It had begun as an ordinary Thursday in Harehills, an urban part of east Leeds made up predominantly of dense redbrick back-to-back homes. It was not unusual for police to be called to a disturbance in one of the UK’s most deprived wards but what unfolded over the following hours was a scene nobody had anticipated.
At 5pm, West Yorkshire police had arrived at a residential street to deal with a disturbance seemingly brought on by a row over children from a Roma family being taken into care by social services. A crowd started to gather, tensions were inflamed and the outnumbered officers were forced to retreat. They left behind a police car, which was smashed and flipped on to its side.
