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 years Olympic Games.
Groups of masked and hooded young people looted shops, attacked police officers and set fire to vehicles in violence that has raised questions about security ahead of the 2012 Olympics and revealed pent-up anger against the citys police. Around 35 police officers were injured, including three hit by a car while trying to make arrests in east London.
Police commander Christine Jones said officers 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-year-old father of four. Police said "copycat criminal" violence spread to other parts of the city Sunday night and early Monday, including, briefly, Londons main shopping and tourist district at Oxford Circus.
The protest over the death of Mark Duggan, who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday, was initially peaceful. But it turned ugly as between 300 and 500 people gathered around Tottenhams police station late Saturday. Some protesters filled bottles with gasoline to throw at police lines, others confronted officers with makeshift weapons — including baseball bats and bars — and attempted to storm the station. Tottenham was relatively peaceful on Sunday night, but the violence spread to Walthamstow Central in east London, where, police said 30 youths vandalized and looted some shops. Another 50 people damaged property in Oxford Circus.