Public hailed after quiet night

An 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of arson after a Miss Selfridge store in Manchester city centre was set alight

Published: 1:29am, 11th August 2011
Updated: 11:52am, 11th August 2011

A police chief has praised the "tremendous support" of the Greater Manchester public after a large police presence and heavy downpours helped deter looters and vandals returning to the streets for a second successive night.

There were no reports of major incidents of disorder in Manchester city centre and Salford overnight, as the number of arrests for previous violence rose to 145 - including an 18-year-old man being questioned on suspicion of arson after a Miss Selfridge outlet was torched.

More than 110 of those charged were appearing before a special overnight sitting at Manchester Magistrates' Court.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said: "We have had substantial numbers of officers on duty throughout the night and the work to ensure we can keep our streets peaceful and safe will continue in the coming days. There have been no incidents of disorder reported, but we have made a handful of arrests of people.

"There has continued to be tremendous support from people across Greater Manchester who are providing us with information and updates about any concerns. People are continuing to phone through to the freephone hotline 0800 092 0410 and more than a quarter of a million hits on the Flickr site featuring images of wanted people.

"A major police investigation is under way to identify and put people before the courts. They have worked throughout the night to deal with individuals, a number of whom have already been jailed.

"Detectives are working through the information but they have hundreds of photographs and footage to work through and more than 200 scenes of crime that are being managed. We will not rest until we have been through every CCTV image we have and every piece of information we receive to identify who was responsible for the disorder, arrest them and put them before the courts."

On Wednesday, the Arndale Centre closed early at 5pm while many other shops, bars and restaurants chose to do the same. The Tesco Metro store was the only retail outlet in the centre's busiest shopping thoroughfare, Market Street, to remain open.

In Liverpool, police released CCTV stills of possible offenders following two nights of disorder in the south of the city. Calm was restored on Wednesday night after Monday and Tuesday's incidents of "unprecedented violence" in Toxteth, Wavertree, Dingle and also Birkenhead.

In Yorkshire, six people were arrested but there were no reports of major incidents as the county continued to remain largely trouble-free.