police were warning householders closest to get inside away from the windows.
Worryingly the first question the fire brigade asked when I called 999 was whether there were youths nearby. Indeed our biggest worry at first was that the fire would be used as a distraction for unrest in our back streets.
Fortunately, unlike other events I've covered in last few days, the police and fire brigade weren't harassed and managed to put out the fire quickly.
A sense of how scared people are was supplied by one of my neighbours who told me she had had her bags packed for last couple of days in case of trouble worsening.
1.32am: A young man who was attacked by rioters and robbed by a group who initially appeared to help him has been named in the Malaysia media as a 20-year-old Malaysian student, Mohd Asyraf Raziq Rosli.
He was reported to have been on his way to buy food to break his fast when he was attacked by rioters in Barking East, London.
The robbery was recorded by someone and later uploaded on YouTube.
1.13am: Here is screen grab (below) of police attending to a man who was attacked in west London after he attempted to put out a fire started by rioters.
Detectives are investigating after the assault in Ealing, where the victim intervened to extinguish a fire started in a bin in Spring Bridge Road, near to the Arcadia shopping centre, shortly before 11pm last night.
"The rioters had set a bin alight and then they jumped on him when he tried to put it out," said one witness.
"They ran away when the police arrived, and they put him in the recovery position.
"There were three police there and I was told to leave. I'd had to go all the way around the rioters to get there so I'd put a hoodie on and put the hood up and I could see them mayheming.
"I only found out later that they had jumped him. I could see he was wearing shorts and T-shirt, with grey hair."
Commander Simon Foy, of Scotland Yard, said: "It was quite a grave assault and his condition is causing us some concern."
Scotland Yard said officers were in the area dealing with violent disorder when they became aware of the man, aged in his 40s or 50s, being attacked.
Officers managed to reach the man to administer first aid and ensure the safety of paramedics who attended despite coming under fire from projectiles, the police said.
12.50am: Peter Beaumont of the Observer has been in touch to report a number of loud explosions at a council-run recycling and storage depot near his house in Tottenham.
"The police warning people on that street to stay away from the windows because of the risk of another large explosion that might shatter windows," says Peter, who has gone out on to the street.
"We just heard voices shouting, and the first boom."
Fire tenders are now attending the scene.
12.48am: Liverpool again. Merseyside Police say they are attending calls of damage to shops and pubs in Grange Road, Birkenhead town centre.
Four arrests have been made on Borough Road, Birkenhead, for conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
12.23am: West Midlands Police tweet:
23 charged with offences relating to the disorder.19 to appear at court tomorrow,4 bailed to appear at later date. http://bit.ly/nYiCoH
12.19am: A total of 685 people have now been arrested in connection with the riots in London, Scotland Yard said. Of these, 111 have been charged.
12.08am: Smithdown Road in Toxteth, Liverpool, was closed by police tonight after 200 rioters starting hurling missiles at officers at about 11.30pm.
A Merseyside Police spokeswoman said: "About 200 youths are causing disorder and damage. We're asking people to avoid the area." She was unable to confirm reports that firebombs were being thrown.
12.04am: A team of Guardian reporters have pulled together an updated report on the serious looting and disorder in central Manchester and Salford, where gangs waged running battles with police and ransacked shops.
Here's a snatch of a full story that will be online soon:
The most serious disorder came in Manchester. Groups of young people consistently evaded police attempts to stop them from the late afternoon onwards, breaking into a series of upmarket shops and setting a branch of the Miss Selfridge clothing chain ablaze.
As evening fell, up to 200 youths raided an off-licence and other shops in the main shopping precinct of Salford, a couple of miles to the west.
Assistant Chief Constable Gary Shewan of Greater Manchester police said his officers were battling to regain control on the streets and that Manchester and Salford had been badly damaged. "These are pure and simple criminals running wild tonight," said Shewan.
"They have nothing to protest against. There has been no spark. This has been senseless on a scale I have never witnessed before in my career."
He said police would arrest people as early as today. Shewan said Manchester and Salford had been shamed by the criminals committing "wanton acts of violence and criminality".
Earlier in the day Greater Manchester police sent 100 officers – four public order units – to assist in London. While Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, who organised the reinforcements, said such assistance had been planned to ensure other forces could cope with violence in their own areas, it was clear that the city could have used the extra officers.
11.57pm: Fallen Hero - Man who dared to take on yobs fights for life is the headline in tomorrow's Daily Mirror, which has a powerful front page.
It is accompanied by a photograph of a middle aged man who the newspaper says was badly beaten by a gang that left him for dead in Ealing, west London.
(Twitpic via Nick Sutton)
11.52pm: Billy Kenber of The Times tweets:
Huge convoy of police vans going through enfield including at least 2 armoured vans.
