From Anthony Faiola, the Washington Post:  Prime Minister David Cameron called Tuesday for an emergency session of Parliament and announced an almost tripling of police on London streets, after the capital and other British cities burned in this nation’s worst civil disturbances in decades. . . .

Effectively acknowledging that the embattled Metropolitan Police had been completely overwhelmed — images showed riot police standing by as rioters looted and set buildings ablaze — Cameron said a force some 16,000 strong would take to the streets Tuesday evening, up from 6,000 a day earlier.

“People should be in no doubt that we will everything necessary to restore order to Britain’s streets,” Cameron said. “This is criminality pure and simple, and it must be confronted and defeated.”

But Cameron did not appear to immediately embrace calls by some to send in the army or deploy water cannons against the rioters. After more than 450 arrests, authorities said prisons in London were already reaching capacity, leading the newly detained to be shuttled to jails outside the capital.

British authorities said Parliament will convene on Thursday to address the riots. . . .  (photo: Amy Weston/WENN.com)

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