Police clashed with young people and made arrests following disorder on London’s Oxford Street with Britain‘s interior minister on Thursday urging those responsible to be “hunted down”.
Widely considered Europe’s busiest shopping street, the area saw a large police presence on Wednesday after videos emerged on social media, including TikTok, calling for an organised “robbery” of a sports store.
Some shops were forced to temporarily close their shutters while police officers on horseback disperse the crowds gathered on the central London street.
London’s Metropolitan police said Wednesday evening that nine people were arrested, including one on suspicion of “going equipped to steal” and another on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.
It added that it issued 34 dispersal orders, which give police extra powers to break up groups of people in public areas.
Britain’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman called on those involved in the disturbance to be “hunted down and locked up”.
“We cannot allow the kind of lawlessness seen in some American cities to come to the streets of the UK,” Braverman said on X, formerly Twitter, posting a video of baton-wielding police officers.
“The police have my full backing to do whatever necessary to ensure public order,” she added.
