Leeds violence: Bus torched, police car overturned in UK riot over ‘domestic incident’

Several arrests were made after a double-decker bus was set on fire and a police vehicle overturned amid rock-throwing and disorder as rioting broke out in Leeds, northern England, over what the local council described as “a family incident. “.

“A number of arrests were made overnight in connection with the disturbance and further arrests will be made over the coming days,” West Yorkshire Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Pat Twiggs said on Friday.

In an update on the riot on Thursday evening, Twiggs said specialist public order officers assisting social services had come under a barrage of bricks and rockets from a large group and the decision had been made to temporarily withdraw those officers “as it was obvious that the police were their only target.”

“Police then returned to the area with fellow firefighters to extinguish the remaining fires, which were self-contained and did not pose a greater risk. By this time the crowd had thinned out and officers were able to fully restore order,” he said.

Britain’s far-right reform leader Nigel Farage is facing a backlash after he claimed the clashes represented “subcontinental politics”. Labor MP for Leeds Alex Sobel accused him of “inflaming a situation with misinformation”.

Labor councilor for Gipton and Harehills Salma Arif told LBC the incident was unrelated to the ethnicity or religious beliefs of the people involved, stressing it was an “isolated family incident” that led to “spontaneous” disturbances.

“Calm down, he’s calm. We have already started cleaning up on the ground,” said Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council BBC Friday.

Asked about the outbreak of Thursday night’s rioting, he added: “There was a domestic incident earlier in the day that the police and our officials attended, which concerned the local community and which appeared to be the cause of concern for groups of people. .. we always intervene where necessary when children are in danger. It was an incident that was probably misinterpreted, I would say.” Earlier, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on social media that she was “appalled” by the shocking scenes and attacks on police vehicles and public transport overnight as West Yorkshire Police flooded the Harehills area of ​​Leeds to bring the situation back under control.

“Disorder of this nature does not occur in our society,” Cooper said.

Showing the statement, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Number 10 Downing Street said: “He would echo that the scenes we saw last night were shocking and disgraceful. And disorder of this nature has no place in our society.

“They would therefore like to thank West Yorkshire Police and the emergency services for their swift support. And the police have our full support in carrying out their investigations and taking the strongest possible action against the perpetrators and to keep the public safe.” Images on social media showed hundreds on the streets, including some incidents of men trying to set fire to public transport vehicles. Police said no serious injuries were reported and warned that “the full weight of the law” would be brought against those responsible for what they called “a serious public order incident”.

“We would strongly discourage residents from speculating as to the cause of this disturbance which we believe was instigated by a criminal minority intent on disrupting community relations,” West Yorkshire Police said in a statement.

“Officers are also reviewing images which have circulated on social media showing the offence. All offences, including damage to vehicles caused by the fire, will be fully investigated by detectives from Leeds CID and the force’s Major Investigations and Homicide Team,” the statement added.

West Yorkshire Police is creating a ‘dedicated website’ to enable reporting to encourage the public to share information and images from the disorder.

“Such criminal behavior will not be tolerated and I am liaising with West Yorkshire Police for regular updates on the progress of their investigation. I would urge everyone to refrain from speculating on social media and if members of the public believe they have footage of criminal behaviour, I would ask that it be passed on to the police,” West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said.

“I’m relieved that no-one was seriously injured in this incident – we will offer whatever support we can to the people of Harehills following the violence in their community,” she said.