On a street corner in Harehills, a crowd of people gathered around the charred carcass of what was once a double-decker bus. The smell of smoke hung in the air as a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Just a few hours later than West Yorkshire Police described as ‘pockets of disorder’the scene on the ground seemed much more than that, with dozens of people still gathered when we arrived.
Some community members became curious, recording what was happening on their phones, while others sprang into action.
These people included a group of men led by Mothin Ali, a local councilor who led a group trying to douse the bus with water.
Speaking to us afterwards, while sweating and clearly exhausted, Mr Ali repeatedly mentioned wider social concerns, including issues such as poverty and social exclusion as part of a powder keg that was waiting to explode.
Amid the chaos of a feverish night in Leeds, there was a lack of clarity over what exactly happened.
A police car was overturned. Photo: Snapchat/Kardo
In their statement, police alluded to an incident that involved temporary workers and some children being removed to a safe location before crowds gathered.
It’s still unclear how, but what happened next sparked scenes that caught national attention. The tension was still palpable when we arrived, which is perhaps why the police initially hesitated, waiting until around 2am to disperse the crowd, before their own vehicles and two fire engines arrived.
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The flames may have been extinguished, but now questions will begin not only about what happened, but also why what was apparently an incident reached this level of disorder.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
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