'We're poor but all in this together' Harehills residents on night of unrest

It began as an ordinary Thursday in Harehills, an urban part of east Leeds made up predominantly of dense red-brick backto-back homes.

- Robyn Vinter

It was not unusual for police to be called to a disturbance in one of the UK's most deprived wards, but what unfolded over the following hours was a scene nobody had anticipated.

At 5pm, West Yorkshire police had arrived at a residential address to deal with a disturbance seemingly brought on by a row over children from a Roma family being taken into care by social services. A crowd started to gather, tensions were inflamed and the outnumbered officers were forced to retreat, leaving behind a police car that was smashed and flipped on to its side.

Riot police arrived in an attempt to control the escalating situation but witnesses said this appeared to make things worse. People were seen lobbing bricks and bottles as the police retreated into their vans.

"When the police came down here, they all got in the van because they were pounded from this end, that end and that end," said Robert Shaw, a local resident, pointing to three roads that intersected outside the Compton Centre, a library and community hub.

Five hours after the police were first called a double decker bus was ablaze, the larger of two fires raging just off Harehills Lane, one of the main roads through the densely populated part of the city.

At 10pm, the faces of more than 100 spectators still left at the scene were cast in an orange glow as they were standing around the fire, expressions ranging from frightened, to worried, to excited.

The heat from the burning bus was already keeping the crowd at a distance but when loud explosions punctuated the roar of the blaze, people screamed and scattered. Somebody was throwing gas canisters on the fire, with no police around to stop them.

Those present were mostly residents from nearby streets, a variety of ages and backgrounds.