People have been urged to stay indoors

There were scenes of violence and chaos in Leeds on Thursday night (July 18) with fires started in the street and police cars overturned and smashed up in a mass riot.

Police were called to the large scale disorder as hundreds descended on the street. Crowds were seen throwing items at police cars and starting a huge blaze in the middle of the road.

People have described the scenes as ‘mayhem’ and ‘a riot’ on social media. A number of videos surfaced online showing scooters, pushchairs, bikes and bats also being used in the assault on a police car.

And a police inspector with West Yorkshire Police was even filmed on a social media video urging people to ‘stay in their houses’ amid the growing chaos. Riot police in protective gear were also seen being attacked. Read here.

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West Yorkshire Police said they were initially called to an incident at an address on Luxor Street and found a ‘disturbance’ involving agency workers and children. More people then started to arrive before ‘pockets of disorder’ began breaking out in the area.

  • Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.comOPMEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    Daily Mail’s swat at the story - I actually have no idea what’s going on:

    Terrified residents have taken to the streets of Leeds to defend their homes after ‘violent’ thugs drove riot police out after setting the city ablaze.

    Chaos erupted in Harehills, east Leeds early yesterday evening following an outbreak of ‘serious disorder’ that saw bonfires lit across the city, a cop car overturned and a double decker bus torched, reducing it to a charred and twisted wreck.

    Community members were forced to plead with the rabble as police, despite having first responded to the disturbance around 5pm last night, remained relatively absent from the mayhem until 1am today.

    Green Party councillor Mothin Ali, who after being elected to Leeds Council in May declared his victory a ‘win for the people of Gaza’, begged the rioters to stop, saying ‘there’s children in there’, as fires burned in the streets.

    Police and local officials urged residents to stay home as rioters flooded the streets around Harehills and roads were closed off. But hooligans continued to turn up to the area, with many livestreaming footage of the havoc on social media.

    The Home Secretary has condemned the ‘shocking scenes and attacks’ in the northern city and West Yorkshire police, which has been accused of intentionally avoiding the riot, vowed that the ‘full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible’.

    … And, again, we have something about children being taken into government care:

    Officers were called to an incident at an address in Luxor Street at 5pm on Thursday where they found an ‘ongoing disturbance’ involving agency workers and children, West Yorkshire Police said.

    Locals allege the chaos was linked to local children being taken into care, adding that some people in the community responded by setting fires and ‘throwing stones’.

    Daily Mail

    I don’t really know the story here, but people had fun.