A police car was flipped on its side and a bus set alight after unrest broke out in Leeds on Thursday evening and residents were advised to stay at home.
Footage appeared to show people throwing objects at the police vehicle before it was pushed over in Harehills, east of the city centre. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, condemned the “shocking scenes and attacks”, saying “disorder of this nature has no place in our society”.
A local restaurant owner said the chaos was linked to children being taken into care, adding that some people in the community responded by setting fires and “throwing stones”.
Police said they were called to an address in Luxor Street at 5pm on Thursday where they found an “ongoing disturbance” involving agency workers and children. More people started to arrive and the agency workers and children were taken to a safe place.
No uniformed police appeared to be present at the scene of the main disturbance beyond 9pm, staying a few streets away, though a police helicopter was monitoring the scene from above.
West Yorkshire police promised a full investigation into “all criminal offences … including damage to vehicles from fire. [All criminal offences] will be fully investigated by detectives from Leeds CID and the force’s homicide and major inquiry team.
“We want to make it very clear that the full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible.”
The mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, said: “I’m reassured no one has been seriously injured but suggest those who are using this to inflame community tensions to think again.”
Earlier, as the disorder took hold, a bus was set alight on Foundry Approach, sending flames towering above the red brick houses and creating thick black smoke that could be seen for miles. The bus burned for several hours as local people threw on water gathered from nearby homes.
As the crowd built, West Yorkshire police said: “More officers have been deployed to the area to assist with the management of this incident. Some road closures are also being implemented and people are advised to avoid the area at this time.”
Riesa, a pharmacy dispenser who did not want to give her last name, and who lives off Harehills Lane, said: “They were attacking police cars, throwing things at the police cars – anything they could pick up off the floor really. Rocks from the garden, rubbish, drinks, anything.
“Looking out the window, you can see that people were attacking cars that were just at the traffic light trying to go past them, but they wouldn’t turn around because I think they were getting quite scared because there were so many people.
“There was a bus at the lights, obviously stopped by all these people as well. He was trying to get past, obviously he couldn’t, so he just reversed and just stopped basically outside my street, and just left the bus there because he felt he was in danger. I did see people throwing things at the bus before the driver had got out. Someone threw some glass at the bus.”
A spokesperson for First Bus in Leeds said two of its vehicles were caught up in the disorder but there were no injuries to drivers or passengers. “One of our vehicles has been set on fire but was empty as the customers had earlier been transferred to another bus together with the driver. All services are being diverted from this area of Harehills for the safety of our staff and customers. We will follow the advice of the police in deciding when normal routes will resume and update customers as soon as we can.”
Another smaller fire in a road junction on Harehills Lane was kept alight, with people throwing on debris.
One witness, Usmaan, described seeing police retreat earlier in the day in order to calm the scene. “Police decided to disengage, I spoke to a sergeant and he said they decided to retreat to de-escalate it and the fire was starting to settle down.
“Then riot police came and sparked everything up. Bricks were thrown and then the riot police retreated. Then they lit the bus on fire.”
People in the streets around the scene offered shelter and drinks to others on the street. “This is too much,” said one local woman. “I haven’t seen anything like this here.”
Her friend added: “It’s like something from a movie.”
One slightly built teenager in a balaclava was throwing bins on the fire. He told the Guardian he was 16.
Harehills Green party councillor Mothin Ali was at the scene from about 5pm attempting to defuse the situation.
He took a wooden crate from a man attempting to throw it on the bus fire, telling him: “Think before you act. There are kids in [these houses]. Some of us did this 10 years ago and we saw our whole lives destroyed. Use your brain.”
No injuries had been reported, West Yorkshire police said.
Some people expressed frustration at the absence of a visible police presence, though it did appear to de-escalate the situation. One man said: “The police don’t care about our area. They’ve just left, they’ll let us deal with it.”
Salma Arif, councillor for Gipton and Harehills, warned residents to stay at home in a video she posted on social media alongside an East Leeds neighbourhood policing inspector.
Arif said: “There is an ongoing situation currently in Harehills, we’re aware of that so police is here.
“We are asking everybody in the area to please stay at home at this moment in time.”
With PA Media
