British Prime Minister, David Cameron said police had admitted to him that they got their riot tactics wrong, as as he announced a raft of measures to help homeowners and businesses.

The riots were "criminality pure and simple" however there were "far too few police" on the streets, he said, during an emergency recall of Parliament.

He announced a crackdown on facemasks and a review of curfews. More than 1,200 arrests have been made since the unrest began on Saturday and more will follow.

Mr Cameron earlier chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee Cobra to discuss the violence with cabinet ministers. He's told MPs that it had become clear that there had been problems in the initial police response to the disorder.
"There were simply far too few police were deployed on to our streets and the tactics they were using weren't working,"

"Police chiefs have been frank with me about why this happened.

Initially the police treated the situation too much as a public order issue - rather than essentially one of crime."

"The truth is that the police have been facing a new and unique challenge with different people doing the same thing - basically looting - in different places all at the same time."

Meanwhile, Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, has told the BBC its members have voted unanimously to hold an inquiry into the causes of the riots.

Prime Minister David Cameron vowed Thursday, August 11 there would be no "culture of fear" on Britain's streets, as police raided houses to round up more suspects from four days of rioting and looting in London and other English cities.

"We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets," Cameron said. "We will not let a violent few beat us."