Leeds riots live: Arrests made over Harehills disturbance as council urgently looks into ‘family matter’ case

A local resident has told how “scary” and “worrying” it was when riots broke out in a Leeds suburb on Thursday.

Naseem Ashfaq said The Independent: “I don’t live too far from where this happened (on) Thursday. It was very scary and scary for me. I am over 60 years old. (I have never experienced anything like this before.

“Good job, I don’t have small children. Can you imagine what it would have been like for them?

“It was so scary to think, what’s going to happen next? Will it get worse? And how far will this go? So worrying.”

After meeting representatives of the Roma community on Friday, Leeds City Council agreed to undertake an “urgent review” of a “family matter” case.

A riot broke out in the Harehills area of ​​Leeds on Thursday night after social workers reported hostility when dealing with a child protection case.

The children were taken to safety while the police came for support. But when the authorities were met with further hostilities, they were forced to retreat.

A Leeds City Council statement released on Friday said: “Today, representatives of the Roma community met with Leeds City Council to raise their concerns regarding a family matter yesterday (18 July 2024).

“The Council agreed to undertake an urgent review of the case and to collaborate with Romanian and Roma-led organisations, churches and the Honorary Consulate of Romania and other representatives of the family, in the interests of the family and the wider Roma community.

“We are appealing to all communities to remain calm and ensure that we do not see any more disturbances such as those witnessed last night which have brought fear and anger to the communities of Harehills. Locals are devastated by what happened and we want to make sure the distressing scenes we saw don’t happen again. Such actions will have a long-lasting and damaging impact on our community.”

He was filmed dramatically kicking a bin that was being dragged towards the fire by two youths – one wearing a balaclava – and with his other hand stopping another adult from throwing a wooden pallet into the fire.

The Reform Britain leader, who was in the US for the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, posted on social media on Thursday night as scenes of disorder emerged in the city.

“The politics of the subcontinent are currently being played out on the streets of Leeds,” he wrote on X within hours: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Police have warned that further arrests will be made as part of a “relentless” investigation.

Five people have so far been arrested following the scenes of violent disorder in suburban Leeds.

From the scene in Harehills this morning, the Press Association spoke to people who live in the area.

Paul, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, said he left his home at around 7pm on Thursday to see people throwing bricks and stones at a police van.

Paul, who asked to be referred to only by his first name, said: “The police were trying to hold on but they had to get back into the van.”

He said he was worried because “I have kids and you don’t know how far people will take it.”

He said: “The most shocking thing was when the bus went up – it was set on fire. There was a bang and everyone ran. I don’t like my kids around that. It’s just not right.

“It was just that incident and then I think everyone jumped on the bandwagon. I don’t think it was just one man, I think everyone thought it was an excuse to go to the police.”