16 000 Officers Poured in London Streets to Counter Violence

Map showing the street riots in London and other major English cities. Map from the BBC

Some 16 000 police officers have been deployed on London's streets in an attempt to counter a forth night of violence.

Commercial venues in some areas of the British capital have been shut down after many shops in the affected 10 London quarters have fallen pray to looters since Saturday, the BBC reported citing the Met Police.

The Metropolitan force has released what it says will be the "first of many" CCTV images of rioting suspects, while 32 people have appeared in court charged with offences such as burglary and criminal damage during the previous riots. Eighteen of those were kept in custody.

The Met Police has drafted in special constables and community support officers to ensure five times the usual number of officers for a Tuesday will be on duty. Similar staffing levels will be maintained over three days.

A total of 563 people have been arrested and 105 charged in connection with violence in London, which has now also spread to other major cities in England.

Scotland Yard said, as cited by the BBC, that a 26-year-old man found shot in a car in Croydon, amid rioting in the south London town, had died in hospital.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron met officers in the Met Police's Gold command in Lambeth on Tuesday afternoon, before speaking to emergency service personnel in Croydon.

He condemned the "sickening scenes of people looting, vandalising, thieving, robbing".

"You will feel the full force of the law. And if you are old enough to commit these crimes, you are old enough to face the punishment," he said addressing the rioters.

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