Police have claimed that there was not a riot in central Walthamstow last night, saying there were only “small scuffles”.

Hundreds of youths crowded near to McDonalds in Hoe Street before fights erupted between there and High Street, shortly after 5pm.

Police were called to the scene and officers blocked off the entire are bringing traffic to a stop.

Violent videos later emerged online of youths brawling in the street, some girls fighting in large groups.

The hashtag #WalthamstowRiots began trending on Twitter soon after the incident.

Labour Walthamstow MP, Stella Creasy, posted on her blog around 10pm last night (October 6) a message sent to her from Waltham Forest Police.

It said: “Earlier on about 200 people (aged about 16 to 20) gathered in Walthamstow, we believe the majority are not from the local area.

“Due to the large numbers and calls about a fight several police resources were deployed.

“At the time of the police arrival, the group were not committing offences but their presence in such numbers would be alarming to members of the public as would the volume of police vehicles.

“It is important to stress there has been no riot.

“The group slowly started to move after police lines were implemented.

“This took some time due to the large numbers.

“There were some small scuffles in the group but no serious assaults or damage occurred.

“The MPS Territorial Support Group (TSG) were called and dealt with a large group who refused to leave.

“All persons left some hours ago.

“The presence of the TSG allowed us to return to taking calls as we would do normally and to use local officers to conduct reassurance patrols in the local area.

“There will be an investigative review in the morning where we will review the incident in its entirety.”

Three arrests have been made so far.