Rioting Spreads Across Britain

British Prime Minister David Cameron reacts:

Speaking outside his office and residence at 10 Downing Street, Mr. Cameron said lawmakers would be called back from their summer recess for one day on Thursday and the number of police on the streets would be increased to 16,000 on Wednesday night from 6,000 on Tuesday. He said the authorities would “do everything necessary to restore order to Britain’s streets.” “This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted and defeated,” Mr. Cameron said. He said the violence had produced “sickening scenes” and that the country needed “even more robust police action” to confront the unrest. There would be “many more arrests in the days to come,” he said. Mr. Cameron’s comments came after violence also erupted overnight in several other cities, including Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol, as well as in three towns in the county of Kent, southeast of the capital. An enormous fire consumed a large warehouse of Sony electrical goods in the Enfield section of London after an equally ferocious blaze ripped through a furniture store in Croydon.