<p>London itself was largely quiet on Tuesday night, with some 16,000 police -- 10,000 more than on Monday -- sent onto the streets in a show of force in districts where gangs had looted shops and burned cars and buildings virtually unchecked on the previous three nights. </p>.<p> Prime Minister David Cameron, who cut short a family holiday in Italy to deal with the crisis, was due to chair a second meeting of COBRA, the government's crisis committee, and recalled parliament, a rare occurrence, to debate the violence.</p>.<p> The chaos in London, and fears of further disruption, led to the cancellation of an England-Netherlands soccer friendly on Wednesday and the postponement of three club matches.</p>.<p> The looting also showed the world an ugly side of London less than a year before it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, an event officials hope will serve as a showcase for the city.</p>.<p> A visit by an International Olympic Committee went ahead on Tuesday "as planned" and the London organisers of the Games said the violence would not hurt preparations for the Olympics.</p>.<p> While heavy policing in London prevented all but a few incidents in the capital, copycat looting and violence erupted in cities and towns to the north and west.</p>.<p> Groups of youths in hooded tops fought running battles with police in Manchester in northwest England, smashing windows and looting shops, and setting fire to a clothes shop.</p>.<p> In Salford, greater Manchester, rioters threw bricks at police and set fire to buildings. A BBC cameraman was attacked. Television pictures showed flames leaping from shops and cars, and plumes of thick black smoke billowing across roads.</p>.<p> "Greater Manchester Police has been faced with extraordinary levels of violence from groups of criminals intent on committing widespread disorder," Assistant Chief Constable Gary Shewan said.</p>.<p> "These people have nothing to protest against - there is no sense of injustice or any spark that has led to this. It is, pure and simple, acts of criminal behaviour which are the worst I have seen on this scale."</p>.<p> In Liverpool's Toxteth district, rioters attacked two fire engines and a fire officer's car, police said. Earlier, some 200 youths throwing missiles wrecked and looted shops, causing 'disorder and damage', police said.</p>.<p> Police said they had arrested 47 people in Manchester and Salford, and 37 in Toxteth.</p>.<p> In Gloucester, in western England, eight fire crews fought a blaze in a large derelict building, cars were set on fire and groups of youths attacked police with rocks and bottles.</p>.<p> Cars were burned and stores looted in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton, and in the Midlands town of Nottingham a gang of young men set fire to a police station. There were also disturbances in Birmingham and Leicester in the Midlands, and Milton Keynes north of London.</p>.<p> In London, commuters hurried home early on Tuesday, shops shut and many shopkeepers boarded their windows.</p>.<p> Gangs have ransacked stores, carting off clothes, shoes and electronic goods, torched cars, shops and homes -- causing tens of millions of pounds of damage -- and taunted the police.</p>.<p> Community leaders said the violence in London, the worst for decades in the multi-ethnic capital of 7.8 million, was rooted in growing disparities in wealth and opportunity, but many insisted that greed was the looters' only motive.</p>.<p> Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters: "This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted and defeated."</p>.<p> "People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets," he said after the first meeting of COBRA.</p>.<p> The unrest poses a new challenge to Cameron as Britain's economy struggles to grow while his government slashes public spending and raises taxes to cut a yawning budget deficit -- moves some commentators say have aggravated the plight of young people in inner cities.</p>.<p> Police said they had arrested a total of 768 people -- one as young as 11 -- in London since the looting began on Saturday, and had charged more than 100 suspects, mainly with burglary and public order offences.</p>.<p> The first riots broke out on Saturday in north London's Tottenham district, when a protest over the police shooting of a suspect two days earlier led to violence.</p>.<p> Police are likely to come under fresh pressure over that incident after a watchdog said on Tuesday there was no evidence that a handgun retrieved by police at the scene had been fired. Reports initially suggested Mark Duggan had shot at police before they shot and killed him.</p>
<p>London itself was largely quiet on Tuesday night, with some 16,000 police -- 10,000 more than on Monday -- sent onto the streets in a show of force in districts where gangs had looted shops and burned cars and buildings virtually unchecked on the previous three nights. </p>.<p> Prime Minister David Cameron, who cut short a family holiday in Italy to deal with the crisis, was due to chair a second meeting of COBRA, the government's crisis committee, and recalled parliament, a rare occurrence, to debate the violence.</p>.<p> The chaos in London, and fears of further disruption, led to the cancellation of an England-Netherlands soccer friendly on Wednesday and the postponement of three club matches.</p>.<p> The looting also showed the world an ugly side of London less than a year before it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, an event officials hope will serve as a showcase for the city.</p>.<p> A visit by an International Olympic Committee went ahead on Tuesday "as planned" and the London organisers of the Games said the violence would not hurt preparations for the Olympics.</p>.<p> While heavy policing in London prevented all but a few incidents in the capital, copycat looting and violence erupted in cities and towns to the north and west.</p>.<p> Groups of youths in hooded tops fought running battles with police in Manchester in northwest England, smashing windows and looting shops, and setting fire to a clothes shop.</p>.<p> In Salford, greater Manchester, rioters threw bricks at police and set fire to buildings. A BBC cameraman was attacked. Television pictures showed flames leaping from shops and cars, and plumes of thick black smoke billowing across roads.</p>.<p> "Greater Manchester Police has been faced with extraordinary levels of violence from groups of criminals intent on committing widespread disorder," Assistant Chief Constable Gary Shewan said.</p>.<p> "These people have nothing to protest against - there is no sense of injustice or any spark that has led to this. It is, pure and simple, acts of criminal behaviour which are the worst I have seen on this scale."</p>.<p> In Liverpool's Toxteth district, rioters attacked two fire engines and a fire officer's car, police said. Earlier, some 200 youths throwing missiles wrecked and looted shops, causing 'disorder and damage', police said.</p>.<p> Police said they had arrested 47 people in Manchester and Salford, and 37 in Toxteth.</p>.<p> In Gloucester, in western England, eight fire crews fought a blaze in a large derelict building, cars were set on fire and groups of youths attacked police with rocks and bottles.</p>.<p> Cars were burned and stores looted in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton, and in the Midlands town of Nottingham a gang of young men set fire to a police station. There were also disturbances in Birmingham and Leicester in the Midlands, and Milton Keynes north of London.</p>.<p> In London, commuters hurried home early on Tuesday, shops shut and many shopkeepers boarded their windows.</p>.<p> Gangs have ransacked stores, carting off clothes, shoes and electronic goods, torched cars, shops and homes -- causing tens of millions of pounds of damage -- and taunted the police.</p>.<p> Community leaders said the violence in London, the worst for decades in the multi-ethnic capital of 7.8 million, was rooted in growing disparities in wealth and opportunity, but many insisted that greed was the looters' only motive.</p>.<p> Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters: "This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted and defeated."</p>.<p> "People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets," he said after the first meeting of COBRA.</p>.<p> The unrest poses a new challenge to Cameron as Britain's economy struggles to grow while his government slashes public spending and raises taxes to cut a yawning budget deficit -- moves some commentators say have aggravated the plight of young people in inner cities.</p>.<p> Police said they had arrested a total of 768 people -- one as young as 11 -- in London since the looting began on Saturday, and had charged more than 100 suspects, mainly with burglary and public order offences.</p>.<p> The first riots broke out on Saturday in north London's Tottenham district, when a protest over the police shooting of a suspect two days earlier led to violence.</p>.<p> Police are likely to come under fresh pressure over that incident after a watchdog said on Tuesday there was no evidence that a handgun retrieved by police at the scene had been fired. Reports initially suggested Mark Duggan had shot at police before they shot and killed him.</p>