London riots and UK unrest: fourth night live updates

• Violence in Manchester , West Bromwich and Wolverhampton • IPCC: no evidence that Mark Duggan shot at police • 16,000 police being deployed in London to maintain order • First fatality as man shot in Croydon, south London, dies • Send us your footage of the riots • Live map: every verified incident, updated through the night • Read our latest summary of events • Read our latest news story 12.08am: Smithdown Road in 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 an 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 very 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 incl 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. UK riots London Birmingham Police Crime Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 9, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.