PM David Cameron speaking to the press outside Downing Street today Amateur footage appears to show a gang of youths charging at police in south-east London. Parliament is being recalled on Thursday in response to rioting in England, the Prime Minister has said. The government's emergency committee Cobra met on Tuesday after rioting spread across London, with violence flaring in other major cities. "We will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and make them safe for the law-abiding," the PM said outside Downing Street.  More than 16,000 officers will be on London streets on Wednesday, he said. At least 450 people have been arrested so far, Mr Cameron said. He told rioters, "you will feel the full force of the law", and said people should "stand together in condemnation of these crimes".  UKIP leader Nigel Farage said troops should be sent in to help restore order, Conservative MP Patrick Mercer suggested water cannons should be used "if necessary" - while London Labour MP Diane Abbott said a curfew should be considered.
Speaking after the Cobra meeting, Mr Cameron said his office had spoken to Commons Speaker John Bercow, who had agreed to recall Parliament for a day on Thursday. Mr Cameron said he would make a Commons statement - expected at 1130 BST on Thursday - and there would be a debate so "we are all able to stand together in condemnation of these crimes and stand together in determination to rebuild these communities". He praised police bravery but said it was clear that many more officers were needed alongside more "robust" action.
London has seen a wave of "copycat criminal activity" over the past three days, the Met Police said. More than 69 people have been charged with various offences following hundreds of arrests.  Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steven Kavanagh said it was a "shocking and appalling morning for London to wake up to". "The Met was stretched beyond belief in a way that it has never experienced before," he told BBC Breakfast. Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin ruled out bringing in the Army to help police tackle the violence, but said: "We will be out there in ever greater numbers tonight."
London's mayor Boris Johnson is cutting short his holiday to return to the city. Home Secretary Theresa May also returned early from holiday, to meet Met chiefs to discuss their response to the violence.
"These have been the worst scenes of violence and disturbance on our streets for many, many years, and this sort of violence, this level of criminality, this thuggery, this looting, this theft, is completely unacceptable," Ms May told BBC Breakfast. "We can deal with it. We can deal with it with robust policing, with good use of intelligence, but also with the help and support of local communities." She added: "If there's anybody who knows somebody who was out on those streets last night and involved in this action then they should tell the police."
Violence escalated across London and at least three other cities Tuesday as police fought thousands of rioters and looters and Prime Minister David Cameron headed back to Britain to face the crisis. In unprecedented scenes of rioting in the capital, buildings were in flames in Croydon, Peckham and Lewisham in the city's south, while gangs of looters roamed the streets of Hackney in the east, Clapham in the south, Camden in the north and Ealing in the west. Scotland Yard said it had deployed an extra 1,700 officers to deal with the London unrest, the worst in years. Armoured cars were used to quell the rioters.  Hundreds of riot police poured into Hackney to try to contain the violence in a district just a few miles (kilometres) from where the 2012 Olympics will take place in a year's time. Catherine Holmes, a resident in Hackney, said: "The common feeling in Hackney Central is that our community has been hurt and damaged by causeless violence. We spoke to looters trying to get home - the only explanation they gave for their behaviour was that they had no money today. It is sad to think that these people are thinking of only the next moment, and the moment they have created is a nightmare."
As darkness fell, police wielding batons pushed the youths back, while local residents hoping to return to their homes were kept behind police cordons.In Croydon, an entire block of buildings, including a 100-year-old family furniture business, was ablaze, sending flames leaping into the night sky. Local residents were evacuated due to the spreading fire, while the Guardian newspaper quoted a nearby officer as admitting: "We can't cope. We have passed breaking point." A 26-year-old man was found injured in a car with gunshot wounds in Croydon, police said. He was taken to hospital and was in a serious condition. Just outside Croydon town centre, hordes of looters roamed the streets unchallenged while the smell of burning cars and buildings hung in the air, an AFP correspondent said. Firefighters also battled a severe blaze in Clapham after looters rifled their way through the renowned Debenhams department store. Wealthy neighbourhoods were not spared with rampagers forcing their way into Michelin-starred restaurant The Ledbury in Notting Hill before stealing diners' phones, plates off the tables and attempting to take the till.
In other developments:
- Three people are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder after a police officer was injured by a car in Wembley, north-west London, while trying to stop suspected looters.
- Tube stations in the capital that were closed following the riots have now reopened, apart from Ealing Broadway.
- The Tramlink service between East Croydon and Wandle Park has been suspended as a result of the fire at Reeves Corner.
- Elsewhere, 100 people have been arrested in Birmingham after scores of youths rampaged through the shopping area, smashing windows and looting fromshops.
- West Midlands Police said a police station in Holyhead Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, was set on fire.
- There were reports of cars being damaged in Manchester and of up to 200 youths with masks roaming through Toxteth in Liverpool.
- Police in Bristol said they were dealing with outbreaks of disorder involving about 150 people
- Nottinghamshire Police said a police station was attacked in the St Ann's area and 200 tyres were set alight in the street.
- "Small pockets of disorder" were dealt with by police in the Chapeltown area of Leeds overnight.
Ealing resident Christian Potts, 29, was driving through the area when he witnessed the disturbances.
"It looks like a war zone - I have never seen anything like it in all my life," he said. There were about 25 to 30 masked youths on Haven Green and they just started tearing into a florist with bricks. It's a local family-run business so I can't see why they are doing this."
Police said Tuesday at least 35 police officers were injured in the unrest at the weekend. Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tim Godwin earlier urged parents to "start contacting their children" to find out where they were before slamming "spectators getting in the way of the police operations." Tensions remained high in Tottenham following the shooting on Thursday of 29-year-old Mark Duggan, which sparked the first riots in London. There were fresh doubts about the original account of his death during a police operation against gun crime within the black community. The father-of-four was shot in a taxi in what was initially said to have been an exchange of gunfire. But reports said it was possible that police officers were not under attack when they opened fire.
The violence first erupted on Saturday in the multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Tottenham in north London after a man was shot dead by police two days earlier.  Copycat violence then spread to other areas of the British capital on Sunday before reaching to new districts on Monday. Rioting also broke out in the English cities of Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol. West Midlands Police confirmed they had made 87 arrests as youths ran rampage in Birmingham centre overnight, smashing shop windows and looting merchandise. Meanwhile, Merseyside Police confirmed Tuesday they were dealing with disorder in the north west city of Liverpool with several cars set alight while Bristol officers battled to contain a mob of around 150 youths.
Tottenham was the scene of severe rioting on the Broadwater Farm housing estate in 1985 when police constable Keith Blakelock was hacked to death.  After Duggan's death, rumours spread online that he had been killed in an assassination-style execution with shots to the head -- something the Independent Police Complaints Commission was forced to deny in a statement.