A major Sony warehouse has been left ablaze tonight after more riots in London.
The 20,000 square metre building located in Solar Way, Enfield is said to house content like DVDs, CDs and gaming titles and is the only such storage facility in the country.
The damage is said to be severe although noone was injured in the blaze. “There will likely be some impact on deliveries,” said Sony spokeswoman,Yoko Yasukochi, from Tokyo
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“We cannot determine the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage yet because it’s not possible to enter the building”.
Sony shops were also “targetted” in Ealing, according to the BBC.
A second Sony warehouse Waltham Abbey, Essex is also said to have been looted by rioters, who fled the scene with gaming consoles according to eyewitnesses, although this was not before they set the building alight.
Firefighters are said to have the worst of the fire under control.
Electronics stores were among the worst hit, with Currys and mobile phones shops including 3 Mobile among the stores ransacked and destroyed in areas like Ealing, Peckham, Croydon and Brixton, with eyewitnesses reporting youth rioters running off with TVs smartphones and consoles.
This marks the third night of rioting in Britain’s capital city, which kicked off in the north London suburb of Tottenham on Saturday, after the mistaken shooting of a local youth and has now spread to locations further north and south of the city.
BlackBerry Messenger, as well as social media including Twitter and Facebook were said to have helped the rioters communicate and gather momentum.
And in an interesting twist, Metropolitan Police are said to be outwardly defending Apple’s flagship store on London Regent St, with three police vans seen parked outside the premises.
The fires, which have destroyed buildings and businesses, are now described as “almost pan London”.
“In the next 24 hours there will be 13,000 police officers on duty in London,” Scotland Yard wrote on Twitter. This has now been upped to 16,000.
