Riots spread to Manchester on day 4
Flash point ... riot cops outside a blazing store in Manchester
HUNDREDS of copycat rioters rampaged through Manchester last night - looting, wrecking and setting shops ablaze.
Armed mobs took to the streets on a fourth day of the mob violence that has spread across the country.The riots started in London on Saturday night - and large areas of the capital went into lockdown yesterday.
Senior police officers warned they could use plastic bullets and water cannons. But they insisted they would not be calling in the Army.
The number of cops deployed in the capital was increased to 16,000 - up from 6,000. London remained largely peaceful, but the mayhem was repeated across the country with flare-ups in BIRMINGHAM, WEST BROMWICH and WOLVERHAMPTON.
In MANCHESTER, hooded yobs armed with baseball bats ransacked stores in the Arndale Centre while another mob torched a Miss Selfridge.
Dramatic footage emerged last night of a youth starting the fire at the store. Wearing a grey tracksuit top with white stripes and carrying a plastic 'JD' bag over his shoulder, he can be clearly seen torching the store before calmly strolling away (see below).
Thug filmed setting fire to shop in Manchester
In neighbouring SALFORD young thugs torched a BBC radio truck and set fire to a housing office.
A gang of 100 louts set cars alight near Salford Shopping Centre - then pelted firefighters with stones.
Smash and grab ... Liam Gallagher's Pretty Green shop
Around 100 youths looted the Arndale's Foot Asylum after the glass entrance was smashed with a stone slab.
Witnesses in Salford said the mob trying to smash its way into shops included a teenage boy with a baby in a pram and a youth holding the hand of a girl of about three.
Tony Harrison, 52, said: "It's shocking. There were others with young kids throwing stones and abuse."
Around 500 rioters taunted police near Birmingham's Bullring centre after thugs tried to force their way into a watch store.
Earlier 30 yobs stole jewellery from a shop in the city centre after hurling manhole covers through the windows. Small gangs attempted to blockade the main routes into the city using bricks scavenged from building sites and wasteland as well as smashing glass across the road.
Anarchy ... riot cop with a dog patrols near a burning car in Birmingham
Black smoke from dozens of car fires billowed from the east of the business district just after 6.30pm as riot vans and police motorcycle riders sealed off entrances to the shops.
In Wolverhampton, hundreds of youths invaded the city centre, smashing windows and vandalising buildings. A boy of around 12 was seen throwing stones at a police van.
Video: More disorder outside London
SCENES of looting and vandalism in B'ham, Manchester and SalfordIn West Bromwich hooded thugs set two cars ablaze before smashing and looting shops on the high street.
More than 100 Sikh men armed themselves with sticks and metal bars to protect their temple.
West Midlands Police made 80 arrests last night. Thousands of shops, businesses and council offices shut early. The riots were sparked by the police shooting of suspected gangster Mark Duggan in Tottenham, North London.
Video: Birmingham affected by riots
DEPUTY PM Nick Clegg gets hostile reaction from B'ham residentsShopping centres in SURREY QUAYS, CROUCH END, CROYDON, EALING, STEPNEY GREEN and WIMBLEDON were closed.
Stores in SOUTHAMPTON, HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, BRISTOL and OXFORD also closed.
A street was sealed off as police investigated the shooting on Monday of a man in Chapeltown, LEEDS.
Shooting ... police in Chapeltown, Leeds
YNMS Scotland Yard said 111 officers had been injured as police were attacked with bricks, bottles, planks of wood and even motor vehicles.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh said: "The level of violence directed against officers as they have bravely done their duty is unprecedented."
Twenty-four alleged rioters are to spend a week behind bars after a court yesterday ruled they might rejoin the violence if they were released from police custody.
The suspects, mostly charged over Sunday night's rioting in Brixton, appeared before Camberwell Green magistrates accused of looting.
Liverpool
True grit ... clean-up operation in Liverpool
Zenpix Ltd Yobs used Facebook and other social media to organise the violence, attacking cops and torching cars and a Tesco until 3am yesterday. Hours later public-spirited volunteers used the same websites to launch the tidy-up.
Organiser Charles Jupiter, 21, said: "If it happens again we'll be back out here again."
Nottingham
Targeted ... petrol-bombed police station in Nottingham
wwww.pageonephotography.co.uk The Canning Circus nick only suffered superficial damage. Eight people were arrested. Cars at a second police station were torched.
There were more arrests as violence flared for a second night. Officers faced hundreds of incidents, including yobs nicking watches and gold TEETH from a jewellers.
Croydon
Laying down the law ... police in Croydon
Terrified Eunice Reprah, 23, fled her home in London Road with four-year-old daughter Vernell after yobs tried to smash their way in on Monday. Last night they were in a bed and breakfast.
Council leader Mike Fisher vowed to quickly rebuild the area as shops in the Whitgift Centre went into early lockdown.
Croydon was the epicentre of Monday's riots as more than 200 thugs swarmed in.
A woman was pictured jumping for her life from her blazing first-floor flat and the iconic 140-year-old furniture store House of Reeves was razed to the ground.
Enfield
Gutted ... Sony warehouse in North London
The Sony DADC Centre in Enfield was set alight in the early hours. The 20,000 square-metre building contained thousands of CDs by artists on the Sony Music label and hundreds of independent labels.
Destroyed ... Enfield's DADC Centre was burned to the ground
Artists could now suffer sales slumps.
It is feared that some smaller labels were not insured and could go bust, while film studios with DVDs stored at the warehouse are also affected.
Ealing
Clean-up ... man peers through broken glass window in Ealing
Looters' targets in the West London suburb included charity shops and children's stores. Cars were smashed up and a supermarket set on fire during Monday's riot.
Shopkeepers were robbed and one had stitches in his face after looters beat him up and demanded money near Ealing Broadway station. Armoured police vehicles were used to confront around 200 rampaging youths - some hurling petrol bombs.
Terrified residents barricaded themselves in a block of flats as masked rioters bent on burglary tried to smash down doors.
Locals, including this man (pictured), were involved in a major clear-up yesterday.
Hackney
Shock ... locals amid the flames in Hackney
Town Hall staff were evacuated after a surge of internet rumours about a possible attack. Siva Khandiah, 39, wept yesterday as he told of watching his store wrecked on TV on Monday - recognising several looters as regulars.
But 200 locals joined hands for a defiant two-minute silence - armed with brooms.
Peckham
Lawless ... looters taking clothes in Peckham, South East London
Insight News and Features Quick-thinking Lee Steward, 26, acted when yobs used bricks to smash their way into Iceland at 6pm on Monday. Lee said: "We stayed there for 45 minutes. It was too dangerous to stay on the shop floor."
Local clothes shop AXSU and a Greggs bakery were ravaged by fire in the rampage.
