Fireworks were thrown at police and cars set alight after a huge riot broke out following a fatal crash. Emergency services were called out to a collision on Snowden Road, Ely, Cardiff, at roughly 6pm on Monday when hundreds of people started gathering at the scene.
Trouble started when young people set fire to rubbish and wheelie bins, with the situation soon escalating into a "large scale disorder" which continued for more than nine hours, South Wales Police said. Officers in riot gear had missiles and other debris thrown at them as they tried to keep the mob back, with several vehicles - including police cars - damaged by rioters.
Cops have since revealed that two teenagers were killed in a crash before the disorder. Alun Michael, the Police and Crime Commissioner in South Wales, said a fatal road accident appeared to have “sparked” the mass unrest.
There was speculation that the car crash was the result of a police chase, however a statement from the force in the early hours of this morning confirmed the collision had "already occurred" when officers arrived, Wales Online reports.
At 8.21pm, a few hours after authorities arrived at the scene, South Wales Police tweeted: "There is now a large number of officers working to manage the collision, but also to de-escalate ongoing disorder at the scene. We urge anyone involved to leave the scene immediately and ask local residents to stay away while the matter is brought to a safe conclusion."
Angry crowds set fire to wheelie bins and launched fireworks at armoured police as they tried to move rioters through the streets. At 11pm, police said officers were faced with what they called a "large scale disorder".
Some of the incident was livestreamed on YouTube, with the video showing young people facing off against a line of police officers with riot shields who were blocking one end of the street. Police, including mounted officers on horseback, were also seen outside Ely police station in the early hours of Tuesday over fears it could be targeted.
Around 3am, rioters moved down Highmead Road in Ely, followed by officers attempting to disperse them. The rioters continued to throw missiles and cause damage to vehicles.
At least two cars were torched amid the chaos, the first of which was set alight shortly before midnight. A second vehicle was later overturned and set on fire. A police update at 1.10am stated that a "number of vehicles have been set alight".
Several youths, many of whom used masks to cover their faces, were involved in the disorder and police confirmed that arrests were made, but did not say how many. A member of the public was also attacked after rioters believed they were an undercover officer, according to one of the senior officers at the scene.
Witnesses described seeing a man being shoved to the ground and kicked. He was shouting: "I'm not a fed".
Jane Palmer, whose Ford Focus was set ablaze on Highmead Road, said she and her family watched from their window as rioters targeted the vehicle. She said: "I'm disabled so now I'm trapped without my car. Why are they doing this? It's just stilly now." The family attempted to extinguish the fire using water from their garden house.
John Urquhart, the general secretary of the UK Harmony Party, lives in the area and watched as tensions escalated at the start of the evening. He told the PA news agency and WalesOnline: "The key thing right at the start was [the police] did not communicate with the crowd. There was nobody going through the crowd crucially, I think the police really needed people to be out talking to the community and putting their minds at ease."
Mr Urquhart, who has lived in the area for the last few years, said trouble started to break out at roughly 8pm. "The vast majority of people who were stood in that street were stood there because they wanted to know what would happen next, there were a very small number of people actually doing any sort of violence," he said.
He added that he is very "counter-violence" and tried to help people by offering first aid throughout the evening. "There was definitely a small group doing things, but the vast majority of other people were just watching and having that normal comradery in the street that you have when something is happening in your street and you have no control over it."
He said the community in Ely is tight-knit. "When you start to see it in context, it's emotions that have built up and bottled up and eventually, I think the police just brought too many people or were too visible."
A man called Connor, who also lives in Highmead Road, said: "It's been a mad night. This is not the norm around here but people are pretty anti-police and that's reflected on both sides, not that that's my opinion. Although we've been afflicted by this riot, I still understand it. When people have enough, this is what happens."
Police remain at the scene in Ely this morning, which has been described as looking like a warzone. The embers of fires are still in the middle of the road and cars used to block the street are still stranded. Buses are being re routed.
The ground is littered with breeze blocks other items that were used to attack police. The burned out remains of the cars that were torched have already been removed.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - sign up to our daily newsletter here.
