Leeds Disorder what happened and West Yorkshire Police statement

Yesterday, on Thursday, July 18th, 2024, there was a serious disorder incident in the Harehills area of Leeds.

West Yorkshire Police give a statement, which footage below shows children being removed from their home. Riots are reported to be started by Romani (Romanian).

Assistant Chief Constable Pat Twiggs said: “We have made a number of arrests in connection with the breakout of disorder in Harehills last night with five people taken into custody. our investigation will be relentless.

THIS IS WHAT SPARKED THE RIOTS IN LEEDS

These two allegedly are the thugs who set light to a £100,000 bus, which was completely destroyed. In the video, it can be seen the man with the lighter adds a plastic bag and cardboard after failing to get the seat to burn.

Other footage shows crowds throwing bricks and rocks at several police vans, police were then scene making a hasty retreat to what seemed like they were outnumbered by youths and it wasn’t safe.

Assistant Chief Constable Pat Twiggs said: “There has understandably been a great deal of speculation, commentary and concern following the disorder in Harehills, Leeds, overnight.

“Our officers responded to a call from Children’s Social Care at around 5pm yesterday (Thursday 18 July) after social workers reported being met with hostility when dealing with a child protection matter.

Responding officers were attacked and helped Children’s Social Care staff withdraw to a place of safety. The disorder escalated, damage was caused to vehicles, a police car was overturned and several fires set, including a double decker bus.  

“We continually assessed the situation and took the decision to deploy specialist public order officers who then came under a barrage of bricks and missiles from a large group.

“A decision was taken to withdraw these officers temporarily as it was evident that the police was their sole target. allowing for further community mediation to take place in order to calm the situation.

“Police then returned to the area with Fire colleagues to extinguish the remaining fires which were self-contained and didn’t pose a wider risk. By this point the crowd had diminished.

Throughout the night several arrests were made in relation to the disorder and further arrests will be made over the next few days.

“The force Major Enquiry Team have launched an investigation which will include reviewing CCTV and social media footage and images to identify the perpetrators, and criminal justice partners to bring them to justice.”

A Major Incident Portal has been created, submit through this link: Public Portal (mipp.police.uk)

Anyone with any information can contact the force under Op Jerviswick or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

“There will be a significant policing presence within Harehills over the weekend and future attempts to engage in crime and disorder will be met with a robust response. Thankyou Harehills community once again for their efforts and support.” he ended with.

Turning Point UK commented, “You can guarantee if this was a white British community, the riot police would have gone in.”

Some locals tried to prevent and stop those making the fire bigger.