I begged them to spare my shop but the thugs kept coming back

Terrified Hackney shopkeepers told today how they pleaded in vain with looters, many of them children, to spare their businesses.

Cypran Asota, who has run the Boots opticians for 25 years, watched as his shop was ransacked last night. He said police stood by yards away, adding: "White boys ripped off the shutters, then a group of around eight or nine children went in and stole the day's takings.

"I ran back over the road to plead with them, this is my livelihood and I have to protect it, but they kept coming back in. They must have got away with £15,000 worth of frames. My insurance doesn't cover acts of terrorism.

"All the time the police were about 15 yards away, just watching. They didn't do anything to stop it. They looked more scared of those kids than I was."

Shopkeeper Shiva Kadih, 39, was reduced to tears as he surveyed his wrecked convenience store in Clarence Road. The father of two said he had "nothing left". Witnesses said they prevented an attempt to burn down the shop as police watched nearby.

In Mare Street, Margaret Asare said she had to flee with her four colleagues as a mob smashed through the plate glass window of her designer specs shop, eyelondon.

She said: "There were no police outside the door to stop it happening. It was very scary. They threw a brick through the window and if we'd still been inside they would have put a brick through our heads."

Trouble in Hackney flared at about 4.30pm after reports of a dispute between police and locals over a stop-and-search. Looters began targeting shops in daylight which turned into a night of violence with gangs fighting running battles with police. Rioting spread across Hackney and climaxed at the Pembury estate where police fought a three-hour battle with 300 thugs. Marauding yobs isolated a policeman in his car, jumped onto the roof and smashed his windscreen as others attacked with sticks and bottles. Children as young as eight were running between burning cars as looters kicked in shop windows.

Teenage girls also joined in, hurling glass bottles at police as they covered their faces with balaclavas.

Cars and dustbins were set alight and rioters used bins as barricades against the police as they pelted them with planks of wood, bricks, bottles and fireworks.

There were unconfirmed reports that a gang of black youths were targeting white people. A teenager on the Lower Clapton Road told the Standard: "I wouldn't go down there if I were you. It's not safe. There's a group of black guys beating up white people. They've beat up five people already and I even saw a woman get smacked around the face. Her nose was bleeding, her camera was stolen and she was crying on the floor." Buses were also targeted with one bus driver left sobbing at the wheel as thugs tried to topple her single-decker vehicle in Mare Street.

Ed Smith, 31, who lives close to Clarence Road, said: "I can't believe what I'm seeing. These people have no respect for human life." Hannah Howlett, 19, said: "Hackney is a place with high unemployment, these people are obviously bored. But I don't think there's much the police can do to stop it. If the police were really to crack down they'd be sued under human rights laws, and these people know it. They know the police can't touch them." In Dalston, with little protection from the police, dozens of Turkish men took matters into their own hands and chased away youths from their restaurants and businesses in Kingsland Road.

Looters set fire to a Sony distribution centre in Enfield as they escaped with TVs and stereos. Today, 40 firemen were still fighting the blaze. About 200 people staying at a Premier Inn hotel next door were evacuated.

In Camden, residents told how they feared they might be burned to death when a mob of 50 youths smashed into a bike shop underneath their flats.
The mob hurled dustbins at the Evans Cycles Shop opposite the Roundhouse Theatre, making off with thousands of pounds of bicycles. Residents said it was 45 minutes before police turned up to disperse the gang. Other Camden shops hit included Sainsbury's, an O2 and a Foot Locker.