Officials in the northern English city of Leeds say order has been restored after a night of unrest that began when police and local government workers intervened in a “family incident” and residents poured into the streets in protest.

Eyewitness footage shot has captured a massive riot in the northern English city of Leeds, where an angry mob set ablaze a double decker bus, smashed windows and overturned a police car.

The chaos broke out in Harehills, about 1.6km northeast of the Leeds city centre.

In one clip, heavy police presence could be seen but officers appeared to be outnumbered by a large crowd of protesters.

Another clip showed people throwing various objects at a police car, including what appeared to be a scooter.

Tom Riordan, chief executive of the Leeds City Council, said calm was restored by about 1am and authorities have already begun to clean up the damage.

A burnt out car in the Leeds suburb of Harehills following an outbreak of disorder in the northern English city. - AP

“There was a family incident earlier in the day that the police attended and our officials attended that a lot of the community got concerned about,” Riordan said in an interview with the BBC. “And that appeared to be the trigger of concern for groups of people being concerned about what had happened.”

Riordan declined to provide specifics about the incident, but said authorities would always intervene when children were at risk. The community “probably misinterpreted” the situation, he said.

Police said they initially responded to a report of a disturbance involving children and “agency workers”. As more people began arriving at the scene, a decision was made to move the children and workers to a safer location.

But the situation continued to escalate, with crowds gathering and pockets of disorder breaking out. No injuries have been reported, police said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who is responsible for law enforcement in Britain, said she was “appalled at the shocking scenes” in Leeds overnight.

“Disorder of this nature has no place in our society,” she said on X.