A gang of boys and girls, most no older than 15, and some apparently as young as eight, broke into a row of shops in Bethnal Green, in the East End. As they left carrying piles of clothes, a police car drove past. It did not stop.Forty minutes after the first 999 calls were made, two police vans arrived at the scene, already too
late.On a night of untold destruction that left businesses and homes across the city in flames, it counted as a small incident. But the detail said so much about how life in Britain’s capital city had changed over the course of the past four days. As rioters looted and burned their way through London’s shopping centres and high streets for a third successive night, Scotland Yard’s 6,000 street officers were hopelessly outmanoeuvred. In many cases, they were simply outnumbered.When they eventually arrived at riot scenes in force, such as during Monday night’s first clashes in Hackney, the police were forced to retreat as youths bombarded them with bottles and stones and set cars ablaze. Not even the deployment of armoured vehicles to protect neighbourhoods such as Clapham in the south and Ealing to the west could prevent the destruction from spreading.The victims — London’s hard-working shopkeepers, commuters and families, proud of their homes and their well-kept streets — began to lose faith in the law.
Returning early from his Tuscan holiday, the Prime Minister appeared to reflect the growing anger of many in the capital as he called for “more robust” action against the rioters. He promised 16,000 officers would be on the streets to maintain order last night, an unprecedented number that represented half the Metropolitan Police’s manpower.But for some, the time had already come to take matters into their own hands.During the course of Monday, police chiefs had themselves urged shopkeepers and businesses across the city to use their own security guards to protect themselves.The Met suggested that businesses take “precautionary measures”, including conducting regular checks of their buildings and patrolling the surrounding area, adding: “Where possible, retail premises should be suitably staffed with security guards.”Reports suggested that members of north London’s Turkish community had not needed any encouragement. Hundreds were said to have lined the streets of Stoke Newington, many brandishing baseball bats.In Clapham, an area of boutiques and fashionable restaurants beloved of London’s young professionals, residents formed a line to stop the looters getting through. They had little option.At one point, between 10pm and 11pm, up to 1,000 rioters tore through the area, looting designer shops. Dozens of teenage girls had already stolen suitcases that they now filled with clothes and other items. There were no police officers in sight.One resident, who gave her name as
Daniella, asked: “Where are the police? Why are they not here? People are frightened.”Duncan Mundell, the owner of Party Superstore in Clapham, which was gutted by a fire, said his business had suffered more than £800,000 of damage.Later in the night, police in armoured vehicles were sent in to disperse the last 150 rioters from nearby Lavender Hill.Six miles away in Peckham, 500 youths ran through the high street, wrecking shops, starting fires and pelting police officers with missiles.A bus was set alight at about 6pm, before 30 riot police arrived, followed later by seven vans carrying reinforcements.Hackney, in east London, was the scene of the first of Monday night’s clashes. The area around Mare Street had been well publicised in advance as a potential target for the violent gangs. Riot police turned out in force, prepared for the fight.
But still they could not stop the violence, as 300 rioters pelted them with stones and bottles and forced a band of 20 riot police to retreat. The area was apparently left unattended for up to two hours.A dozen police vans were stationed just 200 yards from a group of 40 youths who looted a branch of JD Sports.Officers fell back and watched from a distance when the mob set fire to cars, fearing that the vehicles would explode. The gangs simply continued their looting behind the burning cars. Police reinforcements arrived at about 8.30pm, with up to 50 officers, including 20 on horseback.In Camden, shortly after 1.30am, up to 10 police vans responded to calls of looting, and arrived to find that the gangs had already gone, leaving only a trail of destruction among the ransacked mobile phone and clothing shops.Just two police officers were seen near a burned out bus in Dalston at 11pm as 50 rioters ran through the streets. About 200 residents took matters into their own hands, guarding the corner of Shacklewell Lane.In Ealing, residents fled their homes in terror when the violence began. One resident, who was named only as Helen, described how she and her family were forced to spend the night at a hotel after hearing thugs break into the shop beneath their flat.The woman, who has not been identified, leapt from the flat as people below pleaded with her to make the daring escape.She was among four residents who jumped from the windows of their flats above shops as smoke engulfed their homes.Jaime Boxell, 34, landlady of the nearby Gun Tavern, said: “This woman had refused to leave the building. There were a few families who wouldn’t come out.Witnesses described how riot police, who moved about in groups of 20 or so, were hugely outnumbered. One officer was heard to say: “We can’t cope. We have passed breaking point.”
