West Yorkshire police say 25 cars were burnt out, two officers were injured and a shop was firebombed in around nine hours of riots in the northern English city of Leeds on Monday night and the early hours of Tuesday. At one point, a crowd of up to 300 Asian youths pelted riot police lines with rocks, bottles and petrol bombs. The situation was reported to be calm by Wednesday morning. Four people have been arrested, with police saying more will follow as they launch an investigation into violence, the cause of which is not known. Over six hours of disturbances, Asians charged towards the police hurling bricks, wooden crates, bottles, stones and smashing rubble on to the streets.
Some reports say the trouble was sparked by the arrest of a local man by police two days ago.
Tonight is a reaction to the lack of police action following the incident in which the man was sprayed in the face with CS gas. The disturbances come just over a week after racial violence flared in Oldham, Greater Manchester. Riots flared in Oldham for three nights following weeks of simmering tensions between the town's Asian and white youths. About 50 people were arrested as police struggled to restore order. Oldham's Asian minority leaders blamed nationalist political groups for provoking the riots.