Could they cancel the carnival? Theresa May flies back from holiday after second night of rioting and looting following police shooting of suspected 'gangsta'
By Rebecca Camber, Arthur Martin and David Wilkes
Last updated at 2:08 PM on 8th August 2011
Plans for the Notting Hill Carnival were in jeopardy today as police chiefs feared a repeat of the weekend riots across London.
Night and day: The Allied Carpets store in Tottenham High Road burns out of control during the riot and, the following day, is a burned-out wreck
The carnival, which attracts up to two million people each year, could see the kind of violent clashes with police that erupted in Tottenham on Saturday evening.
There were fears today that the West Indian event on the August bank holiday could even be cancelled in a desperate bid to prevent more riots.
Police leaders have been meeting with community leaders in a desperate bid to calm tensions over the clashes which were sparked by the shooting of 'gangster' Mark Duggan last week.
The developments came as Home Secretary Theresa May cut short her summer holiday in order to fly home and deal with the crisis.
Detaining suspects: Police in Tottenham try to contain people found inside a vandalised store in Tottenham Retail Park. Violence and looting spread across London, from Tottenham in the north to Brixton in the south
Crash and carry: Footage shows suspected looters carrying goods from the JD Sports store at Tottenham Hale Retail Park. Police admitted they were too stretched to prevent widespread theft from vandalised shops
More than 100 arrests: Police detain two women outside a damaged Currys store in Brixton. Widespread rioting and looting took place across many parts of London
Scotland Yard has also promised more officers on the streets of London tonight as the Met prepares for a third night of violence.
Clashes between masked rioters and police, vandalism and looting continued into the early hours of this morning as questions were raised about the shooting of a suspected gangster on Thursday.
In Enfield, North London, a mob of 200 anarchists smashed their way into shops and lobbed concrete slabs at police cars following Saturday’s riot in nearby Tottenham.
A jewellery store, a McDonald's and a Tesco were set upon in Enfield, while in Brixton, South London, hundreds of teenagers looted a Foot Locker store before setting it on fire, requiring six engines to battle the blaze at 1.30am.
Police reported that more than 100 arrests took place across the capital overnight. Commander Christine Jones, said: 'Officers responding to sporadic disorder in a number of boroughs made more than 100 arrests throughout last night and early this morning.
'This is in addition to the 61 arrests made on Saturday night and Sunday morning.'
She said there had been 16 charges in relation to offences including burglary, knives, theft and violent disorder.
Seventeen people have been bailed and one has been cautioned. One person was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, 11 are awaiting CPS advice and 15 are ongoing inquiries, she added.
She went on: 'Officers are shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them. At least nine officers were injured overnight in addition to the 26 injured on Saturday night.
'We will not tolerate this disgraceful violence. The investigation continues to bring these criminals to justice.'
And, in an interview on Radio 4 today, deputy assistant commissioner Steve Kavanagh said: 'I can be very assured that there will be even more officers out there, even more committed and braver than they have been so far, to make sure London stays as safe as possible.'
He added that there were three times as many officers on duty on Sunday as there were on Saturday, and he promised that even more would be deployed on tonight - brought in from forces outside the Met.
Claudia Webbe, who helped set up the Operation Trident's black-on black gun crime unit, told BBC’s Today Programme that she condemned the criminals seeking to exploit the death ‘for their own personal gain’ as ‘clearly wrong’. However she sought to differentiate between the looters and those furious with police over Mr Duggan’s killing.
She said: ‘There was an element of people who were intent on criminality, violence and looting. There were also however an element of people that were seeking to, in the attacks on police, there were some who were playing out tensions that had arisen before, such as their feelings on stop and search.
Damping down: Firemen yesterday continued to douse the buildings set alight during riots
It appeared to me that those who were attacking the police directly, those who were not carrying out the criminal and violent attacks and the looting, there were clearly those who were attacking the police directly, and anything they regarded as an ''institution'', who were venting out, I believe, issues to do with inequality, decades of unemployment, poverty, stop and search being over-policed, and they were venting that.'
Last night there were also reports of disturbances Walthamstow and Islington in North London, and sporadic clashes with police in Elephant and Castle in South London and Shepherd's Bush in the west.
Three police officers were hospitalised after they were struck by a fast-moving vehicle while trying to make arrests after looting in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest.
And in a dramatic development, the killing of father-of-four Mark Duggan, who was shot dead on Thursday by armed officers, came under fresh scrutiny.
There were claims that a bullet found lodged in a police radio was a force-issue bullet, meaning Mr Duggan had not fired on officers as police suggested.
Downing Street called the rioting ‘utterly unacceptable’, while Home Secretary Theresa May said: ‘Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated’;
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said he was ‘appalled at the scenes of violence and destruction’, but refused calls to return from holiday;
Mr Duggan’s family condemned the violence but insisted he was not armed;
It emerged that the police commander in charge of Tottenham jetted off on holiday hours before the riot despite warnings there could be a backlash.
