The police worked to contain the rioters, rather than confronting them Violence flared in Liverpool for up to five hours overnight as rioters took to the streets in the south of the city.
Cars and wheelie bins were set alight during the disturbances which spread from the city centre to Toxteth, Dingle and Wavertree.The disorder started at about 22:00 BST and had calmed down by about 03:00 BST.
There were hundreds of youths on the rampage on the streets. Merseyside Police said they had arrested six people overnight.
Andy Ward, Merseyside Assistant Chief Constable, said the violence was a "copycat issue", as London saw its third night of rioting.
Two officers hurt "It is a very saddening picture to be honest," he said.
"We had a situation last night where a number of young people decided to gather and they have decided to go on a spree of disorder and violence across parts of south Liverpool."
He said the youths had organised on social networking sites, which he conceded made the force's job more difficult.
Mr Ward said police officers were attacked with two suffering injuries to their legs.
The rioters started fires to try to stop the police behind them The force tried to contain the troublemakers rather than get involved in running battles.
As the night progressed, the group became more fragmented as officers in riot gear and wielding batons, supported by police vans, sealed roads off.
However, there were several stand-offs as rioters pelted officers with missiles, from golf clubs to bricks and bottles.
Smithdown Road, Upper Parliament Street, Lodge Lane, Lawrence Road, Princes Road and Princes Avenue were badly hit.
'Tesco store looted' A works van was set alight in High Park Street and the windows smashed at Mount Carmel Social Club.
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Rubbish and shattered glass litter the road.
Gangs of young people, with their faces covered, lined the streets in south Liverpool in a stand-off with police.
The BBC team were then advised to leave North Hill Street for safety reasons.
As we left, a pub owner was frantically boarding up his windows trying to protect his business.
Moving to Myrtle Street where a Tesco had just been looted, the road was still blocked with a burning car and water from the fire hydrant was still pumping down the street.
The apartments above had to be evacuated.
As the sun began to come up, the clean-up began. Residents were out sweeping up the litter and glass from outside their homes.
AT THE SCENE - PETER COULTER
Driving into Toxteth you could almost taste the acrid smoke funnelling from the burning cars along the road.Rubbish and shattered glass litter the road.
Gangs of young people, with their faces covered, lined the streets in south Liverpool in a stand-off with police.
The BBC team were then advised to leave North Hill Street for safety reasons.
As we left, a pub owner was frantically boarding up his windows trying to protect his business.
Moving to Myrtle Street where a Tesco had just been looted, the road was still blocked with a burning car and water from the fire hydrant was still pumping down the street.
The apartments above had to be evacuated.
As the sun began to come up, the clean-up began. Residents were out sweeping up the litter and glass from outside their homes.
The rioters also scattered bins across the road, setting them alight, to try to stop police pursuing them.
The Tesco Express store in Myrtle Street was looted - with some of the raiders said by witnesses to be as young as 10 years old.Homes do not appear to have been damaged and there were no reports of injuries.
Mr Ward said Merseyside Police had been prepared, but the force had not expected disorder on such a scale.
Residents referred to the violence as "madness" and "senseless".
One said: "This has been waiting to kick off for a while. They will be back on the streets tomorrow night."
Mr Ward said: "Tonight we will have a very robust response to events that take place."
Deputy leader of Liverpool City Council Paul Brant urged the community to impose "a form of curfew in the sense that parents and grandparents and family members should be making sure young people are inside".
He also called on people to go to police if they knew who the perpetrators were.
People have been taking part in a spontaneous clean up in Toxteth. It included Labour councillor Steve Munby, the city council's cabinet member for neighbourhoods who represents Toxteth.
The clean-up operation has started to get under way Mr Munby said a huge amount of effort had been put into improving relations between the police and the community since the riots in 1981.
Sonia Bassey-Williams, 45, helped organise this year's 1981 Toxteth Riots - 30 Years On exhibition at Liverpool's International Slavery Museum.
She said the violence was a reaction to the government cuts which were leaving more people in poverty.
"I think people just react out of frustration in this way," said she said.
But she agreed with other people who said a "criminal element" were using it as an excuse to cause mayhem and to loot.
She added: "I think the government needs to sit up and listen. I just hope people start a dialogue pretty quickly to try and bring some calm back to the community."
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