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Police ready to use plastic bullets, says Cameron

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Aug 10, IRNA -- Prime Minister David Cameron Wednesday stepped up “robust” action against riots in Britain with contingency plans to use plastic bullets and water- cannons to win back control of city streets.

'We will do whatever is necessary to restore law and order onto our streets, Nothing is off the table,”, Cameron said after chairing a second emergency Cobra meeting with cabinet colleagues and security chiefs.

'We now have in place contingency plans for water cannon to be available at 24 hours' notice,' he told reporters, adding that police had already been authorized to use plastic baton rounds against rioters.

Plastic bullets and water cannons have been frequently used by security forces during the conflict in Northern Ireland, but any use in mainland Britain is seen as controversial.

'We needed a fightback and a fightback is underway,' Cameron said after ordering an increase of police on the ground in London from 6,000 to 16,000 on Tuesday that saw a quieter night in the capital but a spread of rioting in other cities.

He said there was evidence that the 'more robust' approach being taken by the police was working, but pledged that his government was not complacent in the face of the worst rioting in Britain in living memory.

'Courts sat through the night last night and will do again tonight,' Cameron said, with more than 1,300 arrests carried out since the disturbances erupted on Saturday night and has led to over 160 people already charged.

'Major police operations are under way, as I speak, to arrest the criminals who were not picked up last night but who were picked up on close circuit television cameras,' he said.

'Picture by picture, these criminals are being identified and arrested, and we will not let any phony concerns about human rights get in the way of the publication of these pictures and the arrest of these individuals,' he pledged.

But in his statement, the prime minister also admitted that the rioting showed there was something seriously wrong with British society and said the problem was a 'complete lack of responsibility' rather than inequalities and lack of opportunities.

'We need to have a clearer code of values and standards that we expect people to live by and stronger penalties if they cross the line,' he said.