British officials anticipating more riots Tuesday night sharply increased police presence in London and elsewhere to try to control the country's worst uprising in years. About 16,000 officers, roughly triple the number on duty in London a day earlier, were being deployed to try to accomplish what some observers described as "reclaiming the streets." Police said they could not guarantee an end to the looting, the burning of shops, or the general destruction of property. The tactics under consideration for controlling unruly crowds reportedly included plastic bullets. "We have lots of information to suggest that there may be similar disturbances tonight," Cmdr. Simon Foy told the BBC. "That's exactly the reason why the Met [police force] has chosen to now actually really 'up the game' and put a significant number of officers on the streets."
Local media reported sporadic skirmishes between police and rioters throughout the day Tuesday. Confrontations between police and rioters were also reported in Manchester and neighboring Salford in northwestern England. In central England, according to news reports, police arrested several people in Birmingham and stopped a group caught torching cars West Bromwich. Looting was reported in Wolverhampton, police said. Police were investigating the death of a man Tuesday who had been found shot in Croydon.
By late Tuesday, at least 560 people had been arrested in London, with more than 100 charged. Dozens more were arrested in other cities. Prime Minister David Cameron -- who cut short a holiday in Italy to deal with the crisis -- recalled Parliament from its summer recess for an emergency debate on the riots and looting that have spread from the deprived London neighborhood of Tottenham to districts across the capital and to Liverpool, Bristol and other cities. Cameron described the scenes of burning buildings and smashed windows as "sickening," but he refrained from tougher measures such as calling in the military to help police restore order. "People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding," Cameron told reporters after a crisis meeting at his Downing Street office.
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