Riots In Leeds: Man Filmed Setting Bus On Fire Arrested, Farage Says ‘Politics Of Subcontinent’ Playing Out

A burnt out car in the Leeds suburb of Harehills, following an outbreak of disorder on Thursday evening. (Top-right) A man, identified as Iustin Dobre, was arrested for setting a bus on fire. (Image: AP Photo/X)

Politics tamfitronics A man set a bus fire in Leeds’ Harehill and a disorderly crowd overturned a police vehicle.

A man named Iustin Dobre was charged with arson and violent disorder after a bus was set on fire during riots in Leeds earlier this week. Dobre along with several others set a bus on fire and was filmed while doing it. A report by broadcaster Sky News said that police arrested five more people on suspicion of violent disorder on Saturday.

A police vehicle was also overturned amid stone-pelting and disorder as the riot broke out over what the local council has described as a “family incident” in Leeds’ Harehills.

The broadcaster said that rioting happened after police went to assist social workers dealing with a child protection issue.

Meanwhile, UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage said the riots in Leeds’ Harehills and the ensuing disorder was the “politics of the sub-continent”.

“The politics of the subcontinent are currently playing out on the streets of Leeds. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Farage wrote on X, inviting wrath from Mothin Ali, Green Party councillor for Gipton and Harehills ward.

“He seeks to use tensions to further societal division for his own political gain. I ask him politely, to leave us alone as we undertake the work needed to bring our community back together,” Ali was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper took to social media to say she was “appalled” at the shocking scenes and attacks on police vehicles and public transport overnight as West Yorkshire Police flooded the Harehills area of Leeds to bring the situation under control.

“Disorder of this nature has no place in our society,” said Cooper.

Pointing to the statement, a No 10 Downing Street spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “He would echo that the scenes that we saw last night were shocking and disgraceful. And disorders of this nature have no place in our society.

The broadcaster in its report also said that government officials met representatives of the Roma community and would “work with Romanian and Roma-led organisations… for the best interests of the family and wider Roma community”.

“There was a family incident earlier in the day that the police attended and our officials attended that a lot of the community got concerned about,” Riordan said in an interview with the BBC. “And that appeared to be the trigger of concern for groups of people being concerned about what had happened.”

Riordan declined to provide specifics about the incident, but said authorities would always intervene when children were at risk. The community “probably misinterpreted” the situation, he said.

Police said they initially responded to a report of a disturbance involving children and “agency workers.” As more people began arriving at the scene, a decision was made to move the children and workers to a safer location.

But the situation continued to escalate, with crowds gathering and pockets of disorder breaking out.