A mass brawl that closed a busy London high street for hours started as an altercation between two young women over their relationship with a young man.
About 200 people aged 16-20 are thought to have been involved in the fighting in Walthamstow, east London, at about 5pm on Tuesday.
Footage posted online under the hashtag #Walthamstowriots showed large groups of teenagers shouting and beating each other as Metropolitan police officers tried to restrain them. Some could be seen wrestling on the floor.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, said on Wednesday that the fight was not a gang-related incident, contrary to earlier reports. In an online post, she wrote: “I have today been in touch with police, local college representatives and local community youth groups and representatives.
“It is now confirmed the source of yesterday’s disorder was an altercation between two young women, from two different local colleges. It was not a gang-related incident but rather concerned a dispute involving their personal relationship with a young man.”
Creasy said the people involved were from across London, not just the local area. The use of social media to share details of the event led to many people congregating to watch, she said.
The Met said the group was dispersed shortly before 9pm. A 16-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were arrested on suspicion of affray, and an 18-year-old man was detained on suspicion of violent disorder. All three remained in custody on Wednesday afternoon.
Ch Insp Jon Simpson said: “We are working closely with our colleagues at Waltham Forest council and local schools to identify those responsible for any criminal acts.
“The vast number of children who congregated in the area yesterday were merely there to watch and film on their phones rather than to participate in any criminal activities.”
Gavin Rugg, who witnessed the incident, said he saw about 15 males fighting in Hoe Street and several other smaller clashes between young people nearby. He told the Evening Standard: “I just came out of Walthamstow Central station and they mentioned there had been a police incident.
“There were some guys wearing hoodies who were facing off with police. It looked like they were arresting someone. I was surprised – I have only moved to the area a couple of months ago from Stockwell and I have never seen anything like this before.”
Samee Ullah, a nearby shop owner, told the Walthamstow Guardian: “I looked out and I saw hundreds of kids shouting and screaming, they were coming from the Hoe Street end.
“It looked like someone had gone into Nando’s and they were waiting for them to come out. They brought the whole street to a standstill. We asked some of them and they said it was ‘college fights’. To be honest, people have been talking about riots but it wasn’t exactly that.
“There was a mix of kids – all ethnicities – and they weren’t all being aggressive. We thought about pulling the shutters and the police told us to stay inside before they cordoned off the end of the road.”
#WalthamstowRiots 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/jV7P4Ssd6x
— najma (@najma_yo) October 6, 2015
Royal Rumble #WalthamstowRiots pic.twitter.com/irPNSTpLaX
— Mr A1 (@A1Pabs) October 6, 2015
Shortly after the incident, Creasy urged people to avoid the area. In a second tweet, she added: “Reading e17’ers tweets today about yesterday’s incident – seems dear Deirdre has competition as so many giving young women love life advice!”
Local residents speculated that the fight involved pupils from Sir George Monoux College and Leyton Sixth Form College. In a joint statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the colleges expressed a commitment to “upholding the highest possible educational standards” and stressed they have “a zero-tolerance policy towards acts of violence”.
They added: “The events of Tuesday evening appear to have been sparked by hostility between two female students, one from each college. The hostility was over a boy and not related to gangs or inter-college rivalries.
“The colleges greatly regret the fact that a relatively minor conflict should so quickly have attracted crowds of young people and escalated in the way it did. The students most directly involved in the central incident and anyone else who used the heightened atmosphere as an excuse to fight or otherwise misbehave will be dealt with in accordance with clear and well-established disciplinary procedures, which include the sanction of permanent exclusion.
“It will be made clear to all students that indirect involvement in incidents of this nature – inciting trouble and inflaming tensions – will also be seen as a serious offence likely to result in disciplinary measures being taken.”
On Wednesday afternoon the Met deployed extra high-visibility patrols in the Walthamstow area for the end of the school day to reassure local residents and businesses.
There was a noticeable police presence, with officers outside Walthamstow underground station and the local McDonald’s, which was closed at about 3pm as a precaution. About 50 young people gathered outside the restaurant at one point but there was no repetition of the previous day’s disturbance.
Nilufar, an employee of a restaurant next to the McDonald’s, told the Guardian that her shop had been forced to close early on Tuesday because of the incident.
“They affected our business as well; no one came to the shop for a couple of hours,” she said. “We were scared, we were worried about the business and them coming into the shop.
“But we haven’t heard or seen anything today. I’ve been living in this area for 13 years and nothing like this has happened before.”
Another local shopkeeper, who declined to be named, said: “A lot of kids were fighting in the street, we had to close the shop. I heard it was started by two girls fighting over one boy. He’s a lucky chap. Can you imagine waking up and seeing that?”
The incident followed another fight involving more than 100 young people at a branch of McDonald’s in Hoe Street on Monday afternoon, the Evening Standard reported.
