Sunday, August 7, 2011

Tottenham in flames as riot follows protest


Man shot dead by police in north London during attempted arrest

Mark Duggan died instantly at scene as 'exchange of fire' heard with police after Trident officers stopped minicab

, crime correspondent
guardian.co.uk,
A father of three died instantly after an apparent exchange of fire when police attempted to arrest him in north London, it emerged on Friday.

A police marksman escaped with his life when a bullet lodged in his radio during the confrontation that ended in the death of Mark Duggan, 29. The Scotland Yard firearms officer was taken to hospital and later released.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the fatal shooting, said the bullet and a non-police-issue handgun found at the scene had been sent for forensic tests.

IPCC investigators believe two shots were fired by an armed officer. A spokesman for the IPCC said that at around 6.15pm on Thursday officers from Operation Trident, the Metropolitan police unit that deals with gun crime in London's black communities, with officers from the Specialist Firearms Command (CO19), stopped a minicab to carry out a pre-planned arrest.

"Shots were fired and a 29-year-old man, who was a passenger in the cab, died at the scene," said the spokesman. Photographic and forensic examination was continuing, and a search for CCTV footage was continuing, the spokesman said. A postmortem examination would be carried out as soon as possible.

Two police patrol cars, a passenger bus and several shops were attacked and set alight in north London as violence erupted
Two police cars, a bus and ­several shops were attacked and set ablaze in north London on Saturday night as violence and looting erupted following a protest demanding "justice" over a fatal police shooting.

Officers on horseback and others in riot gear clashed with hundreds of ­rioters armed with makeshift missiles in the centre of Tottenham after Mark Duggan, 29, a father of four, was killed on Thursday.

On Sunday morning police said there remained isolated incidents in the Tottenham area involving "a small number of people" and officers were still dealing with those situations. Eight officers were being treated in hospital, one with head injuries, following the violence overnight.

The London Fire Brigade said all fires were now "under control" after trouble spread overnight from Tottenham High Road to Tottenham Hale Retail Park and a supermarket was set on fire.

On Saturday night, rioters broke through police ranks and attempted to storm Tottenham's police station, pelting officers with bricks, bottles and eggs. As a police helicopter flew over Tottenham High Road, youths in masks and hoods added combustible material to two burned out police cars, included a bundle of documents and an awning ripped down from one of the shops. Some attempted to persuade the rioters to disperse, one young man shouting: "Go home now people."

Posted by SuzyQ at 1:35 PM

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