Fears that Tottenham would explode into a second night of violence proved unfounded as rioters and looters targeted other parts of London overnight.
On Tottenham’s High Road, where the riot broke out on Saturday, teams of street cleaners moved in to sweep hundreds of bottles and bricks from the road.
At either end of the street - now a crime scene - crowds of onlookers gathered to see the aftermath of the violence, the incinerated shells of two Vauxhall Astra police cars eerily marooned in the centre of the usually bustling road.
It was all very different on Saturday night.
In the early hours we managed to get through the police cordon to see the devastation first hand. It was a shocking scene. The systematic vandalism stretching for half a mile.
Around us many buildings were still smoking. A building site was ablaze. Tottenham’s Post Office; an Aldi supermarket; and a pub all razed to the ground.
On side roads we came across police officers in riot clothing laying on the pavement, many clearly exhausted by the ferocity of the violence they had faced.
Nearby on the pavement we saw a large pool of fresh blood.
At the northern end of Tottenham High Road we reached what had been a carpet shop.
The imposing 1930-built building it once occupied now alight, the flats above it destroyed.
More shocking though was the feral looting. At Tottenham Hale Retail Park we watched as youngsters walked away unopposed with trolleys full of plasma televisions.
Many had arrived prepared, some drove up in vans, others came armed with big plastic laundry bags which they filled with stolen clothing. The only restriction on them was how much they could carry.
On Sunday evening a convoy of low-loaders arrived at Tottenham High Road to remove the two burned out police cars and the incinerated remains of a Mercedes van.
As the rain arrived so the area emptied. By the early hours only the media and a few van loads of police officers remained as the violence seen here moved to other parts of the capital.
:: Scotland Yard confirmed that 61 arrests had been made in connection with the rioting in Tottenham, with the majority for burglary, and other offences included violent disorder, robbery, theft and handling stolen goods.
News By: http://news.sky.com
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