London-Police were in a tense standoff with rampaging rioters who burned three patrol cars, set a bus and shops ablaze and looted stores in the gritty north London neighborhood of Tottenham, British media reported early Sunday.
The incidents began Saturday night after an initially peaceful protest over the Thursday fatal shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was killed after an apparent exchange of fire with police.The protesting crowd swelled to more than 300 outside a police station on High Road and violence erupted, the BBC said. A member of Parliament appealed for calm, but officers on horseback and others in riot gear clashed with hundreds of rioters armed with makeshift missiles.
No officers were inside two patrol cars first set upon by the crowd, officials said.
Later, police told the BBC that eight injured officers were hospitalized, at least one with head injuries.
Nine people were taken to the hospital, a London Ambulance Service spokeswoman told the BBC.
A post office, supermarket, job center and carpet store were among the fire losses, according to media reports. A double-decker bus was set afire early in the rioting.