Statement from Meg Hillier MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch

"I am shocked and horrified by the events in Hackney.

"The thugs behind this need to be dealt with by the police.

"Hackney has seen such progress in the last decade. We must condemn the violence. Hackney is a commnunity of diversity and tolerance and we need to make sure that these are the characteristics Hackney is known by, not the actions of some mindless, violent thugs.

"If people have grievances we must use the democratic process to resolve them."

"I have spoken to the Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent Bending who I will be meeting urgently. I will also be meeting community leaders and business representatives later today to discuss the clean up and how we rebuild the community"

If you have any thoughts and suggestions about where we go from here after such awful events please let me know

Meg