On Thursday night, a riot broke out in the Harehills area of Leeds, during which police were pelted with stones and bottles, a police vehicle overturned and a bus was set alight.
By Kieren Williams, journalist
Friday 19 July 2024 20:32, United Kingdom
Leeds City Council has said it is carrying out an “urgent review” into a “family matter” which sparked riots in the Harehills area.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned the scenes of violence shared widely on social media on Thursday evening.
She warned that the perpetrators of this “audacious crime” would “face the full force of the law”.
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On Friday, representatives of the Roma community met with Leeds City Council to “express their concerns about a family matter” that took place on July 18.
Police had previously said officers were called at around 5pm on Thursday “after social workers reported being met with hostility while dealing with a child protection matter”.
They said the officers who intervened were attacked and helped the social workers to retreat “to a safe place”.
The unrest later escalated into riots and violence that left a bus burning and a police car overturned.
On Friday, the council said it had agreed to undertake an urgent review of the case and work with the Romanian and Roma community to move forward.
A council statement added: “The Romanian and Roma community have played a fantastic role in the community and have contributed greatly to the diversity and richness of Harehills.
“We want this work to continue and further work to be developed to make Harehills an even better place to work and live.
“The events of last night will not help our community or the family.
“We must work with the authorities to ensure the best outcomes for the community and to ensure that our voices are heard at the highest level so that we can avoid such scenarios in the future.”
Also speaking on Friday evening, Ms Cooper said: “It is important that people can feel safe on their streets and that perpetrators feel the full force of the law.
“We saw issues with misinformation when the police had to respond to a complex child protection issue.
“Many people have seen shocking scenes of audacious crime on social media, which is why it is so important that these people face the full force of the law.”
The news comes as West Yorkshire Police said they had arrested five people following the riots and violence.
Authorities said more arrests were expected in the coming days.
The riots, police said, broke out in the Harehills area on Thursday.
After an initial intervention, police withdrew from the disturbances which degenerated into violence, leading to the overturning of a police vehicle, the throwing of stones and bottles and several fires – including the burning of a bus.
Deputy Chief Constable Pat Twiggs said: “We continually assessed the situation and took the decision to deploy specialist public order officers who were then targeted by a barrage of bricks and missiles from a large group.”
Then, a decision was made to withdraw the officers when it became “clear that the police were their only target” in order to ease tensions.
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Residents were warned to stay home as local councillors tried in person and on social media to calm the crowds and ease the unrest.
Green Party councillor for Gipton and Harehills Mothin Ali described the scenes as “absolute chaos” and called on the community to remain calm following the incident.
Speaking at the scene on Friday, he said: “The scene was absolute chaos. It was quite chaotic.
“We were trying to protect the police, to act as human shields for the police, because they were there without helmets, without shields, under the throwing of bricks and bottles. So we were trying to calm people down and act as a protective barrier.”
Mr Ali said local officers had been “fantastic” but the withdrawal had been the wrong decision.
