A 76-year-old Meadow Well resident has described hearing "bricks smashing off riot shields" as he captured video footage of the Bonfire Night disorder in the area.
Dave Shaw, who has lived in Meadow Well for a long time, filmed the scenes while out in the area last night and has shared his account of what he witnessed. The video shows smoke billowing from a building before capturing some of those involved throwing missiles towards it. It then shows a burning car that had been driven into the building, followed by more of the perpetrators as they were met by riot police.
Resident's account of the violence
Dave said: "I have lived in Meadow Well for a long time, but I didn't see the 1991 riots first-hand, just in videos on YouTube, and being there in person when this was happening was a different kettle of fish entirely. You see the kids out a lot, so people thought something might happen, like maybe some bins set on fire, but didn't expect anything like this."
He added: "When I first saw the fireworks and smoke coming from near the building, I went to investigate, thinking it would just be bins, and then I saw more of the thick, black smoke just round the corner, and honestly it was a bit scary. There were around 60 people all throwing bricks, and I could hear bricks smashing off riot shields, the bangs were so loud."
Clean-up effort and police response
Dave said he knew the area would need cleaning up today, so he put a post on Facebook asking people to come and help. He said: "I'm well-known in the area for litter picking, and there were five of us in total, as well as getting help from North Tyneside Council which was great. It's something I do anyway, and I think we did well, so it was fantastic to see people coming out to help, it brought a bit of positivity to the situation."
Northumbria Police has confirmed that six people have been arrested, with multiple officers injured, and five police cars and three fire engines damaged. North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has condemned the "pre-arranged violence" carried out by a "minority of idiots".
Those involved are believed to have thought the building would be used as a House of Multi-occupancy, however this will not be the case, as both buildings targeted will be supermarkets with private flats above. Missiles were thrown at the building, and emergency services were hit with bricks and fireworks.
