Cops who have faced a battering tonight in sickening scenes of mob violence in Leeds say they now believe a “criminal minority” sparked the chaos. West Yorkshire Police have released a significant new statement following the horrifying riot that brought carnage to an area of Leeds late on Thursday.
Authorities have confirmed the cause of the mayhem that took over a Leeds suburb on Thursday evening, when an angry mob hurled glass bottles and fought with riot police. Shocked residents watched as gangs set fire to public transport and flipped a police car.
The riot saw large crowds turn Crompton Road and the streets around it into an active battleground, with angry rioters using scooters to smash the windows of police vehicles. Videos shared on social media showed protesters setting fire to a double-decker bus, which burned late into Thursday night.
West Yorkshire Police have provided a significant update following the alarming violent disturbances that erupted in Leeds late last night.
Issuing a statement after 1am, the force indicated that the turmoil, which saw a bus set ablaze and a police vehicle flipped over amidst a barrage of rocks thrown at officers, is thought to have been “instigated by a criminal minority”. The Harehills area was plunged into disarray late on Thursday evening.
Violence erupted in Leeds on Thursday evening with rioters setting a double-decker bus on fire and overturning a police car.
Hundreds of locals clashed with officers and pelted police vans with rocks and bricks.
The mass riot is believed to have broken out after social services took away four children from a family in the inner city area of Harehills at around 5pm on Thursday.
Footage shared on social media showed the crowd smashing a police car’s windows with a pram, rocks and bicycles before flipping the vehicle onto its side.
West Yorkshire Police said officers had safely extricated the children and agency workers before the violence escalated throughout the evening.
Angry rioting has broken out in a Leeds suburb as an angry mob were seen smashing up a police car and a bus was set on fire.
Grim footage posted on social media showed large groups of people rioting in the Harehills area of the city. In another video, a child can be seen picking up a scooter and throwing it at the car, which people were also seen shaking from side to side. The bus, close to the Compton Centre, has been completely gutted and remained on fire late into the night.
Police earlier said they were responding to a “disturbance” involving “some children” and agency workers at around 5pm today. The agency workers and children were taken to a safe place as more people started to attend the location. A crowd started to gather and more officers were requested to attend the area where “pockets of disorder” were emerging.
A large number of police officers have been deployed to the Harehills area of Leeds, where riots broke out earlier on Thursday.
West Yorkshire Police said it was dealing with a serious disorder incident by deploying appropriate specialist public order resources after a double-decker was set on fire and a police vehicle was overturned.
