Police have their leave cancelled as investigations into the Hyde Park riots continue
Scotland Yard have issued an appeal to track down four men they consider to have been ringleaders in last night's London riots as officers face having their holiday leave cancelled amid fears violent summer clashes will continue.
Thousands more officers will be out on the beat tonight and across the weekend as the Met seeks to avoid repeats of Tuesday's chaos when violent scenes broke out in three parts of London.
An officer and two members of the public were knifed and four other PCs injured after a water fight and party in Hyde Park spiralled out of control in the city's worst bout of violence since the 2011 riots.
Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed at a separate water fight in Burgess Park, Southwark, while police attempting to shut down an illegal block party in Stamford Hill, Hackney, had bottles thrown at them.
And a block party on the Stamford Estate in Hackney also turned violent, as officers were pelted with missiles.
One terrified onlooker wrote on Facebook: 'I can't believe what I witnessed in Marble Arch whilst passing by on the bus.
'Young boys running around with large machete looking knifes, a whole leap of 16, 17, 18 year old girls & boys literally scattered everywhere, I was scared for all their lives.
'And what really shook me up was seeing the young black boy looked about 17 outside Hyde park with a stab wound to his chest.
'It was so heartbreaking, I called the ambulance from the bus as it literally just happened & just to make sure but no way was I getting off that bus it was so erratic buses had to stop, I saw police & no ambulance.'
Now, the Metropolitan Police has announced it has launched an investigation into the disorder which was apparently sparked after officers prevented members of the crowd from setting up a sound system.
Hundreds of people have taken to social media to condemn the youths for using the Black Lives Matter slogan while carrying out mindless acts of violence. Police confirmed the event was not linked to the movement.
Shortly after 3pm yesterday afternoon hundreds of teenagers gathered - it is believed they were pupils from two different schools and the water fight had been pre-arranged, but the numbers continued to swell throughout the day and into the evening.
When police eventually tried to disperse the crowd shortly before 9pm, they were met with a 'hostile' reception.
Objects began to be hurled their direction and one officer was struck with what is believed to be a glass bottle and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
More violent scenes then erupted - with another constable being stabbed and two members of the public also suffering knife wounds as crowds chanted 'Black Lives Matter'.
