‘We’re all in this together’: How Leeds’ unrest escalated and was quelled | Leeds

It had started as an ordinary Thursday in Harehills, an urban area of ​​mainly red-brick houses in east Leeds, packed close together. It was not unusual for the police to be called to disturbances in one of the most deprived areas in the UK, but what unfolded over the next few hours was a scene no one had anticipated.

At 5pm, West Yorkshire Police arrived in a residential street to deal with a disturbance apparently sparked by a dispute over children from a Roma family in social services care. A crowd began to gather, tensions flared and the outnumbered officers were forced to retreat. They left behind a police car, which was crashed and overturned on its side.

Hours later, riot police arrived to try to control the situation, but witnesses said it seemed to make things worse. People – men and women, and of all races – were seen throwing bricks and bottles at the officers, hitting the riot shields, as the officers retreated to their vans.

“When the police came here they all got in the van because they were attacked from this side, that side and that side,” said local resident Robert Shaw, pointing to three intersecting roads outside the Compton Centre, a library and community centre in the middle of Harehills.

Five hours after the police were called, a double-decker bus was on fire that evening, the larger of two fires raging just off Harehills Lane, one of the main roads through the densely populated part of the city.

The flames reached the roof of the school uniform store, next to which they had stopped a few hours earlier, when the driver and passengers were evacuated in the scuffle. Shortly afterwards, two men set fire to the abandoned vehicle.

By 10 p.m., the faces of more than 100 spectators still at the scene were lit up with an orange glow as they stood around the fire, their expressions ranging from fear to worry to excitement. Ash particles swirled in the sky and the occasional cry of “Get back!” could be heard as the fire broke out, sending up acrid smoke that irritated the eyes and lungs.

The heat from the burning bus had already managed to keep the crowd at bay, but when loud explosions punctuated the roar of the inferno, people screamed and scattered.

Someone was throwing gas canisters on the fire, a dangerous situation with no police to stop them.

Those present at the scene were mostly residents of Harehills and the surrounding streets, of varying ages and backgrounds. Some were elderly, with painful memories of past troubles; others were younger, drawn in by the novelty of the commotion, many filming the scene on their phones.

One man, a local youth worker, told the Guardian: “The community here knows the impact of past mistakes,” referring to the riots that broke out in Harehills in 2001, in which 26 cars were set on fire and 25 men were later jailed for their role.

A hooded boy who threw debris onto the burning bus told the Guardian he was 16, meaning he was born about seven years after the incident.

On social media, a different fury erupted as far-right groups mobilised against the area’s Muslim residents, particularly Harehills Green Party councillor Mothin Ali – who social media suggests was complicit in the unrest.

Far-right opposition figure Tommy Robinson claimed that footage showed “the area’s newly elected councillor rioting in Leeds tonight. There are even reports that he is on the streets with them.”

In fact, Ali was seen by dozens of people earlier in the evening intervening to try to calm the disorder and stop the attacks on police.

By 11pm, he was at the scene of the bus fire, his brow covered in sweat, calling on the community to come together. He was surrounded by other residents – Muslim men and a mix of people from different backgrounds who were anxiously confronting those who were trying to amplify the chaos.

Isa Ali, a young man who lives in Harehills and has been following the events from the beginning, said people online had “denigrated this situation as a Muslim situation, which it is not”.

An older youth worker who was part of the conciliation group said: “A number of BAME young people made chains to stop people throwing things on the fires.”

Mothin Ali took a wooden box from a man who tried to throw it into the burning bus, telling him: “This is our neighborhood.” The host added: “Think before you act.”

Harehills and Gipton is among the most deprived 3% in the country (the iconic image of the food bank sign painted black on a red brick building was taken here) and two-thirds of homes are owned by private landlords or housing associations. The brutal impact of austerity has hit particularly hard here: many people have little left to lose and many have said they feel the community has been neglected and disrespected for years.

Ali told the Guardian: “It’s communities like this that have been abandoned, and these things simmer beneath the surface and when we’re neglected that’s what ends up happening.”

Some residents expressed frustration at the apparent absence of Labour politicians, reflecting a broader sense of discontent with the party on issues such as Gaza. Although Salma Arif, a Labour councillor, had been on site earlier in the day, only Ali remained until the fires were extinguished. “Where is the Labour party?” one man asked repeatedly.

East Leeds MP Richard Burgon told X he was on his way home from a parliamentary meeting, while West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said she was “appalled” by the scenes. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said West Yorkshire Police would have the government’s “full support” in investigating the incident.

In an update Friday morning, police said the disturbance was “instigated by a criminal minority who intended to disrupt community relations.” Police later said they had made several arrests.

On Thursday night, many residents expressed their discontent and frustration with the total abandonment of the police for several hours. One man said: “The police don’t care about our neighborhood. They just left, they’ll let us take care of it.”

However, the decision by West Yorkshire Police to monitor the scene from the streets and from a helicopter which spent hours hovering over Harehills appears to have prevented the situation from escalating.

Around midnight, local residents began collecting water in buckets and wheelie bins from nearby homes to reduce the fire to glowing embers. The crowd briefly moved about 50 metres away and cheers could be heard as a young man, Mohammed, did backflips to entertain those gathered and defuse any remaining heat. People listened to music on their phones.

As the flames died down, Ali told the Guardian: “Harehills is like a rainbow of flavours. You have every colour, every creed, we’re all in a melting pot together. And we keep moving forward.”

“We’re not the richest people on the planet. We’re poor people. But we’re all in this together. They’re carrying water in wheelie bins to put out a fire on a bus. That’s community spirit, that’s Harehills.”