Rioting spreads to Birmingham

RIOTERS and copycat looters targetted Birmingham last night as thugs rampaged through the city and caused anarchy.

Police made around 100 arrests after crowds of yobs smashed windows, looted shops and even set fire to a police station.

The trouble had apparently been orchestrated via social networking sites.

This morning, some areas of the city were still blocked off while forensic officers carried out investigations.

Stunned commuters arrived in the city centre, many finding that they could not access their places of work.

Brummie Twitter users had also pledged to join in the ‘Birmingham Clean Up’ this morning, expected to start at 10 am.

West Midlands Police posted a message on Twitter at around five pm yesterday evening in response to mounting rumours of planned disorder.

They said: “West Mids Police are aware of unsubstantiated messages on Twitter, Facebook and BBM about disorder at 6pm in Birmingham this evening.

“We have not seen any incidents, but we will have extra officers on patrol in the centre and suburbs this evening.”

But just over an hour later, police had herded shoppers from the city’s Bullring mall and formed a half-mile cordon around it.

Violence quickly escalated, with a number of shop windows being smashed by large gangs of youths with their faces covered by hoodies and scarves.

A number of city centre shops were looted, including posh suit shop Austin Reed, mobile phone shops and the flagship Adidas store on New Street.

Around one hundred youths descended on the sportswear shop before stripping it of almost all its stock.

Some even filled carrier bags with loot before fleeing when the riot vans arrived.

Mike Golden, 44, is the manager of the Austin Reed branch in Birmingham’s Temple Row, which was ransacked by looters.

He said: “I got a call from the alarm company saying intruders had broken into the shop.

“I thought it was strange for the time of day.

“I’ve been on holiday for two weeks and didn’t know much about the riots in London.

“When I got into town I saw the riot police and knew what had happened.

“They are using what happened in London as an excuse for this behaviour.”

Bus services in and out of the city centre were suspended and police redirected traffic as they desperately tried to clear the main shopping area.

The scenes became increasingly ugly as looting and rioting continued throughout the night until the early hours.

The large group of youths which had initially gathered splintered into smaller gangs and proceeded to wreak havoc across the town.

The looters eventually moved towards the upmarket Mailbox shopping centre which also houses the plush Malmaison hotel.

It is believed that an international cricket team is staying in the hotel, and has been advised not to leave.

Using a railing picked up in the city centre as a battering ram, they smashed their way in to the Emporio Armani store.

But they scattered two minutes later when police vehicles hurtled around the corner.

Throughout the night police focussed their efforts on protecting the multi-million pound Bullring centre.

By 11 pm, despite multiple shops around it being ransacked the 1.3 million square foot mall was unharmed.

Police were searching anyone who tried to leave the area, many of whom had tried to hide with their loot around the Bullring.

New Street was left strewn with coat hangers and litter, people wandering amongst the ruins either gobsmacked at what had gone on or trying to escape the riot police cordon.

The scene was unrecognisable from the usually clean, neat Birmingham.

As police regained control of the city centre, a hardcore of rioters moved on to the Handsworth area of the city.

Cars in the inner-city suburb were overturned, and an unmanned police station in Handsworth was set on fire.

Birmingham City Council said that they would act quickly to clear up the damage.

Cllr Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “The City Council is making every effort possible to clear up any damage and bring normality back to the city.

“We’d stress to retailers, workers and shoppers alike that the city remains very much open for business and would encourage them to come in as normal today.