Third Night of Riots Erupts in Bristol
BRISTOL, England — A southern English city was plagued with violence for a third night as gangs of youths set cars ablaze to protest the deaths of two men in a police chase, police said.
Twenty-one people were arrested Saturday night in a run-down housing project in Bristol, about 105 miles west of London. But the unrest was much less serious than on previous nights, they said.
On Friday, about 200 rampaging youths stoned police, set fire to local shops, went on looting sprees and used burning vehicles as barricades before order was restored. Twelve police officers were hospitalized, and 42 people were reported arrested after that melee.
The trouble erupted Thursday night after two men were killed when the stolen police motorcycle they were riding crashed into an unmarked police car.
Rioters accused police of deliberately killing the two men.
Two police detectives have been suspended from duty while an investigation is carried out.
Last September, rioting erupted in inner city areas in Oxford, 55 miles northwest of London, and in North Shields in northeast England after police sought to stamp out a youth craze for stealing cars and racing them for thrills.
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