Businesses and homes in Manchester and Birmingham were looted and set ablaze overnight as rioters took advantage of reduced police numbers in the area.
As insurers face escalating clean-up bills, as many as 2,000 rioters took control of Manchester city centre for the first time in the fourth consecutive night of disturbances in Britain.
A Miss Selfridge store was among the shops to go up in flames, according to the Met office. Police have also reported looting in the city's Arndale Centre and the windows of a Bang & Olufsen store smashed in.
In Birmingham, a House of Fraser store and a jewellry store were looted. Further disturbances were also reported in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and in Salford.
In London, a squad of 16,000 strong police officers guarded the city but shops were raided in Canning Town and Sloane Square.
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