LONDON, England - August 8, 2011 - Violence and looting raged across London and spread to three other major British cities on Tuesday, as authorities struggled to contain the country's most serious unrest since race riots set the capital ablaze in the 1980s.
In London, a third straight night of disorder saw buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps set alight, stores looted and police officers pelted with bottles and fireworks, as groups of young people rampaged through neighborhoods. It was an unwelcome reminder of London's volatility for leaders organizing the 2012 Summer Olympics in less than a year.
As authorities struggled to keep pace with unrest unfolding at flashpoints across London, the violence spread to the central city of Birmingham, the western city of Bristol and the northwestern city of Liverpool. Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his summer vacation in Italy and was headed home for a meeting of the national crisis committee on Tuesday morning.
The riots appeared to have little unifying cause - though some involved in the violence claimed to be motivated by government cuts to public spending.
The government was aiming to toughen its stance against the violence, as some communities complained that stretched police were struggling to contain the unrest with rioters plundering from stores at will, menacing shocked customers at restaurants, and attempting to invade homes. Stores shut early across London, fearful of violence and looting.
Violence first broke out late Saturday in London's northern Tottenham district when a peaceful protest over the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday, turned violent.
Two police cars and a double-decker bus were set on fire, stores were looted and several buildings along Tottenham's main street - five miles from the site of the 2012 Olympics - were reduced to smoldering shells.
Duggan's death stirred old animosities and racial tensions - the same kinds that prompted riots back in the 1980s - despite efforts by London police to build better relations with the city's ethnic communities after high-profile cases of racism in recent decades.
As the unrest spread, some pointed to rising social tensions in Britain as the government slashes 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending by 2015 to reduce the huge deficit; swollen after the country spent billions bailing out its foundering banks.
In south London, a massive blaze swept through a 100-year-old family run furniture store in the borough of Croydon and sent thick plumes of smoke into the air, forcing nearby homes to be evacuated. Police also confirmed they were investigating a nonfatal shooting in Croydon, but were unable to say whether the incident was linked to the chaos.
Dozens of people attacked shops in Birmingham's main retail district, and clashed with police in Liverpool and Bristol - spreading the chaos beyond London for the first time.
In the Hackney area of east London, hundreds of youths attacked shops and set fire to cars, leaving a trail of burning trash and shattered glass. Looters ducked into a small convenience store as the blackened shells of two cars burned nearby, filling plastic shopping bags with alcohol, cigarettes, candy and toilet paper.
"This is the uprising of the working class. We're redistributing the wealth," said Bryn Phillips, a 28-year-old self-described anarchist, as young people emerged from the store with chocolate bars and ice cream cones.
Phillips claimed rioters were motivated by distrust of the police, and drew a link between the rage on London's streets and insurgent right-wing politics in the United States. "In Amerika you have the Tea Party; in England you've got this," he said.
Police acknowledged Tuesday that major new bouts of violence had flared in at least five locations, badly stretching their resources. Many more neighborhoods saw mobs vandalize commercial streets or break into buildings - some acting with virtual impunity while authorities struggled to deploy officers to every scene of unrest.
"The violence we have seen is simply inexcusable. Ordinary people have had their lives turned upside down by this mindless thuggery," police commander Christine Jones said, as she confirmed that 239 people had been arrested and 45 people charged with offenses.