11.37pm: An update on our report earlier about fires and disturbances at a young offenders' institution near Bristol.
Prison officers dealt with an "incident of disobedience" at YOI Ashfield according to a statement from Serco, which runs the unit at Pucklechurch, near Bristol.
Staff dealt with "small-scale" incident involving several inmates, according to the firm.
Avon Fire and Rescue Service were called out at 7.49pm but were stood down as they were not required to attend the scene.
"Some minor damage has been caused, but the situation has been contained and the centre is secure," a Serco spokesman said.
11.25pm: Here is an updated overview from Guardian reporters about the situation tonight:
A police station in Nottingham was firebombed late on Tuesday by a group of up to 40 men, police said, while there was looting in Manchester and there were tense scenes in Salford.
Canning Circus police station in Nottingham was attacked by the group but no injuries were reported, Nottinghamshire police said just after 10pm.
The force said a number of men were detained nearby.
There was also trouble in Birmingham and other parts of the West Midlands, but relative calm in London as Scotland Yard attempted to put the capital in lockdown with 16,000 police on the streets, in contrast to 6,000 on Monday.
Scotland Yard ordered its officers to use every available force including the possible deployment of plastic bullets to tackle widespread rioting and looting as the capital was flooded with the biggest police presence in British history.
Sporadic looting was taking place across Manchester city centre; there were also disturbances in Salford and tense scenes there around Shopping City, where a large group of youths had gathered.
In the centre of Manchester, rioters set fire to a Miss Selfridge shop on Market Street. Then around 100 youths looted Foot Asylum in the Arndale Centre after two raiders smashed open the glass entrance with a large stone slab. Once the glass was shattered, youths rushed in and carried out clothing and shoes.
A recently–opened fashion boutique in King Street owned by former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher was been hit by looters.
A Diesel clothing shop and a Bang & Olufsen store were also broken into, with a chorus of cheers going up among the crowd as the front window of the latter was smashed.
Several of the looters shouted out directions for the others to follow, suggesting a degree of co-ordination.
11.15pm: This has yet to be fully confirmed but it appears to be a video showing men running through the streets of Enfield chanting "England, England" .
There has been a lot of concerns that vigilantes were on the streets of Enfield earlier in the evening, although Paul Lewis had some important comments to make earlier about rumours.
11.06pm: It was clear the GMP could have done with the extra public order officers who have been despatched to London.
Shewan added: "These are pure and simple criminals running wild tonight."
"They have nothing to protest against there has been no spark. This has been senseless on a scale I have never witnessed before in my career."
11.00pm: Acts of violence in Manchester and Salford have "ripped the heart out of two great cities", a press conference has been told by Garry Shewan, Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
He appealed to members of the public to "think very carefully about who they support" when it comes to the police effort to bring to justice those who were involved in looting and other acts of criminality.
"My officers are still out there now facing violence and aggression and are battling to regain control of Manchester and Salford," said Shewan, who added that his officers had been attacked on the streets this evening.
"We have extensive CCTV of all the activity that has gone on tonight. We have made it absolutely clear that as early as tomorrow morning we will be coming to make arrests."
He couldn't give out a figure for the number of arrests that have been made, saying that it remains "a very fast moving situation"
Intelligence had told the force that disorder could be expected "just about everywhere" he said, adding that resources had to be brought in from many other forces.
10.53pm: A fashion boutique in King St, Manchester, was among properties attacked earlier by looters.
The Press Association reports that it was not part of the police cordon and passers-by could openly walk through an obliterated entrance.
One car containing four men pulled up as they sized up whether to enter. Further down King Street the Bang and Olufsen store was virtually empty.
10.49pm: In London, there are reports from a number of places about groups of residents taking to the streets to protect their neighbourhoods.
Paul Lewis has already reported from Enfield in north London (here and then here), while Matt Taylor witnessed locals in the south-east London suburb of Eltham taking to their streets.
Sky News, meanwhile, has been in Southall, west London, where members of the Sikh community have been gathering outside a mosque, pledging to keep the streets safe in that area.
On the one hand, this could all be seen as a positive development with communities coming together, but as Paul Lewis reported, it all depends on the motives of those involved. Things could easily turn ugly.
10.42pm: Police in Leicester tweet:
10.32pm update - #Leicester Two men , aged 50 and 17, and a 16-yr-old youth have been arrested in city this evening, currently in custody.
10.39pm: Canning Circus Police Station in Nottingham was the station that was firebombed just after 10 pm. The force said a number of men were detained nearby.
10.29pm: A police station in Nottingham was firebombed by a group of 30 to 40 men tonight, Nottinghamshire Police said. No injuries were reported.
10.24pm: Groups of men have taken to the streets in south London "to protect their communities", reports the Guardian's Matt Taylor.
