The number of police officers on the streets of London is to be almost trebled tonight to 16,000 to deal with the "sickening" scenes of violence of recent nights, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said today.

Parliament will also be recalled for a day on Thursday to discuss the developments, the Prime Minister added.

Speaking outside Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency committee, Cobra, he said: "People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.