SPREADING TERROR

BLAZING violence that stunned London for three days spread to urban centres across England despite the enormous police crackdown restoring a sense of order to the country’s capital.

The Metropolitan Police ordered 16,000 officers onto the street last night as it sought to lock down the districts where control had been lost and property destroyed since the weekend.

This came as fresh questions emerged about the conduct of the police in the killing of a man whose death sparked the first confrontations.

An initial investigation confirmed the dead man, Mark Duggan, 29, had not fired at officers before being shot twice.

Yesterday, the riots and looting claimed the life a 26-year-old man who had been shot in Croydon on Monday night.

Another man, who challenged rioters in London’s district of Ealing, was left in a critical condition in hospital.

Despite increased calm in London, there were copycat flare-ups, looting and running battles with police in Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Bristol, Liverpool and West Bromwich, and a police station in Nottingham was firebombed.

From early evening, shops were ransacked and high-street outlets set alight, while out-of-town retail centres were also targeted in coordinated acts of vandalism.

Rioters used mobile-phone messaging technology to organise.

In the West Midlands, violence was particularly intense, as charges between police and vandals were coupled with arson attacks on cars and buildings.

Known criminals were suspected of leading crowds to confront police in the centres of Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Similar outbreaks occurred further north.

As darkness descended, riot police and mounted officers sealed off areas of Manchester city centre while 100-strong gangs gathered.

Prior to the London police bracing themselves for standoffs, it was announced that there had been 563 arrests since the weekend. Of those, 105 people were charged in relation to the violence.

The London disturbances grew out of an initially peaceful protest at the shooting dead of Mr Duggan by specialist police in Tottenham.

An early report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed that Mr Duggan did not fire at the officers who stopped the mini-van in which he was travelling.

A illegal firearm found at the scene was still loaded and the two bullets recovered were both discharged from police guns.

Faced with growing criticism of the political response to the chaos, British Prime Minister David Cameron will this morning chair a special meeting of his Cabinet.

The British parliament has also been recalled from its holidays to discuss the crisis at a session tomorrow.

Ahead of last night’s violence the cost of riots, arson attacks and looting was estimated to have hit £100 million (€114m). Under legislation dating back to the 19th century, this will have to be paid for by the police service.

An internet campaign to counteract the destruction in London attracted hundreds of people with brushes, volunteering to clean up an area of the capital.