Around 200 people are still out in the centre of Eltham in south east London, following rumours that the are was going to be the latest place to be hit by disturbances.
The group, predominantly men, had been congregating in pubs since the rumours began to circulate in mid afternoon.
"This is a white working class area and we are here to protect our community," said one man.
"We are here to help the police. My mum is terrified after what she saw on the television in the last three days and we decided that it's not going to happen here."
Several police vans are in the area and sporadically patrolling. There has been sign of looting and no shops are boarded up in the main street.
10.19pm: Police in the West Midlands made a total of 36 arrests tonight as fresh disturbances saw looting and vehicles set alight Birmingham, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.
But West Midlands Police said the disorder was not as severe as Monday's looting in Birmingham city centre, which led to 142 arrests and saw 13 people taken to hospital, according to the Press Association.
10.07pm: David Cameron and senior ministers will hold a second emergency meeting in Whitehall tomorrow morning with the leadership of Scotland Yard to consider the impact of the beefed-up police operation in London overnight.
Nick Watt, the Guardian's chief political correspondent, reports:
Amid the first signs of strains within the coalition over the response to the riots, government sources said the prime minister has called for an early assessment of the decision to increase police numbers in the capital from 6,000 to 16,000.
Michael Gove, the education secretary, told Channel 4 News the police response had not been robust enough on Monday night.
The second Cobra meeting in less than 24 hours will be held as the prime minister prepares to report back to MPs on Thursday in an emergency session of parliament. Cameron, who flew back to Britain from his Tuscan holiday on a special RAF flight in the early hours of Tuesday, said that rioters and looters would feel the full force of the law.
Speaking in Downing Street after chairing a meeting of Cobra, the prime minister said: "These are sickening scenes – scenes of people looting, vandalising, thieving, robbing, scenes of people attacking police officers and even attacking fire crews as they're trying to put out fires. This is criminality, pure and simple, and it has to be confronted and defeated.
10.02pm: Paul Lewis sent in this update from Enfield :
I think it is important to dampen down some of the speculation circulating about our reports and tweets on vigilantes in Enfield.
It is always a tough balance to get the tone right, and it is important to stress, again, there is no evidence of racial disturbance here.
My colleague Mustafa Khalili and I reported what we saw and it was an incident that left us both shaken. We described it as a minor skirmish.
That's what it is was. It seemed pertinent to mention what some of the men were saying, as it seemed different to anything we've seen in the last four days, but some seem to be taking that out of context. There were no racist chants.
9.59pm: An update on the positions of Guardian reporters.
Jeevan Vasagar is on his way to Manchester city to bolster our coverage there while Paul Lewis is heading to Birmingham.
9.56pm: A stand-off with police has been continuing at a shopping precinct in Salford, according to the Press Association, which also has more on the unrest in Manchester city centre:
A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said up to 200 youths were involved at about 7pm.
According to reports, the confrontations were continuing as officers battled to corral them.
Isolated looting continued in Manchester city centre.
Many small groups of male youths could be seen wandering around the centre. Two individuals jumped into a doorway as a police tactical aid unit drove past.
Despite riot police positioned across the city, gangs of youths on mountain bikes, their faces masked, prowled the streets.
On occasions they could be seen talking to drivers of cars on mobile phones, exchanging information, while they drove around the streets in what appeared to be co-ordinated manoeuvres.
A jewellers was also reportedly attacked before plain-clothed police nearby ran in to arrest two looters from the shop.
9.30pm: As night falls, welcome to our live coverage of the fourth evening of tension in London and around the country. You can read our earlier coverage here.
Here's a summary of events so far tonight.
• There have been outbreaks of violence in Manchester city centre, Salford, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich. Around 100 youths looted Foot Asylum in the Arndale Centre in Manchester, and were repelled by police. Greater Manchester Police have advised people not to travel to the centre of Manchester. West Midlands police say they have arrested 43 people today.
• The Independent Police Complaints Commission has announced there is no evidence that Mark Duggan, whose death in a police shoot-out led to the London riots, fired on police before he was killed. However, a loaded handgun was recovered from the scene. This is all consistent with the account of the officers on the scene, who never claimed to have fired on Duggan first. The officer who fired the shot is believed to have acted because he feared for his life.
• Shops and businesses around London have been closing early, fearing violence later. The Metropolitan police will deploy 16,000 officers in London tonight, and revealed that plastic bullets may be used if required. The deployment is significant, is up from 6,000 the night before. In Enfield, north London, there have been scuffles involving groups of vigilantes.
• More than 560 people have been arrested in London and more than 100 charged. Several dozen more have been arrested in other cities. Three people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a police officer was hit by a car in Brent, north London. The Met said 111 officers had been injured after experiencing "unprecedented" levels of violence.
• A clean-up operation has been under way in London, with many residents opposed to the violence taking part.
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