POLITICAL REACTION:PRIME MINISTER David Cameron declared a fightback against looters and rioters yesterday as a community mourned the deaths of three men killed while trying to protect shops and businesses.
Police forces across the country called in reinforcements last night in an attempt to stop another night of the riots that have now claimed four lives.
As looting and mob violence spread from London to the northwest and the midlands three men – Haroon Jahan (21) and brothers Shazad Ali (30) and Abdul Musavir (31) – were killed when a car was driven at them as they protected shops in Winson Green, Birmingham, at 1am, their families said.
Mr Cameron described the deaths as “truly dreadful”. When asked what he would say to their families he said: “They have my deepest condolences. I think everyone in the country is going to be thinking about them and their families and what happened.” West Midlands Police have arrested a 32-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
The apparent hit-and-run killing follows the death of a 26-year-old man who was shot in a car during riots in Croydon, south London, on Monday night.
Politicians and police sought to return calm to the cities affected by the disorder by flooding the streets with officers.
Home Secretary Theresa May ordered every police chief in the UK to cancel all staff leave to deal with the crisis.
Six forces – the Metropolitan Police, West Midlands, Nottinghamshire, Avon and Somerset, Greater Manchester and Gloucestershire – drafted in extra officers from other constabularies amid fears of a fifth night of violence.
Speaking in Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee, Mr Cameron said: “We needed a fightback, and a fightback is under way.
“We have seen the worst of Britain, but I also believe we have seen some of the best of Britain – the million people who have signed up on Facebook to support the police, coming together in the clean-up operations.” He said officers would be given the resources and legal backing to use the tactics they felt were necessary to deal with the riots.
“Police are already authorised to use baton rounds and we agreed at Cobra that, while they are not currently needed, we now have in place contingency plans for water cannons to be available at 24 hours’ notice,” he said.
In a major break with the government, the Tory London mayor Boris Johnson demanded a rethink of plans to slash police budgets by 20 per cent.
The mayor, who is seeking re-election to City Hall next year, said: “That case was always pretty frail and it has been substantially weakened. This is not a time to think about making substantial cuts in police numbers.” But Mr Cameron brushed off Mr Johnson’s concerns, insisting forces had all the resources they required.
Elsewhere, hundreds of marauding thugs played cat and mouse with police in Manchester on Wednesday night, smashing shops, looting goods and setting fire to one premises.
Yesterday police arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of arson over the blaze in the city’s Miss Selfridge store.
And two of those arrested have already been jailed in what Greater Manchester Police said was “swift justice”.
“Two men sentenced to 10 weeks and 16 weeks. First of many,” the force warned. – (PA)