Ten arrests made as part of Harehills Bonfire Night chaos investigation

Riot police were rushed to Harehills Road in November 2019 when youths threw fireworks and missiles at officers and set fire to bins.

Two were treated at hospital but none were seriously injured.

This week officers from the Leeds East Neighbourhood Policing Team made arrests at addresses in Harehills.

A total of eight boys, aged 12 to 18, were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.

Detectives from Leeds District CID launched Operation Daydon last year, spending months trawling through hours of CCTV and body-worn camera footage to identify others that were involved.

They are now appealing for the public's help to identify seven more suspects.

On the night, officers initially responded to reports of youths gathering in the Banstead Park area and lighting a fire at about 6pm.

Community mediators attempted to disperse them.

By 7.30pm, youths had set fire to a wheelie bin in Harehills Road and police came under attack from fireworks

Passing motorists were also targeted.

More bins were moved into the road and set alight as the group grew larger and fired more fireworks and missiles at police.

Police had to close the road to disperse the youths before making arrests.

It was after midnight before the situation was under control.

A total of 15 people, aged 11 to 23, were arrested at the time on suspicion of violent disorder.

Following this week's arrests, seven people have been released on police bail while enquiries continue, one currently remains in custody and further interviews are taking place with two of those originally arrested.

Chief Superintendent Damien Miller, Leeds District Commander, said: “As the senior officer leading the force-wide operation that night, I saw first-hand the truly appalling situation that officers were faced with in Harehills.

“I know that the wider community were equally appalled at the behaviour that was witnessed on their streets, and they have been fully supportive of our efforts to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

“As we said at the time, this situation was not about tensions in the community or general animosity towards the police but more about a hooligan element of local youths seeing an opportunity to engage in firework-related disorder on a large scale, regardless of the impact on the wider community."

Chief Superintendent Miller said the behaviour risked "overshadowing the huge amount of hard work" so may in Harehills do to give young people good life chances.

“We hope this week’s arrest phase, and the progress to charges that will follow, will send a very clear deterrent message to those who think that it’s okay to engage in behaviour such as this without having to face the consequences," he added.

“We also hope our actions will serve to reassure the community that incidents like this do not pass without an appropriate response, and that we will continue to work hard alongside our partner agencies to keep people feeling safe.

“I would urge anyone who recognises any of the remaining suspects to show their support for the Harehills community by passing that information on to the investigation team.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Richard Coulton at Leeds District CID via 101 quoting Operation Daydon or online via www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101livechat

Information can also be given anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.