"that appeared to be the trigger of concern"
The evening of July 18, 2024, was a terrifying one in Leeds as rioters set the city ablaze, even torching a double-decker bus and overturning a police car.
West Yorkshire Police battled the “serious disorder incident” in the Harehills area.
Residents were urged to stay indoors as large crowds took to the streets.
Thugs overturned and smashed up a police car with scooters, prams and bikes.
Locals were also seen running towards a fire started in the middle of the road with a large fridge, which they hurled onto the fire as the crowd cheered.
Images later showed a double-decker bus had been reduced to a charred and twisted wreck.
West Yorkshire Police said it was initially called to a disturbance involving some agency workers and some children.
But on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Leeds City Council’s chief executive Tom Riordan explained it was a “family incident”.
He said: “There was a family incident earlier in the day that police attended and our officials attended that the local community got concerned about and that appeared to be the trigger of concern for the groups of people.
“I can’t go into any detail. It was a family incident and as always in Leeds we have outstanding rated services… it was an incident that was probably misinterpreted I would say.”
Video footage showed local councillor Mothin Ali attempting to calm down the chaos.
Rioters were seen dragging wheelie bins to add to a fire raging in the middle of the road.
Mr Ali then dragged a bin away from the flames before attempting to wrestle a wooden pallet from another person.
He then confronted the rioters, telling them that “there are children in there”, seemingly referring to a home near where the open fire was burning.
Additional footage showed Mr Ali helping with clean-up efforts in the area.
Green party councillor Mothin Ali for the Gipton & Harehills ward stopping rioters from adding to the fires. after hours of still no police of fire services in leeds, harehills pic.twitter.com/s9ujUARyCE
— Jadro (@prime_mensah) July 18, 2024
Mr Ali is a member of the Leeds Green Party, which issued a statement on July 18.
The party said: “Cllr Mothin Ali is currently in Harehills attempting to defuse the situation that has arisen this evening.
“He has been trying to calm rioters down and preventing the situation from worsening.”
“A full statement will be released later.”
West Yorkshire Police has assured the public it will be fully investigating the riot, which saw a police car overturned and a bus set on fire.
It comes as the force is reviewing footage circulating on social media that shows offending.
A spokesperson said: “All criminal offences, including damage to vehicles from fire, will be fully investigated by detectives from Leeds CID and the force’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team.
“We want to make it very clear that the full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible.”
Loading ...