Published19. July 2024, 12:44
EnglandChildren taken away by social services: Serious riots in Leeds
Hundreds rioted in the English city on Thursday evening. The trigger is said to have been an intervention by the social welfare office.
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Residents clashed with officers in Leeds and threw stones and bricks at police vehicles.
XThere were massive riots in Leeds on Thursday.
A bus was set on fire and a police car overturned, and street barricades were also erected.
The riot is said to have broken out after the social welfare office took the family’s children into its care.
Massive riots rocked the English city of Leeds on Thursday evening. Rioters set fire to a double-decker bus and overturned a police car. Hundreds of residents clashed with officers and threw stones and bricks at police vehicles, the Telegraph reported.
Four children were brought in by social services
The major disturbance is said to have ended after social services collected four children from a family in Harehills city center at around 5pm on Thursday.
Images shared on social media showed the crowd smashing the windows of a police vehicle with strollers, rocks and bicycles before the vehicle flipped on its side. West Yorkshire Police said officers got the children and department staff to safety before violence escalated throughout the evening.
Many of the rioters live streamed the chaotic scenes on Tiktok and Facebook Live. In one video, a group of men were seen setting fire to a large double-decker bus with lighters. Later images revealed that the vehicle was nothing more than a charred wreck. There have been no reports of injuries so far.
“Their parents never hurt children.”
A local resident who claimed to know the family in question said the riot initially started as a protest against the removal of the children. “I heard it was a child who was hurt – by a brother or sister. But it was just an accident and it happened some time ago.” The social workers then suddenly came to take care of the four children. “These children were never hurt by their parents, and that’s why people were so angry. Protest it was,” said the resident.
However, someone else had this account: “If innocent children are hurt and social services don’t do anything, they would be blamed for not doing their job. So they acted and this is the result.”
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