Home Secretary condemns 'shocking' riot in Leeds, after bus set on fire and police car overturned in mass disorder

19 July 2024, 00:25 | Updated: 19 July 2024, 00:43

The Home Secretary has condemned the "shocking" riot that saw a Leeds neighbourhood descend into chaos on Thursday evening - with a police car turned over, a bus set on fire and locals asked to stay at home amid fears for their safety.

Yvette Cooper, who also represents a West Yorkshire constituency, said she was "appalled" by the riot, and said that "disorder of this nature has no place in our society."

Images shared on social media showed the scale of the disturbance, which began in the inner-city Harehills neighbourhood at around 5pm on Thursday.

Footage showed locals lifting up a police car and flipping it over. Other videos showed people kicking the windows of the car as it lay on it side.

Later videos showed people setting fire to a double-decker bus and hurling what appeared to be fridges into a makeshift bonfire in the middle of the street.

The bus company later confirmed two of its buses had been targeted. The drivers were not hurt.

A separate clip caught large crowds of people hurling debris at police officers and their riot vans, and cheering as they drove off. All the while, hundreds of people looked on, with many filming the scenes on their phones.

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It is not currently clear what caused the riot, although there were reports of an incident with social services workers. Officers said that no one had been injured.

Authorities urged people to stay at home, but many ignored the warning, with footage showing large crowds of people walking the streets as darkness descended.

Many of the groups appeared to have dispersed by around midnight on Thursday.

Salma Arif, a local councillor, asked people to avoid the area "if at all possible" earlier on Thursday evening.

"We are asking everybody in the area please stay at home at this moment in time," she added.

Police said: "At 5pm today (Thursday), police were called to an ongoing incident at an address in Luxor Street, Harehills.

"Officers attended and found an ongoing disturbance which involved some agency workers and some children.

"More people started to attend the location and a decision was made to remove the agency workers and the children to a safe place.

"A crowd started to gather and more officers were requested to attend the area, where some pockets of disorder were occurring.

"More officers have been deployed to the area to assist with the management of this incident. Some road closures are also being implemented and people are advised to avoid the area at this time.

"No injuries have been reported and enquiries are ongoing at the scene."

The riots received widespread condemnation among Ms Cooper's fellow politicians.

Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, said: "I am on my way back to Leeds from Parliament and am in touch with the police and concerned residents about the on-going incident in Harehills.

"The police say no injuries have been reported but are advising people to avoid the area at the moment if possible."

West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin tweeted: "Thank you to our emergency services in what is a very difficult situation. "I'm being briefed by @WestYorksPolice and we are monitoring events.

"I'm reassured no one has been seriously injured," she added.

A spokesperson for First Bus in Leeds said: "Two of our vehicles have been caught up in the public disorder in the Harehills area of Leeds this evening (Thursday 18 November).

"A team from our depot was quickly at the scene to provide support to our drivers and customers.

"We can confirm that both drivers are unhurt and we have no reports of injuries to passengers.

"One of our vehicles has been set on fire but was empty as the customers had earlier been transferred to another bus together with the driver.

"All services are being diverted from this area of Harehills for the safety of our staff and customers. We will follow the advice of the police in deciding when normal routes will resume and update customers as soon as we can."