The Hare Hills area of the Yorkshire city descended into chaos after police were called to a disturbance at a property near Luxor Street, but no one was injured.
After chaotic protests erupted last night, Leeds was apparently left to burn for hours after riot police were removed from the scene.
The Hare Hills area of the Yorkshire city was thrown into chaos after police were called to a disturbance at a property near Luxor Street.
Disturbing footage online showed an angry mob, including teenagers, vandalizing a policeman's car using objects such as scooters and prams - with officers allegedly running for their lives.
Although missiles were thrown and fire started, no casualties were reported. And this with the silver lining that the same joke about the massacre continued to be made on social media.
X users couldn't help but remember that proud Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs issued a warning about such chaos in 2004 with the hit single 'I Predict a Riot'.
Has the madness begun?
Locals say the chaos is related to the care of local children. Some said people in the community responded by setting fires and throwing stones.
Police have now confirmed they were called to a disturbance involving agency workers and children - before they were later moved to a safer location.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: At 5pm today, police were called to an address in Luxor Street, Hare Hills, to a disturbance in progress.
Officers attended and found an ongoing disturbance involving some agency workers and some children.
More people started arriving at the site and it was decided to move the agency workers and children to a safer place.
A crowd began to gather and more officers were requested to attend the area, where disorder was taking place in some pockets.
Additional officers have been deployed to the area to help manage this incident. Some road closures are also in place and people are advised to avoid the area at this time.
There are no reported injuries and investigations are ongoing at the scene.
The police forcibly evicted.
Mail Online reports that police first responded to the disturbance around 5pm last night, but 'remained relatively absent from the mayhem until 1am this morning.'
Frightened residents were forced to plead with unruly crowds in the absence of authorities, the headline said. West Yorkshire Police have been contacted for comment.
Green Party councilor Mateen Ali was recorded as he pleaded with the rioters to stop, saying 'there are children'.
Culler Ali was also seen helping with clean-up efforts, as social media footage showed him putting buckets of water on the flames.
The Mail reported that 'the fire broke out without the intervention of the police or fire service even though it had been several hours since the riot started.'
The bus burned down.
One of the most striking images to emerge from the chaos was of a double-decker bus engulfed in flames.
Risa, a pharmacy dispenser who did not want to give her last name, told the media that she saw the driver fleeing from safety.
He said: There was a bus at the lights, obviously all these people stopped him too. He was trying to get through, but obviously, he couldn't, so he turned around and just basically Stopped outside my street, and just went there because he thought he was in danger.
I saw people throwing things at the bus before the driver got out. Someone threw a glass at the bus.
Police statement
West Yorkshire Police issued a statement at 12.45am this morning saying the incident was still ongoing.
The statement said: “Police are monitoring a serious disturbance incident in the Harry Hills area this evening.
A large number of public order officers have been deployed to the scene pending an ongoing incident.
We want to reassure residents that we are responding to incidents of disorder and that the appropriate specialist public order resources are attending.
Officers are also looking into the footage that is circulating on social media that is offensive.
All criminal offenses, including fire damage to vehicles, will be fully investigated by detectives from Leeds CID and the force's Homicide and Major Inquiry Team.
We want to make it clear that the full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible.
Police also confirmed that no one has been reported injured in the disturbance so far, and the force is treating the matter as a serious public order incident.
The force also said it was aware of false information circulating on social media suggesting those possibly responsible.
