Cameron cuts short vacation amid UK riots

LONDON?? British Prime Minister David Cameron's office says he has cut short his summer vacation to lead the response to the escalating London riots ? with violence and looting occurring for a third day across the capital.

Youths set fire to shops and vehicles in a host of areas of London ? which will host next summer's Olympic Games ? and clashed with police in the nation's central city of Birmingham, as authorities struggled to halt groups of rampaging young people.

Cameron's office said he was flying to London on Monday night, cutting short a family holiday in Italy, and would lead a meeting of the government's crisis committee on Tuesday as police and lawmakers seek to quell the violence.

In Hackney, a multi-ethnic area in east London close to the site of next year's Olympic Games, hooded youths set fire to rubbish bins and pushed them down a street toward police, while hurling bottles and bricks.

Many laughed as they ran back when police charged them. Others shouted into their cellphones telling their friends to join in.

Attackers also smashed shops and looted property in the central England city of Birmingham, police said, in the first sign of the riots spreading beyond the capital.

In Hackney, with the street thick with smoke, looters smashed their way into a local shop, stealing whisky and beer. One had even grabbed a packet of cornflakes. Another man ran away laughing while carrying four bottles of whisky.

"I am from South Africa and it reminds me of the riots there, except the police here are not so rough," said one middle-aged local resident, who declined to give his name. "But the kids don't have any respect for the police or for property. It's sad for the people who live round here."

British Home Secretary Theresa May, who cut short her holiday because of the riots, says the number of people arrested in the riots has reached 215.

May says 27 people have been charged so far in the unrest and looting that has stretched over three days. Police said 35 police officers were injured.

On Monday, British police had promised a "momentous operation" to arrest rioters after a weekend of vandalism and looting that erupted in a disadvantaged London neighborhood just miles from the site of next year's Olympic Games.

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The unrest was sparked by a police shooting, but some blamed unemployment, insensitive policing and opportunistic looting for the worst violence the city has seen in years.

Police and politicians insisted the disorder was the work of a criminal minority and not a sign of social tensions or security lapses ahead of the 2012 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 city's police.?

Story: Potent mix of cuts, unemployment could fuel more UK riots

Around 35 police officers were injured, including three hit by a car while trying to make arrests in northeast London. Police commander Christine Jones said officers were "shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them."

"This has changed from a local issue into organized criminality," police deputy assistant commissioner Steve Kavanagh said Monday as he announced a "momentous investigation" to track down the perpetrators.

"We will make sure that this criminality is not allowed to continue," Kavanagh told Sky News.

Police arrested more than 100 people overnight after shops were looted and officers attacked in a second night of violence that followed some of the worst disorder seen in the British capital for years.

Nine police were injured in what police called "copycat criminality" in several parts of London Sunday night, although the damage appeared to be on a much smaller scale than Saturday's rioting in Tottenham, in the north of the capital.

London's Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse blamed the violence on a relatively small number of criminals motivated by greed rather than worries about the conduct of the police or wider social problems caused by Britain's sluggish economic recovery.

Video: Rioting, looting rocks London (on this page)

"This is quite a small group of people within our community in London who ... are frankly looking for stuff to nick (steal)," he told Sky News. "They are picking particular kinds of stores, whether it's because they want a new set of trainers (running shoes) or whatever."

The violence erupted in the north London suburb of Tottenham on Saturday night amid community anger over a fatal police shooting.

Police said disorder spread to other parts of London on Sunday night and early Monday, including the main shopping district at Oxford Circus.

Sad truth behind the London riot

Jones said there had been "sporadic disorder" in a number of boroughs through the night, with more than 100 people detained, on top of the 61 arrested on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

The first night of rioting began after a vigil for a 29-year-old man shot dead by police as they tried to arrest him in Tottenham Thursday. Britain's police watchdog is investigating the incident.

Sunday night, police said there was more looting in north, east and south London. Around 50 youths damaged shops on Oxford Street, one of the main shopping districts in central London. In Brixton, south London, several shops were looted and police kept the area cordoned off Monday morning.

Politicians and police blamed the first night of violence on criminal thugs but residents attributed it to local tensions and anger over hardship.

Story: London sees twin perils converging to fuel riot

The Metropolitan Police, which will handle next year's London Olympic Games in what is expected to be Britain's biggest peacetime police operation, faced questions about how the trouble had been allowed to escalate.

Police and community leaders said local people had been horrified by what happened and appealed for calm.

'Not a race riot'
Local lawmaker David Lammy said many of those arrested had come in from outside the area and organized the disorder on social networking sites.

"The weekend's violence was not a race riot, it was an attack on the whole of the Tottenham community, organized on Twitter," he wrote in the Times newspaper Monday. "The grief of one family must never be hijacked to inflict grief on others."

Video: Cleaning up after riots in London (on this page)

The riots come amid deepening gloom in Britain, with the economy struggling to grow while the government is imposing deep public spending cuts and tax rises brought in to help eliminate a budget deficit that peaked at more than 10 percent of GDP.

"Tottenham is a deprived area. Unemployment is very, very high ... they are frustrated," said Uzodinma Wigwe, 49, who was made redundant from his job as a cleaner recently.

Tottenham includes areas with the highest unemployment rates in London. It also has a history of racial tension with local young people, especially blacks, resenting police behavior including the use of stop and search powers.

The disorder was close to where one of Britain's most notorious race riots occurred in 1985, when police officer Keith Blakelock was hacked to death on the deprived Broadwater Farm housing estate during widespread disturbances.

Locals said there had been growing anger recently about police behavior. "I've lived in Broadwater Farm for 20 odd years and from day one, police always pre-judge Turks and black people," said a 23-year-old community worker of Turkish origin who would not give his name.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44055812/ns/world_news-europe/

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