Violence erupts for fourth night in UK

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Pastor Dale Morgan

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Aug 9, 2011, 3:39:29 PM8/9/11
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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.
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