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Sunday, August 7, 2011

TOTTENHAM BURNS

Riot In Tottenham After Protest At Mark Duggan's Killing By Police















PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Eight police officers are being treated in hospital following riots which broke out two days after a man was shot dead by police.

Scotland Yard said at least one of the officers had suffered head injuries after protesters clashed with police in Tottenham, north London.

Trouble flared after members of the community took to the streets to demand "justice", after Mark Duggan, 29, was shot dead by police on Thursday.

The riots saw buildings and vehicles set alight, including two patrol cars, a police van and a double-decker bus, and shops looted as police in riot gear arrived on the scene.

Hundreds of people gathered in the street, including mounted police, as smoke poured into the air from the lighted bus. Fire engines descended on the area and thunderflashes were thrown at police on horseback.

After sections of Tottenham High Road were cleared of protesters, "pockets of trouble" continued to flare in nearby areas, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

Two vans were reported to have been set ablaze in nearby Rheola Close, and Sky News said that its reporter and cameraman had to withdraw from the area over safety fears.

There were also reports of looting in Tottenham Hale Retail Park.

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said paramedics had treated 10 people, and nine were taken to hospital.

The violence erupted after around 120 people marched from the local Broadwater Farm area to Tottenham police station, forcing officers to close the High Road and put traffic diversions in place.

After night fell, two police cars parked about 200 yards from the police station were set upon. Later a bus was set on fire at the junction of the High Road and Brook Street, which belched black smoke out into the air and was clearly going to be completely burnt out.

Rioters were also kicking in windows down the High Road and hundreds of people were gathered in the street including mounted police as smoke poured into the air.

Police formed lines outside Tottenham Police Station and, armed with riot shields, marched down the road to clear the immediate area of protesters. At one point a protester ran in from a side road and hurled a petrol bomb at the officers.

A local woman, who declined to give her name, said: "There's a theory going on that the man who was shot had dropped his gun, but they still shot him. I'm hearing that most of the shops in the High Road are being burgled and robbed."

A building along the High Road, near the junction with Stoneleigh Road, was well alight, presumably having been set on fire by the rioters. Police advanced along the road with their riot shields, driving the rioters back.

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