Tottenham in flames as riot follows protest
Two police patrol cars, a passenger bus and several shops were attacked and set alight in north London as violence erupted
Paul Lewis, Sarah Bolesworth and Barry Neild
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 6 August 2011 23.49 BST


By 10.30pm, Tottenham High Road had been taken over by rioters, with two police cars on fire, a number of shops looted and a building ablaze.

Debris from a looted police station lay strewn across the pavement.

The rioters, mostly teenagers, some of whom had covered their faces with scarves, hurled bricks, bottles and eggs at police. Shopping trolleys had been used to charge at police, who appeared heavily outnumbered.

The violence broke out at dusk after approximately 120 people marched on Tottenham police station to express anger over the death of local man Mark Duggan on Thursday.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said the trouble began when "missiles" were thrown at parked patrol cars at 8.30pm. He said one was pushed, blazing, into the middle of Tottenham High Street. Neither of the two officers who had been driving the cars were injured.

Attempts by police to gain some control succeeded by 11.30pm, as they cleared an area of the street with the worst fires, allowing two fire engines onto the street.

The rest of the area remained in the control of rioters, who gathered along side-streets, some carrying sticks.

Most of the crowd consisted of onlookers, who jeered at police vans as they arrived. There were chants of "we want answers" and "whose streets? Our streets". A number of shops had been looted, including a music shop and an electrical and hi-fi store.

Teenagers, some as young as ten, we seen fleeing the street carrying TVs and stereos. One young man, in his early teens, wheeled a shopping trolley laden with stolen items. A general store and a florist had also been broken into.

A Turkish corner store had stacked boxes of bottled mineral water outside its windows to hold the looters at bay.

Officers from the Territorial Support Group were on the scene, charging at rioters and attempting to block off side streets. Riot police, some with dogs, shepherded people away.

Police on horseback also attended the scene, along with reinforcements from the City of London police. A police helicopter hovered above.

Hails of bottles and bricks were intermittently thrown at police from side streets as reinforcements arrived. Rioters also aimed fireworks at police. At one stage, four firework rockets were shot at a line of horses, prompting a charge and a nearby crowd to disperse in panic.

Hundreds of residents gathered to watch the unrest and there several were reports of attacks on bystanders. At one point rioters were seen beating up a man attempting to take film footage of the scene.

Resident David Akinsanya, 46, said several shop windows had been smashed. "It's really bad," he said. "There are two police cars on fire. I'm feeling unsafe. It looks like it's going to get very tasty. I saw a guy getting attacked."

"The police seem very frightened at the moment, people are unstoppable," Tottenham resident Maria Robinson told the BBC. "They've broken into various businesses, jewellery shops, bookies, it's absolutely crazy. They've beaten up a man for talking to the fire brigade."

Social networking site Twitter was abuzz with messages of support and condemnation of the riots.

Police were unable to confirm whether the violence was connected to outrage over the death of Duggan, 29, who was shot in a police anti-firearms operation in Tottenham.

A family friend of Duggan, who gave her name as Nikki, 53, said the father-of-four's friends and relatives had organised the protest to demand "justice for the family".

"They're making their presence known because people are not happy," she added. "This guy was not violent. Yes, he was involved in things but he was not an aggressive person. He had never hurt anyone."

Duggan had been shot in an exchange of fire after the police's Trident operational command unit, which deals with gun crime in the black community, stopped the vehicle he was travelling in. A police officer was said to have escaped injury in the shoot out when a bullet lodged in his radio.

Local MP David Lammy called for calm, saying the community was anxious over what had happened.

Nearby Broadwater Farm, where the protesters began their march, was the scene of riots in 1985 in which a police constable, Keith Blakelock, was killed by attackers wielding knives and machetes.

Duggan had been shot in an exchange of fire after the police's Trident operational command unit, which deals with gun crime in the black community, stopped the vehicle he was travelling in. A police officer was said to have escaped injury in the shoot out when a bullet lodged in his radio.

... a florist had also been broken into.

Say it with flowers.

When is Mother's Day?

Get them now, I reckon. Hard to visit InterFlora from gaol.

How come The Kaiser Chiefs didn't warn us?

Welcome to Belfast.
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Mark

Welcome to Belfast.
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Mark

Tottenham. Twinned with Belfast.