TWO police cars were set on fire overnight as hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of north London to protest the fatal shooting of a young father by police.
Trouble flared after a crowd of around 300 gathered in the Tottenham area, with some hurling missiles and smashing shop windows as the unrest threatened to spiral into a riot.
It followed a march, involving around 120 people, from the Broadwater Farm area to Tottenham police station demanding "justice" for the shot man named locally as Mark Duggan.
The black father-of-four, 29, died on Thursday, allegedly after he exchanged fire with police officers.The patrol cars were torched as dozens gathered outside the police station on the High Road in Tottenham.
A spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police said missiles were thrown at the vehicles.
"One was set alight and one was pushed into the middle of the High Road," he said.
Officers were being dispatched to disperse the crowd, he added.
The unrest occurred following a march from Broadwater Farm, a 1960s public housing estate in Tottenham.Earlier a family friend of Mr Duggan, who gave her name only as Nikki, 53, said the man's friends and relatives had organised the protest because "something has to be done" and the marchers wanted "justice for the family".
It was revealed that Mr Duggan had been travelling in a minicab and was gunned down after an apparent exchange of fire. Officers had been attempting to carry out an arrest under the Trident operational command unit, which deals with gun crime in the black community, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission
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