Perilous
Times
Violence erupts for fourth night in UK
* From correspondents in Birmingham
* From: AFP
* August 10, 2011 4:45AM
YOUTHS smashed their way into stores and torched cars in central
England overnight, as Britain's worst riots for decades entered a
fourth night.
A gang of about 200 hurled missiles at police in riot gear, set
vehicles alight and smashed shops in the town of West Bromwich,
near Birmingham, Britain's second-biggest city, according to
police and a BBC report.
Television pictures showed a gang lined up behind a barricade in a
stand-off with scores of police in front of vans.
Violence also erupted in the nearby city of Wolverhampton, where
youths broke into shops.
Meanwhile in Salford in Manchester, northwest England, a 20-strong
gang targeted police cars with bricks before being dispersed,
police said.
Rioters have repeatedly targeted police and 111 officers have been
injured during three nights of rioting in London, where the
violence started on Sunday before spreading to other parts of the
country.
"In Wolverhampton, some stores have been broken into. In West
Bromwich, there is currently some disorder and two cars have been
set on fire," West Midlands Police said. "Police officers are at
both scenes dealing with the incidents."
A police spokeswoman refused to say how many people were involved
in the disturbances.
West Midlands Police have already arrested more than 130 people
after rioting in Birmingham yesterday, which saw shops smashed up
and looted in the city centre and a police station set on fire.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said officers came under
attack at around 2am AEST at a Salford shopping centre overnight.
"There were a number of bricks thrown at police vehicles," said
the spokesman. "There were 20 youths which have been dispersed by
around a dozen officers."
London's Metropolitan Police force vowed an unprecedented
operation to stop more rioting, flooding the streets overnight
with 16,000 officers over the next 24 hours.
Although the riots started Sunday with a protest over a police
shooting, they have morphed into a general lawlessness that police
have struggled to halt with ordinary tactics.
Police in Britain generally avoid tear gas, water cannons or other
strong-arm riot measures. Many shops targeted by looters had goods
that youths would want anyway - sneakers, bikes, electronics,
leather goods - while other buildings were torched apparently just
for the fun of seeing something burn.
Police said plastic bullets were "one of the tactics" being
considered to stop the looting. The bullets were common in
Northern Ireland during its years of unrest but have never before
been used in mainland Britain.
But police acknowledged they could not guarantee there would be no
more violence. Stores, offices and nursery schools in several
parts of London closed early amid fears of fresh rioting today.
The riots and looting caused heartache for Londoners whose
businesses and homes were torched or looted, and a crisis for
police and politicians already staggering from a spluttering
economy and a scandal over illegal phone hacking by the News of
the World newspaper that has dragged in senior politicians and
police.
"The public wanted to see tough action. They wanted to see it
sooner and there is a degree of frustration," said Andrew Silke,
head of criminology at the University of East London.
London's beleaguered police force called the violence the worst in
decades, noting they received more than 20,000 emergency calls
yesterday - four times the normal number. Scotland Yard has called
in reinforcements from around the country and asked all volunteer
special constables to report for duty.
A man who was shot in a car during riots in London died in
hospital overnight to become the first fatality from the unrest.
The 26-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds yesterday in
Croydon, a south London suburb where several buildings were burned
down during the riots.
With AP.