Leicester disorder arrests expected as police identify 100 images

Police investigating large-scale disorder in Leicester said officers had identified a further 100 images that could lead to more arrests.

Chief Constable Rob Nixon told the BBC officers were expecting to arrest more people as soon as next week.

He said there were more than 60 full-time officers on the case after unrest in the city culminated in widespread disorder breaking out in September.

Work is ongoing to identify a person to carry out a review into what happened.

The review was announced after large-scale disorder occurred following tensions involving mainly young men from Muslim and Hindu communities.

The previous chair, hate crime expert Dr Chris Allen, stood down following criticism over his appointment.

Mr Nixon said nine people had been charged over disorder in the city.

He told the Today programme: "We have now identified in excess of 100 different images in which we suspect will lead to further arrests over the next week or several months.

"I think this was a very unusual situation, I think it would be too easy to try and come up with one cause or reason why this has occurred.

"I'd like to think it was a one-off but what everyone needs to recognise is when you've got such diversity within close proximity, where there is a sense of tension, you need to pick up on that and respond really quickly."

Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said in terms of the review, officials were "back to square one" but added steps were being taken to get it off the ground.

Mr Soulsby added he has had a "number of conversations" with people from different communities in Leicester about how to select a new review chair.

"I've heard a lot of explanations [as to the cause of what happened] but I'm not sure which ones to accept and that's why I wanted a thorough review," Mr Soulsby said.

"We need to understand what happened and things that might have motivated it and the lessons we and other cities I hope can learn from that to try and prevent it from occurring.

"We need to have the confidence of all concerned."

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