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| Birmingham’s prestigious shopping centre has been left ravaged by rioters overnight, with shops looted and millions of pounds of damage. The world famous Bullring and Mailbox became the targets of hundreds of masked thugs who ran riot through the streets using bins and chairs to shatter shop windows. |
LONDON (AP) — A wave of violence and looting raged across London and spread to three other major British cities, as authorities struggled to contain the country's worst unrest since race riots set the capital ablaze in the 1980s.
In London, groups of young people rampaged for a third straight night, setting buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps alight, looting stores and pelting police officers with bottles and fireworks into early Tuesday. The spreading disorder was an unwelcome warning of the possibility of violence during London's 2012 Summer Olympics, less than a year away.
In rare move, England's soccer match Wednesday against the Netherlands in London's Wembley stadium was cancelled, preventing unruly crowds from gathering and freeing up police officers who would have protected the game.
Police called in hundreds of reinforcements and volunteer police officers— and made a rare decision to deploy armored vehicles in some of the worst-hit districts — but still struggled to keep pace with the chaos unfolding at flashpoints across London, in the central city of Birmingham, the western city of Bristol and the northwestern city of Liverpool.
"The violence we have seen is simply inexcusable. Ordinary people have had their lives turned upside down by this mindless thuggery," police commander Christine Jones said.
London's police said 14 people were injured, including a man in his 60s with life threatening injuries.
The riots appeared to have little unifying cause — though some involved claimed to oppose sharp government spending cuts, which will slash welfare payments and cut tens of thousands of public sector jobs through 2015.
But many appeared attracted simply by the opportunity for violence. "Come join the fun!" shouted one youth in the east London suburb of Hackney, where shops were attacked and cars torched.
The crisis will be a major test of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government, which includes Liberal Democrats who had long suspected its program of harsh budget restraints could provoke popular dissent. Cameron cut short his summer vacation in Italy, rushing home for a crisis meeting later Tuesday.
Cameron was expected to toughen the police response to rioters. Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May refused to outline what that might entail, but seemed to rule out more drastic measures.
"The way we police in Britain is not through use of water cannon," she told Sky News. "The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities."
Rioters were left virtually unchallenged in several neighborhoods and able to plunder from stores at will or attempt to invade homes. Restaurants and stores fearful of looting closed early across London.
Simon Dance, a 27-year-old marketing manager who lives in Camden in north London, called the riots outside his apartment "very frightening."
"We locked all the doors, and my wife even packed a bag to flee. We had Twitter rolling until midnight just to keep up with the news. We were too afraid to even look out the window," he said Tuesday morning as he took pictures of a smashed Evans Cycles store and a looted Sainsbury's grocery store.
Disorder flared throughout the night, from gritty suburbs along the capital's fringes to central London's posh Notting Hill neighborhood.
Police said 450 people had been arrested over three nights. All London police holding cells were full and prisoners were being taken to surrounding communities. At least 69 people have been charged with offenses, including an 11-year-old boy charged with burglary. At least 100 of those arrested were aged 21 or younger.
Three people were arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a police officer left hospitalized after being struck by a car in north London early Tuesday. About 35 police officers had been injured in the violence.
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