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• Clashes between looters and police across London • Violence spreads to Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool • Fires in Clapham, Croydon, Enfield and Peckham • Prime minister returns early from holiday • Twitter movement #riotcleanup gets under way • Read our latest news story on the riots • Read our latest summary of events so far 8.43am: The Guardian’s crime correspondent, Sandra Laville, has been looking at the extraordinary measures police adopted last night in their bid to contain the violence. She also predicts tougher tactics are on the way: Armoured vehicles have been brought in to clear the streets for the first time by police to tackle what senior officers say is the worst rioting and looting in living memory. “More than 6,000 officers — including 2500 mostly public order trained officers and 3,500 local officers — were on duty as violence spread from north, to east, west and south London last night. Fires burned in Croydon, Clapham Junction and Hackney as well as flaring up outside the capital in Liverpool. “Senior officers say the violence and looting was the worst in living memory last night; eclipsing the inner city rioting of the mid 1980s in Toxteth, Brixton and Tottenham at the height of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership. “Armoured vehicles — known as Jenkels — were brought in during the early hours of the morning in Clapham Junction where much of the worst lootin and arson took place. The vehicles were driven onto Lavender Hill to push back a crowd of 150 looters who had smashed up Debenhams and other stores and businesses in the area. “Their deployment brought echoes of Northern Ireland during the Troubles to British streets and marked the start of what sources say are much toughter tactics against rioters. 8.40am: Some stark language from the Met, who have admitted that their reinforcements “box was empty” last night, meaning the overstretched force had to send non-specialist officers sent to deal with rioters. Pc Paul Deller, who was based in the control room co-ordinating the force’s response to the violence, has told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: We simply ran out of units to send. That’s not something we would normally expose those officers to a risk of, but last night decisions were made that we had to and that’s what we did. We threw everything we had at it.” Pc Deller, who chairs the Met’s Constables’ Federation, denied the “terrifying” scenes showed police had given up trying to protect property: We didn’t surrender the streets. Over 50 of my colleagues were injured last night defending those streets to the best of their capability. I don’t think at any point did we surrender.” 8.36am: Kent police have said that 10 men have been arrested in Medway following incidents of vandalism in Chatham, Rainham and Gillingham. A group of around 15 young men — who are believed to have travelled to the area by train — caused damage by setting several fires across the Medway towns. 8.34am: A quick catch-up of the situation in Birmingham, which saw its share of trouble last night: A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said staff were called to 34 incidents in Birmingham last night, the last of which came in at just after 3am this morning. The majority of calls were to reports of people being assaulted. Crews tended to 28 patients, of whom 13 went to hospitals across the city. Injuries included lacerations and bruising to the head, a dislocated knee, general cuts, bruising and swelling, the spokesman said. Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer Tracey Morrell said: The majority of incidents have been as a result of assaults, but thankfully most have not been too serious. However, the fact that over a dozen patients went to hospital gives you an indication of the levels of injury. 8.32am: Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington — an area that has seen a lot of the trouble — has told BBC Breakfast a curfew should be imposed. I have not heard of a curfew on mainland Britain in the past century. [It's] very difficult to impose. I’m not saying that it is definitely the way forward but it is something we have to consider. These young people, who seem to have no stake in society, are trashing their own communities. We cannot continue to have increasing numbers of looters on the streets night after night.” 8.30am: This from Brian Tyler who lives on the Old Kent Road in south-east London: Last night the men from the local mosque were out defending the area. One shop was broken into, but thanks to them the situation was kept under control. 8.29am: A colleague sends this from Stamford Hill in north-east London: My local cab company on Stoke Newington Church Street, Premier Cars, told me last night they weren’t taking any bookings for this week and that I’d have to ring back in the morning to find out availability. ‘Drivers aren’t working because the area is unsafe,’ the controller said. 8.27am: Some travel news now, courtesy of PA: Motorists and bus passengers had to contend with numerous road closures today following another night of violence on the streets. Among roads that remained shut were routes in one of the worst-hit riot areas — Croydon in south east London. Woolwich Arsenal main line station in south east London was shut, but many of the rail and Tube stations that had to close last night were open today. London Road in Croydon was closed due to a building fire and the town’s Duppas Hill Road was also shut. A building fire caused Montacute road in New Addington , south east London, to be closed, while another building fire meant Ripple Road in Barking , east London, was shut. Other road closures included Tottenham High Road in north London; Madeley Road in Ealing , west London; Rye Lane in Peckham , south London, and Station Road in Barking . There was better news for London Underground travellers, with Brixton station on the Victoria Line reopening today. 