Can you assist establish these brazen Leeds thugs?
- A 2,000 strong mob ran riot in Harehills, Leeds on Thursday night
- The unrest broke out after Roma children were taken from their house by police
They are the disturbing images showing the eruption of a terrifying night of mindless violence that shocked the nation.
And today The Mail on Sunday is publishing some of the faces of those at the centre of the chaos in Leeds as a 2,000-strong mob ran riot on Thursday night.
Last night detectives continued to scour hundreds of photos, videos and hours of CCTV footage in search of the identities of any culprits responsible for the frightening disorder in the inner-city area of Harehills.
Footage shows dozens of rioters who helped set the area ablaze by hurling large fridges and dustbins on to several fires in the roads, and torching a double-decker bus.
Other clips show thugs ripping up a pavement and launching bricks at police officers, while on a different residential street a mob gleefully smashed up and overturned a police car.
Hooligans throwing missiles at the police as debris burns in the street amidst the chaos in Harehills, Leeds
A thug shmashing up a police car at the beginning of the rioting, which was sparked after children were removed from their home by authorities
Dozens of police officers were filmed running away from the scene.
Firefighters refused to enter the burning streets for hours, fearing their crews would be attacked.
The shocking unrest was sparked just after 5pm on Thursday when angry residents gathered outside a terraced house when several children from a Roma family were taken away by police.
Officers had been called out ‘after social workers reported being met with hostility when dealing with a child protection matter’.
But locals from the community fought back, and were soon joined by other troublemakers including gangs of men and youths.
Dozens of locals filmed the turmoil late into the night and streamed it live on TikTok, while thousands more shared and circulated the footage across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
One video showed a man brazenly using a lighter to set fire to the double-decker bus.
In another clip, a man in a yellow top wields a child’s scooter to shatter a police car window. After successfully smashing through to the back seat, he can be seen smirking as he walks off.
The hooligan was joined by another man in a patterned tank top, shorts and a white baseball cap who used what appears to be the remnants of a pram to smash the glass on the other side of the car.
Another man violently beat the police car with a child’s pink scooter (pictured)
A man setting a double-decker bus (pictured) alight it was later engulfed in flames
A 2,000 strong mob broke out in Harehills, Leeds after children from a Roma family were taken from their terraced home by police (pictured: a fire ablaze on Thursday)
Witnesses said the removal of a child, seen being bundled into a police van, was the flashpoint which kicked off the rioting on Thursday night
The father of the children called for the return of his children as locals protested peacefully
More clips show a young woman bombarding police vans with bricks while in another a hooded man tries to throw a wooden pallet on to a fire.
He was bravely stopped by Green Party councillor Mothin Ali, who in another video is shown pleading for rioters to stop stoking a fire near a terraced house, saying: ‘There are children in there.’
Addressing a large crowd, he added: ‘You’ve got to live here, this is your community and you can’t treat it like this. You can’t treat your neighbourhood like this.’
On Friday, police asked for help from the public in identifying those responsible for the serious disorder in the area.
Footage emerged of the sobbing father of the children begging for their return next to the burnt-out wreckage of the bus, saying: ‘Please bring my children back. I want them back. Why take my kids? They were taken from us.’
He said he had started a hunger strike pending their return.
Stefania Banu, a representative of the Roma community in Leeds, claimed that social services and police showed ‘systemic racism and discrimination’ in its handling of the case.
In a statement, Leeds City Council said it ‘has agreed to undertake an urgent review of the case’ and called on ‘all communities to remain calm’.
West Yorkshire Police said that a number of people had been arrested after the violence and warned further arrests will be made over the next few days.
The spate of violence broke out after children were removed from a house in Harehills (pictured: a fiery blaze)
Several fires continued to burn during unrest in Harehills during a night of unrest on July 18
Firefighters douse a fire, set in the middle of Harehills Lane on Thursday night
Police tape cordons off the remains of a burnt out bus after civil disturbance on July 19
Police officers standing by a still smoking bus on Friday after the night of violence in Harehills
A JCB clearing the remains of a burnt out bus, which was cordoned off by police, on Foundry Approach in Harehills on July 19
Local people watch the clean up as police patrol Harehills neighbourhood on July 19
Police patrolled Harehills on Friday as locals continued to take to the streets and clean up in the aftermath of the riots
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.
‘Officers from the major enquiry team continue at significant pace to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disorder and we have teams deployed to arrest those who have been identified.
‘We are using all the investigative tools available to us in order to identify those involved .
‘People will see an increased police presence in the area over the coming days, as you would expect.
‘We are grateful to the many members of the public who have already provided key information and I would urge anyone who has information about those involved in the disorder to contact our officers.’
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said those responsible for the ‘audacious criminality’ should feel the ‘full force of the law’.
West Yorkshire Police last night said that Iustin Dobre, 37, of Clifton Mount, Harehills, had been charged with arson and violent disorder. He was remanded to appear at Leeds Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
