EMERGENCY services worked to restore order in the Tottenham district of north London last night after demonstrators went on a rampage, torching vehicles and buildings amid looting in protest at the fatal shooting of a local man by police.
Eight injured police officers, one with a head wound, were receiving hospital treatment following the violence that began on Saturday and extended into early yesterday, drawing condemnation from British Prime Minister David Cameron's office.
"The rioting in Tottenham last night was utterly unacceptable," a Downing Street spokesman said. "There is no justification for the aggression the police and the public faced, or for the damage to property. There is a police investigation into the rioting, and we should let that process happen."
Police said last night they were still having to deal with "isolated pockets of criminality in the Tottenham area involving a small number of people". A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said all blazes were under control.
The clashes followed a protest over the death of 29-year-old man Mark Duggan on Friday during an apparent exchange of gunfire with police. The demonstration began with a peaceful rally outside the police station on Tottenham High Road, but then escalated when two police cars were attacked with petrol bombs.
A public double-decker bus was then torched as the violence rapidly spread, with gangs of hooded youths descending on the area.
The situation raged out of control as hundreds ran amok, setting shops and other vehicles on fire.
Under a hail of missiles and petrol bombs, riot officers and mounted police battled to regain control of the streets and escort fire crews safely through to tackle the series of blazes.
One witness said the scene resembled the Blitz, or when parts of London burned following German bombing in World War II.
"So many people have lost everything. It's just crazy. It looks like the Blitz," Tottenham resident Stuart Radose told Sky News television yesterday.
Tottenham is an racially diverse urban area best known for its English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur.
The unrest followed what was a peaceful march in protest over the death on Thursday of Mr Duggan, a father of four who was shot in a minicab. He died at the scene.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said firearms officers had stopped the minicab to carry out a planned arrest. They were accompanied by the police unit focused on tackling gun crime in the black community.
"Shots were fired and a 29-year-old man, who was a passenger in the cab, died at the scene," the commission said.
An officer appeared to have had a lucky escape in the incident, as a police radio was found to have a bullet lodged in it.
The protest march began at Broadwater Farm, a public housing estate in Tottenham. In 1985, police constable Keith Blakelock was hacked to death on the estate during riots.
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