London Riots: Growing Calls For Army to be Deployed on Britain’s Streets

As Birmingham, Liverpool and Londoners wake up to scenes of devastation in their cities, there have been growing calls from celebrities, MP's and ordinary families for the army to be brought onto the streets of Britain to restore calm and order.

The leader of Croydon Council Mike Fisher has called on the government to deploy the army to the streets of Croydon after scenes of utter devastation were found in the aftermath of riots in the West Croydon area of the city.

The Croydon Council leader was speaking as he surveyed the damage in the worst affected areas of the London borough following the riots last night. The Conservative leader vowed the Council would use all resources possible to find those responsible for the trouble and bring them to justice. Mr Fisher has urged anyone with information not to hesitate passing it onto the police.

"Croydon cannot see this level of violence and disorder again - public lives are at risk. We need additional resources and that can be police if possible but if not then we should be looking at deployment of the army and other military," he said.

Politicians and members of the public have also called on the government to bring the army to the streets. On forums and radio phone in programmes members of the public have said they now fear for their lives. Reports have claimed that the police are unable to control escalating levels of violence Prime Minster and Home Secretary Theresa May have returned early from their holidays.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has also called on the COBRA meeting to get a grip of the situation. "The police cannot possibly cope with the sheer level and scope of the violence and the civilian authorities need proper, substantial support from the military," he said. Millions of decent people deserve to be protected. And if nothing serious is done to quell the spread of troublemaking chaos will ensue, not just in London but across the country," Farage continued.

The Daily Telegraph has also reported that Conservative MP Patrick Mercer has called on the government to help the police by adding water cannons to their defence of towns across London. Mercer, a former British Army officer was reported to have said he found it strange such measures had been used "against the Irish" but that "when Englishmen step out of line... we are happy to mollycoddle them. If the police want cannon then they should be allowed to use them. I have used water cannon myself and I found them extremely effective," he said.

Rio Ferdinand has also called on the government to bring order to the streets of London and the rest of the UK by putting troops of the streets. "The scenes on Sky news right now are shocking. What is this all in aid of?? Innocent peoples [sic] homes + livelihoods have gone up in smoke-why?" he said.

It seems these kids/people have no fear or respect for the police....maybe the army will get that respect??" Ferdinand added in a separate tweet.

England's international friendly with the Netherlands has been cancelled as well as West Ham and Charlton's ties with Aldershot and Reading respectively.