A fourth night of rioting and looting has ended in Britain.
There were serious disturbances in several cities Tuesday night, August 9, although London remained largely quiet with a heavy police presence on the streets.
About 170 persons have been arrested in Manchester, Liverpool and the Western Midlands.
The British police have been stretched with disorder on the streets of Manchester, Birmingham and other cities in central London.
They have clashed with gangs found raiding shops and smashing windows.
Two 16-year old boys who were looting in Manchester said they were not afraid of being caught even if the police have made several arrests.
In Manchester, Liverpool and the west midlands, the police continued to search for the perpetrators, while in London, where there are 16,000 officers on the streets, it was quieter than on previous nights.
Fight back under way – Cameron
"We needed a fight back and a fight back is under way", British Prime Minister David Cameron has said after four days of riots.
Prime Minister Cameron said every action would be taken to restore order, with contingency plans for water cannon to be available at 24 hours' notice.
On Tuesday night, unrest spread to cities including Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Nottingham and Birmingham, with shops being looted and set alight.
Three men died when they were hit by a car in Birmingham.
Mr. Cameron, speaking after a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee said the police were authorised to take "any action necessary" to bring the situation under control.
"This continued violence is simply not acceptable, and it will be stopped. We will not put up with this in our country. We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets," he said.
"We have seen the worst of Britain, but I also believe we have seen some of the best of Britain - the million people who have signed up on Facebook to support the police, coming together in the clean-up operations," Mr. Cameron added.
The prime minister said more arrests would take place as police worked through CCTV evidence.
"Picture by picture, the criminals are being identified and arrested," he said.
Cleaning up begins
And a clean-up of shopping streets in London littered with debris following three nights of rampage by gangs of hooded youths began on Wednesday, August 10.
About 16,000 policemen and women have been sent onto the streets in a show of force in districts where gangs had looted shops and burned cars.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who cut short a family holiday in Italy to deal with the crisis, is due to chair a second meeting of COBRA on Wednesday.
Community leaders said the violence in London, the worst for decades in the multi-ethnic capital of 7.8 million, was rooted in growing disparities in wealth and opportunity.
However, many insisted that greed was the looters' only motive.