Riot in Leeds when police car overturned, bus set on fire

Vehicles were torched and a police car overturned as residents were warned to stay at home following an outbreak of disorder in a Leeds suburb. The Home Secretary condemned the “shocking scenes and attacks” in Harehills, east Leeds, where there was a “large” police presence on Thursday night, with helicopters deployed to the area.

The owner of a local restaurant said the chaos was related to local childcare, adding that some people in the community responded by setting fire and “throwing stones”. Live footage on social media showed vehicles, including a bus, on fire, while other videos showed an overturned police car on the road, with blue lights flashing, sirens blaring, car alarms going off and crowds of people on street – some of them shouting. .

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a post on X: “I am appalled by the shocking scenes and attacks on police vehicles and public transport in Leeds tonight. Disorder of this nature has no place in our society.” Riesa, a pharmacy distributor who did not want to give his last name, witnessed “quite violent” scenes, telling the PA news agency that he saw people throwing items at police and cars.

The 26-year-old, who lives off Harehills Lane, said: “They were attacking police cars, throwing things at police cars – anything they could pick up off the floor. Garden rocks, trash, drinks, anything. They were definitely throwing drinks at the police — water or juice or fizzy drinks or whatever they had in their hands basically at the cars because (the police) were trying not to get too close because it was quite violent.”

She said that about an hour later, when she returned home, she heard “singing and screaming” from outside, adding that it sounded like “a thousand people”. “Looking out the window you can see people were attacking cars that were just at the traffic lights and trying to get past them but they didn’t turn around because I think they were quite scared because there were so many people .” she continued.

“A few minutes after that, looking towards my house, I could just see a big black smoke coming from the main road. My husband said they would collect trash cans from businesses or people’s homes and just put them in the middle of the street full of trash and just set them on fire.”

She continued: “There was a bus at the traffic lights, obviously stopped by all these people too. He was trying to pass, obviously he couldn’t, so he backed up and basically stopped outside my street and left the bus there because he felt it was in danger.

“I saw people throwing things on the bus before the driver got off. Someone threw some glass on the bus.”

First Bus confirmed that one of the company’s vehicles was set on fire and another was caught in the chaos. A spokesman for the Leeds-based company said: “Two of our vehicles were caught up in public disorder in the Harehills area of ​​Leeds this evening.

“We can confirm that both drivers are uninjured and we have no reports of passenger injuries. One of our vehicles was set on fire, but it was empty as the customers had previously been transferred to another bus with the driver.”

The spokesman said all services were being diverted from the Harehills area caught in the mess. As of 8.15pm on Thursday, West Yorkshire Police said no one had been reported injured and the Mayor of West Yorkshire said she had been “assured” there were no serious injuries in a later social media post that night.

Tracy Brabin thanked the emergency services and said: “I’m sure no-one was seriously injured but I suggest those who use this to inflame community tensions think again.”

Officers were called to an incident at an address on Luxor Street at 5pm on Thursday where they discovered a “disturbance in progress” involving workers and children, West Yorkshire Police said. More people started going to the location and agency workers and children were taken to a safe place.

A crowd began to gather and more officers were requested to go to the area where “pockets of disorder” had appeared. In a statement, the force said: “A number of officers have been deployed to the area to help deal with this incident.

“Some road closures are also in place and people are advised to avoid the area at this time.”

Yorkshire Police added that it would carry out a full investigation into “all offences… including damage to vehicles due to fire”.

“(All criminal offences), will be fully investigated by detectives from Leeds CID and the force’s homicide and major investigation team,” police said. The spokesperson assured the public that those involved in the violent riot will be held accountable for their actions.

The force added: “We want to make it very clear that the full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible.”

Salma Arif, a councilor for Gipton and Harehills, warned residents to stay at home in a video she posted on social media featuring a police inspector from the East Leeds borough. Mrs Arif said: “There is an ongoing situation in Harehills, we are aware of that so the police are here.

“We are asking everyone in the area to stay home at this time.”

The inspector added: “If you could all stay where you are, stay in your homes, we’ll manage and if you’re in a crowd I’d ask you to go home please so we can keep everyone safe .”