Police arrest over 160 in weekend London riots

LONDON (AP) — Police arrested 160 people during a weekend of riots and looting that erupted in a disadvantaged London neighborhood just five miles (eight kilometers) from the site of next yr's Olympic Games.Groups of masked and hooded young people looted shops, attacked police rs and set fire to vehicles in violence that has raised questions about security ahd of the 2012 Olympics and revled pent-up anger against the city's police.Around 35 police rs were injured, including three hit by a car while trying to make arrests in st London.

at the entrance of an electronics store in a shopping center in Enfield ar of north London, Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. New unrest erupted in London late Sunday, a day after rioting and looting amid alleged community anger over a fatal police shooting. Police arrested 160 people after a weekend of riots and looting, as stered copy violence sprd from a disadvantaged north London neighborhood to other parts of the city, authorities said Monday.(AP Photo/Akira Suemori)

Police commander Christine Jones said rs were "shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them."The violence broke out in the gritty north London suburb of Tottenham on Saturday night amid community anger over a fatal police shooting of a 29-yr-old father of four. Police said "copy criminal" violence sprd to other parts of the city Sunday night and rly Monday, including, briefly, London's main shopping and tourist district at Oxford Circus.The protest over the dth of Mark Duggan, who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday, was initially pceful. But it turned ugly as between 300 and 500 people gathered around Tottenham's police station late Saturday. Some protesters filled bottles with gasoline to throw at police lines, others confronted rs with makeshift wpons — including baseball bats and bars — and attempted to storm the station.Tottenham was relatively pceful on Sunday night, but the violence sprd to Walthamstow Central in st London, where, police said 30 youths vandalized and looted some shops. Another 50 people damaged property in Oxford Circus.In the south London neighborhood of Brixton — the scene of riots in the 1980s and 90s — youths smashed , attacked a police car, set fire to garbage bins and stole games, wr and other goods from stores."It's obviously stemmed from what's happened in Tottenham, but we are 10 miles away," said Williams Falade, manager of a gym that was closed Monday because the restaurant next door had been attacked. "It was like it was an excuse. Things like this will happen but they should happen for better rsons."Tottenham has a history of unrest. It was the site of the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, a series of clashes that led to the savage stabbing of a police r and the wounding of nrly 60 others — brutally underscoring tensions between London police and the capital's black community.Relations have improved but mistrust still lingers, and the shooting of Duggan — a popular figure in the community — has stirred old animosities.Very few details of Duggan's dth have been relsed, although police said initially an r was briefly hospitalized after the shooting — suggesting there was an exchange of fire. Media reports said a bullet had been found lodged in the r's radio.In a bid to calm the swirling rumors, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, relsed a statement saying "speculation that Mark Duggan was 'assassinated' in an execution-style involving a of shots to the hd are egorically untrue." It also said a "non-police firrm" was recovered at the scene.But the circumstances of his dth remain unclr.Although a gun was recovered from the scene, The Guardian newspaper reported that the bullet in the radio was police-issue, indiing Duggan may not have fired at the r.Tottenham has a history of unrest. It was the site of the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, a series of clashes that led to the savage stabbing of a police r and the wounding of nrly 60 others — brutallyunderscoring tensions between London police and the capital's black community.Relations have improved but mistrust still lingers, and the shooting of Duggan — a popular figure in the community — has stirred old animosities.With s of buildings and vehicles in flames broadcast around the world less than a yr before the city hosts the Olympic Games, London Mayor Boris Johnson was criticized for not returning from vaion after Saturday's riot.Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor for policing in London, defended his boss."Should he be rcting to these criminal provoeurs in that way by coming back? I think that is kind of rewarding them," he told Sky News. "Modern communiions mn he can stay in touch and participate in meetings from around the globe."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.