Hundreds of people in London have gathered together on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in self-defense groups, on the streets of the British capital, affected by four days of violence.
The night was calm in London, full of police, but still the tension was in the air.
In Southall, west London, hundreds of followers of Sikh religion, some of whom wore traditional dress, gathered Tuesday evening in front of their temple after rumors that it might become the target of violence.
They have organized patrols on motorcycles and were watching the local train station for the potential arrival of people who wanted to trigger violence.
At Enfield, north London district strongly affected by disturbances in the previous nights, about 200 people were patrolling the neighborhood to monitor the streets.
A video recording made by an amateur and broadcast Wednesday showed a group of about 100 people chanting “England, England, England” on the streets of Enfield.
The group had an altercation with a young man who had a hockey stick, but the situation calmed down when most of the crowd called for calm.
A number of football fans gathered on the outskirts of Eltham, where it was also rumored that people will come and try to trigger violence.
“This is a neighborhood of white workers and we are here to protect our community”, said a young man for The Guardian.
“We are here to help the police. My mother is terrified of what she saw on TV last three days and we decided that this will not happen here”, he added.
In the Hackney and Kentish Town neighborhoods, north London, more traders, mostly Turks, were on duty in front of their stores, some with makeshift weapons.