London Riot Police Battered with Bottles in Running Street Battles for Third Night

Violence erupted between revellers and riot police during an unlicensed street party in Harrow, London.

Viral footage shared on social media shows officers with shields and helmets in a standoff with young people yesterday evening outside a block of flats in Harrow Road, Kensal Town.

Bottles, bricks, and other objects were thrown at riot police as one officer swung their club at a group standing under a gazebo. Revellers were also filmed jumping on top of vans and were flouting coronavirus social distancing rules.

Police were called at around 3 pm and were met with hostility as people refused to leave when asked. When the crowd eventually dispersed the Metropolitan Police imposed Section 60 stop and search powers in the area until 6 am this morning. No arrests were made.

Partygoers then made their way to another illegal party in Maida Vale, when around 100 officers were dispatched in an attempt to break up that party too.

Helicopters were seen and heard circling overhead earlier, while the crowds ‘refused to leave the location’ after officers first engaged with them at 3pm.

The majority of revellers at the West Kilburn ‘block party’ are thought to have later marched through London to take part in a rave in Maida Vale. After raves in Brixton and Notting Hill this week turned violent and led to police injuries, officers are preparing for more trouble this weekend.

The Met police have pledged to put around 1,000 riot-trained officers on standby and more than 80 police vans on the streets of London today.