Protests in north London turn violent

Demonstrators in north London protesting against the fatal shooting of a young man on Thursday have set two patrol cars ablaze and thrown petrol missiles at police.

About 300 people gathered outside the police station in Tottenham, north London after it was revealed late on Saturday evening that Mark Duggan had been shot in an exchange of fire after the police’s Trident unit, which deals with gun crime, stopped the vehicle he was travelling in, the state-run BBC reported on Saturday.

The protesters also set a bus and buildings on fire on High Road and broke many shop windows.

Firefighters were able to put out the fire at a large shop at 1100 GMT.

Tottenham MP David Lammy appealed for calm saying, “True justice can only follow a thorough investigation of the facts. The Tottenham community and Mark Duggan’s family and friends need to understand what happened on Thursday evening when Mark lost his life. To understand those facts, we must have calm.”

Commander Stephen Watson said a significant number of police officers had been deployed with the aim of restoring “calm and normality to the area as soon as possible.”