Thatcher urged to use troops to halt rioting

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher faced demands to use troops to halt a wave of rioting, looting, and attacks on police. In the sixth successive night of rioting, over 1,000 youths, both black and white, stormed a police station in Manchester. John Carlisle, a parliamentary member of Mrs. Thatcher's Conservative Party, said he would demand the deployment of troops with water cannon, gas, and plastic antiriot bullets, the weapons of British forces in Northern Ireland.

Manchester Police Chief James Anderton said police believed that the rioting was organized and that gasoline bombs were bei ng manufactured and ferried about in the backs of vans.