UK Daily Mail
- Prime Minister David Cameron recalls Parliament on Thursday as Government tries to quell uprising
- Plastic bullets could be used for the first time in Britain in riots tonight
- 'Unprecedented' 16,000 police on duty in London - compared with just 6,000 last night
- Man, 26, shot in Croydon last night dies in hospital
- Man, aged in his 60s, critically ill after clashing with rioters in Ealing
- England game against Netherlands at Wembley tomorrow called OFF
- 400% surge in 999 calls on night of violence with 20,800 dialling the emergency services in London
- Cost of clean-up expected to run into 'tens of millions'
- Metropolitan Police use armoured vehicles to push back 150 rioters in Lavender Hill, Clapham
- 'There are no plans for the Army to get involved,' says police chief
- Three arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of police officer
- 525 people arrested in total and more than 100 people have been charged
- 16-year-old arrested on suspicion of trying to incite riots via Facebook
- All police cells in London are now FULL
- Copycat riots in Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Liverpool and Leeds
With an 'unprecedented' 16,000 police officers due on the streets of London tonight, answers were today being demanded over the failure of police to bring last night's riots under control.
Just hours after David Cameron warned rioters they would face the 'full force of the law' there were rumours on Twitter that violence was already starting up again in isolated areas across the capital.
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Croydon: A woman leaps from a burning building in Surrey Street, after flames threaten to engulf her. People stand to catch her as she jumps to safety
Hackney: Anarchy broke out last night as hooded youths set fire to cars, bins and buildings as police battled to bring them under control
'You will feel the full force of the law': David Cameron issued a stark warning to rioters and looters as he spoke outside Number 10 today
Asked if plastic bullets could be used, Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh said: 'That's a tactic that will be used by the Metropolitan Police if deemed necessary.'
He added that was 'not going to throw 180 years of policing with the community away' as the prospect of using the non-lethal ammunition for the first time at a British disturbance was raised.
The army of police officers on-duty in London will swell to 16,000 tonight - compared with just 6,000 last night - as reinforcements are drafted in from 26 forces across the country.
Mr Kavanagh said he was sorry 'that London has got to wake up to these scenes'.
'We need to do better for London because those images last night were shocking for everyone,' Mr Kavanagh told reporters.
Every police cell in the capital was full today, forcing officers to transport suspects outside the city.
The riots claimed their first life as a 26-year-old man who was shot as he sat in a car during rioting in Croydon died in hospital.
Huge swathes of the capital woke up to the charred debris of burned out buildings and streets littered with waste. David Cameron has recalled Parliament for the day on Thursday as he pledged to bring the situation under control.
After cutting short his Tuscany holiday to deal with the worsening public disorder crisis, the Prime Minister said today: 'We will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding.
'Let me, first of all, completely condemn the scenes that we have seen on our television screens and people have witnessed in their communities.
'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.
'I feel huge sympathy for the families who've suffered, innocent people who've been burned out of their houses and to businesses who have seen their premises smashed, their products looted and their livelihoods potentially ruined.
'I also feel for all those who live in fear because of these appalling scenes that we've seen on the streets of our country. People should be in no doubt that we are on the side of the law- abiding - law-abiding people who are appalled by what has happened in their own communities.
'I am determined, the Government is determined that justice will be done and these people will see the consequences of their actions...[Full Article]
