Hundreds of individuals descend on streets of Leeds for the SECOND night time

People have descended on the streets of Leeds for a second night in a row demanding the children who were taken away by police yesterday be returned to their parents. 

This comes as the father of the children claims he is on ‘hunger strike’ until they are returned to his family.

Riots in the Hare Hill area of Leeds allegedly began last night after social services in the city removed all four children from a family. 

Tonight, hundreds of locals have descended onto the streets once again. This time in much more peaceful demonstrations. 

In videos shared widely on social media, members of the public can be heard chanting ‘please bring the kids back’ – in reference to the children taken by social services yesterday. 

Another video shows locals singing along to music while people hold signs which say ‘please give back children.’ 

The family, who are members of the Romani community, have committed to going on a hunger strike until their children are returned to them. 

Stefania Banu, a local community leader, speaking to the the Daily Mirror said: ‘The mother and father are refusing to eat until they get their children back. We are fully supporting them.

‘We believe it was an injustice that can be rectified by the authorities if they revise the case. Which they have promised to do.’ 

Ms Banu went onto to say that the manner of which the children were removed from their home was ‘traumatising’ for the family.

Since last night’s riots locals in the West Yorkshire city have claimed that they have been ‘persecuted’ by police amid a shocking evening of disorder in the city last night which saw neighbours clash with officers. 

Leeds was a scene of ‘shocking and disgraceful’ disorder and saw a car being trashed while a double decker bus was set on fire. 

Meanwhile, harrowing video footage showed a police officer hauling a young boy out of a house and bundling him into a van. 

Witnesses said the removal of the child was the flashpoint which kicked off the rioting last night, with the disorder lasting for hours. 

Photos from today show tensions rising in the city as locals appeared to argue with police while surrounded by a scene of chaos from the night before. 

Families looked on at the immense clean up taking place to clear away the smouldering wreckage of a bus set alight in Harehills. 

The intensity of the violence was deemed so severe that firefighters refused to enter the street for hours amid fears crews would be attacked.

West Yorkshire Police today said that a number of people had been arrested following the violence and warned ‘further arrests will be made over the next few days’.

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Last year an official report aimed at tackling problems faced by the Roma community told of their ‘fierce pride’ – and how ‘a problem for one member of the community was seen as a problem for all’.

The ethnic minority, who are widely subjected to discrimination and poverty throughout Europe, are just the latest to settle in Harehills.

Many have large families, and around 5,000 Roma are now believed to live in the deprived neighbourhood, attracted by its spacious three-story terraces and low house prices.

Last night’s angry attack on police and social workers trying to protect children from a Roma family over welfare concerns appears to have ignited underlying allegations of racism and persecution at the hands of the authorities.

Today one community leader told the Mail: ‘We are persecuted at home and now here.

‘The police should not have taken the children away, it is upsetting for the parents and family and children.’

Indeed research by Leeds City Council aimed at boosting integration of Roma families tells of their ‘fierce pride’ – and, tellingly given last night’s shocking events, how ‘a problem for one member of the community, was seen as a problem for all’.

The report’s authors say: ‘We were told about the fierce pride the Roma community had for their culture and heritage.

‘This had remained despite the challenges, and the stigma and discrimination, they have faced.

‘We were told about how community members would show great support for one another.’

Harehills has long been one of the most ethnically diverse areas of Leeds.

At the last Census in 2021, 38 per cent of residents of Harehills and neighbouring Gipton described themselves as being from Asian backgrounds, 36 per white and 17 per cent black.

It has also been ranked as the most deprived neighbourhood in the West Yorkshire city with among the highest levels of unemployment, crime and poor health.

At least twice before, violence and ill-feeling towards police has spilled out into street violence.

In 2001, hundreds of men went on the rampage in Harehills following the wrongful arrest of an Asian man, Hossein Miah.

Officers were lured to nearby Banstead Park over a false report that one had been hit by a petrol bomb.

A multi-ethnic mob then barricaded police with burning furniture from a second-hand store nearby as well as washing machines.

Over 20 cars were torched, 23 officers and a journalist were hurt and a shop was burnt down, with damage put at £500,000.

Twenty-five men were later given jail sentences for what a judge branded ‘violence for the sake of violence’.

Then on Bonfire Night in 2019, terrified Harehills residents cowered indoors as police were forced to battle a five-hour siege by yobs armed with fireworks, bricks and axes.

As with last night’s disorder, locals bravely tried to defend police, with six officers injured.

Three of the rioters were later given jail sentences totalling seven years.

However on the 20th anniversary of the 2001 riots, there were warnings that little had changed.

One business owner told Leeds Live: ‘It’s the same, it hasn’t changed a bit.’

A local resident complained about ‘blatant’ drug dealing, adding: ‘The police are present sometimes but I don’t think it’s enough.’