8.23am: My colleague Helen Clifton in Manchester has been speaking to Greater Manchester police, who are stressing that the trouble in Salford last night — which saw four or five cars damaged — was not connected with the riots elsewhere in the country. They say it was the kind of thing they are used to, adding that they remain ready to offer back-up to the Met if it is required. 8.19am: Trevor Reeves, the owner of the Reeves furniture store in Croydon, which was destroyed by fire last night, said on Radio 5 Live that he was “devastated” by what happened. He appealed for residents to support the rebuilding of his business, which he said would continue to trade from its second store in the area: We ask for the support of the community – if they want to buy furinture, give us a go first. We have been through two world wars and we are still here. There must be something in the genetic make-up. We are going to fight to rebuild this.” 8.16am: We’re getting some info on things in Colliers Wood, south London. Maria sends in this distressing account: At around 7.30-8 o’clock in the evening, lots of youths started congregating around the Tandem Centre retail park. There is a block of 12 flats on top of the shops and we used to live there. We just moved out a few days ago. I started following the buzz on Twitter that something was going to happen and I got a call from our friends from the flat. They were terrified. They could see teenagers surrounding the retail park. Youths started running towards the shops, and set the Jessops alight. Residents were stranded inside the building. Rioters broke into Jessops, Game, JD Sports and Argos and stole everything. Everything was smashed. They set Harvey’s and Mothercare on fire. I live quite a few streets away, and there was still so much smoke on the road and the smell was overpowering. Some friends managed to get away and stay here with us, but some were still inside terrified. None of us slept last night. It was a horrible, frightening experience. Please report this. It happened, and we are so afraid it will happen again. I will try to get some pictures, but please report this. I have no idea why this hasn’t been stopped. I have no idea how. 8.14am: This, too, is quite staggering: the Met say all London’s police cells are full and suspects are being taken to stations outside the capital (via @SkyNewsBreak) 8.12am: The Met are saying that 5,500 officers were deployed last night to cope with what they’re calling some of the worst violence in living memory. And a man in his 60s is in hospital with life-threatening injuries following last night’s violence. More details as soon as we have them … 8.08am: Here’s a snapshot of things in Ealing, west London, this morning, jotted as I headed in: If Ealing residents didn’t hear the looting and violence spreading westwards last night, they found ample evidence of the havoc wrought as they headed into work this morning. Haven Green, which was calm early yesterday evening, looked as though it had hosted a messy and raucous festival. Dozens of pigeons feasted on the scraps from bins upturned during the skirmishes as police stood beside their vans behind taped lines. The Broadway had attracted most of the rioters’ wrath: only shops with metal shutters had endured the night unscathed. Close to the station, the pavement was carpeted with glass from smashed shop windows and, improbably, glass from a broken champagne bottle. Cafes, little shops, restaurants and Tesco had all been hit and many had reclad their fronts in timber. One restaurant still had a metal chair embedded in its shattered glass front, a seemingly gravity-defying reminder of the night’s violence. As shopkeepers shook their heads and began sweeping up the glass, police officers directed commuters away from the front of Ealing Broadway station – now a crime scene. One officer, still in riot overalls from the night before, smiled tiredly when asked what the previous hours had been like. ‘Well, it was a riot,’ he said. 7.58am: Sam Jones here, taking over from Matt Wells for another day of live coverage. Please drop me an email — sam.jones@guardian.co.uk — or a tweet (@swajones) to let us know what’s going on where you live. 7.49am: Fire fighters are continuing to tackle a large blaze at a Sony distribution centre near Enfield , north London, which has sent plumes of thick smoke across the sky. 7.47am: The sheer frustation of many residents affecting by the rioting is evident. BBC Radio 5 Live is a must-listen for first-hand accounts this morning, broadcasting from Croydon, scene of many disturbances last night. In a report from Hackney, I heard the Rt Rev Adrian Newman, Bishop of Stepney, describe scenes there last night as “apocalyptic”. 7.44am: There has been a lot of debate – particularly in the comments section of our live blogs and others – about whether the police should be given water cannons to deal with the rioters, and whether the army should be called in. The home secretary, Theresa May, has just pretty much ruled on water cannon, in an interview on Sky News. The way we police in Britain is not with water cannon. The way we police in Britain is on the streets and with the communities. May said that she would consult senior police commanders today about any further resources they require. Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor of London, who has been manning the fort in the absence of Boris Johnson, was on BBC News last night, saying he did not want to see the army on the streets of London 7.36am: England’s friendly against Holland at Wembley tomorrow evening is under threat. With 70,000 football fans expected, it seems inconeivable that police will allow it to go ahead. Carling Cup ties involving West Ham and Charlton have already been cancelled. 7.34am: Three people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in London after an incident in Brent, north west London. At around 2.50am, a police officer was injured after a car was driven into him while he was trying to stop looters. He is in a stable condition in hospital. A second officer suffered minor injuries. 7.25am: In the comments, user Disgruntlednurse praises police in Bristol, saying they “kept on top of” the stituation there. Although damage around stokes croft/ M32 – in no way the wholesale rampage in other parts of the country. They kept in constant communication with us overnight so we could plan for any eventualities. 7.22am: More on the locally-organised clean-ups. A Riotcleanup website has been set up, which is posting locations of clean-up sites today. The locations posted so far are: Camden at 11am, meeeting outside Camden Town tube; Ealing at 10am, meeting at The Horse; Bethnal Green at 10am, meeting outside the Money Store; in Camberwell at 10am, meeting at the corner of Walworth Road and East Street and also 10am, a street clean outside Camberwell Church. In Birmingham , the plan is to meet at 10am at the Bull Ring centre. 7.14am: The story today will be about the reaction and the response. The home secretary, Theresa May, has been on ITV’s Daybreak programme. She said that those responsible for the riots would be brought to justice. She said: There is no excuse for these levels of criminality and it needs to be dealt with. These people need to see that there are consequences for their actions. We need robust policing but we also need to ensure that justice is done through the courts and this will begin today. Mrs May said there had so far been “strong leadership” from police and added that the government would ensure they had the resources in place to catch the rioters responsible. 7.10am: As we have been reporting, despite a police focus on Twitter, the real organisation has taken place on the closed BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) network. But while it has been the BlackBerry riots, it may be the Twitter cleanup, where the #riotcleanup hashtag is trending. 7.05am: Around the country, West Midlands Police arrested about 100 people in Birmingham after youths went on the rampage in the city centre’s retail area, near the Bull Ring shopping mall. Cars were set alight in Liverpool , and police officers were pelted with makeshift weapons including golf clubs as they tried to contain the gangs. Merseyside police have advised people in the Toxteth area to stay indoors. In Bristol , police dealt with around 150 rioters and residents were urged to avoid the city centre. Nottinghamshire Police said officers dealt with a number of sporadic disturbances in the St Anne’s area of Nottingham overnight. The local police station was attacked, up to 40 private vehicles were damaged, windows of houses were smashed and a container of 200 tyres was set alight, according the force. In Kent, five people were arrested by police following trouble in the Medway area. The force said fires had been set across Chatham, Rainham and Gillingham overnight. 6.45am: Good morning. After a third day and night of rioting and looting, disturbances spread from the centre of London to the outer fringes of the city and to other cities, with similar scenes repeated in Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool and Bristol. Welcome to our latest live blog. Here’s a summary of the Monday’s events: • Rioting spread throughout London from Monday afternoon onwards and into the early hours of Tuesday morning. Police struggled to cope with multiple outbreaks of looting as well as sustained violence in several places, most notably on an estate in Hackney. • Sustained looting, violence and attacks on property stretched from Ealing in the west, Enfield in the north, Hackney in the east, and as far south as Croydon. Shops and businesses were looted while scores of cars and buses were set alight. Huge fires were started in Enfield, where a Sony distribution centre on an industrial estate was destroyed, and in Croydon where a large furniture showroom and nearby homes were engulfed, with fires continuing around London Road. • David Cameron cut short his holiday in Italy and arrived back in the country in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Cameron plans to chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee. London mayor Boris Johnson also plans to return to the city later in the day. • Trouble has spread to other cities in the UK, including Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool. In Bristol, police reported 150 rioters moving through the city centre. In Nottingham, police had to deal with a crowd of 100. Merseyside police faced burning cars and criminal damage in south Liverpool, while there was repeated looting in the centre of Birmingham and violence elsewhere in the city, with an empty police station being set on fire. • The Metropolitan police in London reported that 334 people have now been arrested, while 69 people have been charged and two cautioned. In Birmingham, police said around 100 people have been arrested. London riots London Liverpool Mark Duggan Protest Richard Adams Matt Wells Sam Jones guardian.co.uk