Meanwhile, Scotland Yard came under criticism after it admitted that it had not anticipated the violence, despite community warnings of a backlash over the shooting of Duggan.
And the government was under fire for not having a senior minister in London to visibly take charge of the situation. So far Lynne Featherstone, a junior Home Office minister, has been the highest-ranking government spokeswoman to appear on Television over the riots.
Home Secretary Theresa May, who has been speaking to Met chiefs and who has made a number of press-release statements, is reportedly flying back to the UK from holidays to meet police chiefs face-to-face.
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, is back from holiday today and is the most senior minister in London.
In other developments in the wake of some of the worst riots in Britain for years:
The riots started on Saturday night in an area of North London with a particularly resonant history of violence. In 1985 Broadwater Farm estate, where Mr Duggan hailed from, was the scene of devastating riots when a police officer was hacked to death.
Over the weekend, the streets of Tottenham were once again ablaze as crowds of 500 marauding yobs set fire to police cars, a double decker bus and buildings and shops.
Twenty-six police officers were injured and eight were taken to hospital in the clashes after petrol bombs, bricks and bottles were hurled at them. One suffered serious head injuries when he was hit in the face with a brick. Another was speared with a scaffold pole in the stomach, causing serious internal injuries.
Under cover of darkness, masked thugs looted trolley loads of luxury goods including plasma TVs and stereo systems. Teenagers and adults turned up in cars and filled their boots with stolen items from a retail park, unimpeded by police.
Children as young as seven took part in the violence according to witness David Akinsanya, 46, who told The Sun: 'I saw kids as young as seven or eight running up the street with their faces covered.'
Last night 55 people had been arrested for offences including violent disorder, burglary and theft. The riots erupted hours after a protest vigil demanding ‘justice’ over the shooting of 29-year-old Duggan by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s elite firearms squad.
The shooting provoked fury as internet rumours spread suggesting the father-of-four had been executed after he put his gun on the ground.
Met Commander Adrian Hanstock said: ‘Last night’s disorder and violence in Tottenham was completely unacceptable.
‘There was no indication that the protest would deteriorate into the levels of criminal and violent disorder that we saw.
‘We believe that certain elements, who were not involved with the vigil, took the opportunity to commit disorder and physically attack police officers, verbally abuse fire brigade personnel and destroy vehicles and buildings.’
He said that the officers concentrated on stopping violence which took precedence over looting.
Local MP David Lammy said the community ‘had the heart ripped out of it’ by ‘mindless, mindless people’.
The outbreak of violence has raised fears about whether the Metropolitan Police would have adequate resources to cope during the Olympics if there were a similar attack during the 2012 Games.
Last night Scotland Yard had to call in reinforcements from Thames Valley, Essex, Surrey, City of London and Kent police after 200 thugs smashed their way into shops in Enfield, north London.
Police said three officers were injured in a separate incident at Brixton, south London.
Throughout last night and the early hours of this morning emergency services were dealing with disturbances across London as fresh bouts of rioting and looting broke out.
Police officers were being deployed to respond to 'copycat criminal activity' across the capital, with disturbances erupting in several boroughs in north,
south and east London, including reports of trouble in Brixton, Enfield, Walthamstow and Islington.
Three officers were taken to hospital after being hit by a fast-moving vehicle at 12.45am, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
The officers had been in the process of making arrests in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, after a shop was looted by youths.
'Two officers are believed to have superficial injuries and the other has an injury to his knee,' the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a fight broke out when rival gangs attended King's College Hospital after two victims of minor stabbings were admitted, police said. The hospital has brought in extra security for the rest of the night and officers remain on scene dealing with the initial stabbings, the spokesman added.
Six fire engines were dispatched to deal with a blaze at a Foot Locker shop in Brixton, south London, and witnesses saw riot police clash with looters at a Currys store nearby. Police say the looting across London was carried out by 'small and mobile' groups.
As violence spread, around 50 youths gathered in Oxford Circus, central London, and caused damage to property.
Elsewhere, more than 30 youths, many in masks, vandalised and looted shops in Walthamstow Central, including BHS.
'Officers attended the area and the situation is currently under control. Groups of youths are continuing to target shops in Waltham Forest and officers are on scene,' a police spokesman said.
The windscreen of a police vehicle was smashed after groups caused a disturbance in Islington, and goods were stolen from a Tesco store in Ponders End.
The spokesman added: 'As a result of quick and decisive action by police numerous arrests have been made at various locations.'
One witness Lewis Whyld, a photographer for the Press Association, described the scenes at a Currys store in Brixton: 'A couple of 100 youths were rioting and looting. Riot police went in to get them out and there was a big fight in the street.
'Youths were throwing rocks and bottles and there was a bin on fire. They used a fire extinguisher to push the police back so they could get back into Currys and continue taking things out.'
He said there did not seem to be enough police on the scene to deal with the group and that many of the looters were wearing hoods and had scarves covering their faces.
Shot dead: Mark Duggan was killed by armed police last Thursday - but there are suggestion he did not open fire
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