Violence spread across London for a third day with riot police tackling youths setting fire to properties and looting shops as British Prime Minister David Cameron headed back to Britain to face the chaos.
Mr Cameron will chair the UK government's emergency committee Cobra to discuss the London riots and will also meet Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May and Metropolitan Police Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin.
Ms May condemned chaotic scenes while Scotland Yard beefed up its presence before looting and violence spiralled out of control for a third consecutive night.
As thousands of rioters took to the streets across the London districts including Hackney, Lewisham and Peckham, Scotland Yard's most senior officer called on parents to contact their children and urged the public to clear London's streets.
There is a large fire burning in Croydon, where a furniture shop has been set ablaze.
Disturbances have also been reported in Clapham.
The fresh wave of violence also spread north to central Birmingham, with police saying shop windows had been smashed and looting had taken place.
At least 215 people have been arrested and 25 charged following the riots across London over the last two days.
Acting Scotland Yard Commissioner Tim Godwin attacked the ‘gratuitous’ violence and appealed directly to families.
He said: ‘I do urge now that parents start contacting their children and asking where their children are.
‘There are far too many spectators who are getting in the way of the police operation to tackle criminal thuggery and burglary.
‘I'm imploring that people within those communities actually start clearing the streets to enable my police officers to deal with the criminality that's occurring in front of them.’
The latest violence was prompted by police stopping and searching a man in the Hackney area.
Scores of young people soon gathered on the main street in Hackney, smashing buildings and breaking into vehicles that became stranded in the middle of the road.
Rioters, many wearing hoods and masks, were confronted by police lines spanning the width of streets, occasionally moving forward to push the groups back.
Officers in riot gear tried to control the situation, coming under fire from objects including chairs and pieces of wood.
An officer could be seen lying on the ground after being struck on his shield by a missile. Other officers created a cordon around him while he was treated by colleagues.
There were subsequent reports of clashes in Peckham and Lewisham. A bus in Peckham was set on fire, according to a Transport for London spokeswoman, while footage showed a trail of bins and an abandoned vehicle ablaze in Lewisham.
National Rail have closed around ten rail stations in London.
London police this morning launched a ‘major investigation’ into the violence, which was first sparked by the death of a local man in a police shooting.
Last night, thousands of people took part in rioting and looting in many areas of the city.
Scotland Yard said ‘copycat’ looting had spread to a number of boroughs in the capital's north, east and south, while a mob of around 50 youths damaged property in Oxford Circus at the heart of the city.
A large electrical retail store in a southern area of Brixton was one of the premises targeted as gangs of youths pelted police with missiles.
Staff at the looted Curry's store said that the thieves had immediately headed to the security rooms and deactivated the cameras, suggesting professional gangs had flocked to the area
Several arrests were made after youths vandalised a police car and smashed windows in Enfield, a north London suburb three miles from Tottenham. Tottenham was the area at the heart of the previous night's disturbances.
Additional police resources were deployed in the volatile neighbourhoods with three officers requiring hospital treatment after being hit by a car.
Commander Christine Jones said: ‘This is a challenging situation with small pockets of violence, looting and disorder breaking out on a number of boroughs.’
In the first night of violence, homes were torched, two police cars and a double-decker bus burned and shops looted late Saturday in Tottenham, conjuring memories of 1985 riots in the same area and dampening the mood in a city hosting the Olympic Games in a year.
A total of 55 arrests were made after Saturday's riots.
British Prime Minister David Cameron's office described the violence as ‘utterly unacceptable’.
The Metropolitan Police announced that officers working on the Operation Withern probe would interview witnesses and review hours of CCTV footage to locate the Tottenham rioters.
Death of 29-year-old
The violence followed a protest over the death of a 29-year-old man last Thursday during an apparent exchange of gunfire with police.
Mr Duggan was killed when specialist firearms officers stopped a minicab in which he was travelling to carry out a pre-planned arrest.
The march against Mr Duggan's death began at Broadwater Farm, a 1960s public housing estate in Tottenham that is notorious across Britain.
In 1985, police constable Keith Blakelock was killed on the estate in some of the worst urban rioting in Britain during the past 30 years.
The killing of Mark Duggan, a father-of-four, was ‘absolutely regrettable,’ police commander Adrian Hanstock said in a statement, adding that an investigation into the shooting was under way.
According to the Guardian newspaper, initial ballistics tests on a bullet which was found lodged in a police officer's radio when Duggan was shot revealed it was a police issue bullet, raising doubts over the early explanation of events.
Mr Duggan's brother Shaun Hall called for peace.
‘I know people are frustrated, they're angry out there at the moment, but I would say please try and hold it down. Please don't make this about my brother's life, he was a good man,’ he told Sky News television.
London has seen student and trade union protests turn ugly in the last 12 months but this outbreak of rioting was the worst seen for years away from the capital's centre.
