Leeds City Council has said it is conducting an “urgent review” of a “family matter” that sparked rioting in the Harehills area.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned the scenes of violence that were shared widely on social media on Thursday evening.

She warned that perpetrators of the “audacious criminality” would “face the full force of the law”.

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On Friday, representatives of the Roma community met with Leeds City Council to “express concerns about a family matter” that took place on 18 July.

Previously, police said officers had been called out around 5pm on Thursday “after social workers reported being met with hostility when dealing with a child protection matter”.

They said responding officers were attacked, and helped social staff withdraw “to a place of safety”.

Following this, disorder escalated into the riots and violence that left a bus burning and a police car flipped over.

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On Friday, the council said it had agreed to undertake an urgent review of the case and work with the Romanian and Roma community moving forward.

A council statement added: “The Romanian and Roma community have played a fantastic role in the community and have contributed much to the diversity and richness of the Harehills.

“We want this work to continue, and develop further work that makes Harehills an even better place to work and live.

“The events of last night will not help our community or the family.

“We need to work together with the authorities to ensure that best outcomes for the community, and to ensure our voices are heard at the highest level so we can avoid such scenarios in the future.”

Speaking also on Friday evening, Ms Cooper said: “It’s important that people can feel safe on their streets and the perpetrators feel the full force of the law.

“We’ve seen issues around misinformation with police having to respond to a complex child protection issue.

“Many people will have seen on social media some of the shocking scenes of audacious criminality, and that’s why it’s so important that those people face the full force of the law.”

This comes as West Yorkshire Police said they had arrested five people following the riots and scenes of violence.

Officers have said more arrests are expected in the coming days.

The riots, the force said, broke out in the Harehills area on Thursday.

After initially responding, police withdrew from the unrest that escalated into violence, leading to a police vehicle being flipped, rocks and bottles being thrown and several fires set – including a bus being lit on fire.

Assistant Chief Constable Pat Twiggs said: “We continually assessed the situation and took the decision to deploy specialist public order officers who then came under a barrage of bricks and missiles from a large group.”

Then, a decision was made to withdraw officers when it became “evident that the police was their sole target”, in order to calm tensions.

Read more:
Several arrests made over rioting in Leeds
‘Very visible police presence’ on streets of Leeds after riot

Residents were warned to stay home as local councillors tried in person and on social media to calm the crowds and ease the disorder.

Green Party councillor for Gipton and Harehills Mothin Ali described the scenes as “absolute mayhem” and called for the community to stay calm after the incident.

Speaking from the scene on Friday, he said: “The scene was absolute mayhem. It was quite chaotic.

“We were trying to shelter the police, act as human shields for the police, because they were there without helmets, without shields, being pelted with bricks and bottles, so we were trying to calm people down and act as a protective barrier.”

Mr Ali said local officers had been “fantastic” but he said withdrawing had been the wrong decision.

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