- By Daniele Palumbo and Paul Pigot
- BBC Verify and BBC News
Watch: CCTV shows police following people minutes before clash
Police have seen CCTV footage showing a police van chasing two e-bikes just minutes before the death that sparked a riot in Cardiff.
Footage shows a South Wales Police van and motorcycles 900 meters, or just over half a mile, from the scene of the accident.
However, police said there were no vehicles on Snowden Road in Ely at the time of the accident.
The video analyzed by BBC Verify is time-stamped at 17:59 BST on Monday at Frank Road.
Lieutenant Police Inspector Martin Stone makes statement in front of Cardiff Bay Police Station
“Just before 6pm we got footage of a police car chasing a cyclist,” Ch Supt Martin Stone said in a statement outside Cardiff Bay Police Station.
He declined to answer questions after the statement.
The footage “will help clarify the circumstances leading up to the crash,” he added.
“The police general’s carefully worded statement should be scrutinized,” he said.
image source, Getty Images
Car catches fire amid unrest in Cardiff suburb of Ely
“We have been able to confirm that the following investigations have been carried out so far and that there were no police vehicles on Snowden Road when the collision occurred,” Ch-Sapt-Stone said.
“At this stage, we do not believe that other vehicles were involved.”
The unit admitted to making compulsory referrals to the Independent Police Action Service (IOPC).
An IOPC spokesman said: “Investigators will be sent to police post-incident proceedings to begin gathering information and assess whether the IOPC will conduct an independent investigation.”
Burnt-out car ash was seen on Tuesday morning
Cars were set on fire, fireworks were set off and pavement boards were thrown at police as more than 100 people gathered after the accident.
Garbage and burnt cars left on the streets of Ely, Cardiff
“15 police officers were injured, 11 were taken to the hospital and 4 were treated at the scene,” said Ch Sapt Stone.
He said there had already been a number of arrests and that “more will be made in the future.”
“People are confident that we will do everything in our power to arrest those responsible,” he added.
“I’m understandably scared.”
Police were called to the incident shortly after 18:00 BST on Monday.
At about 20:00, he tweeted that police were still at the scene of the crash but were working to “calm down the ongoing chaos.”
The unit said it had received numerous calls from residents who were “rightfully frightened”.
A Welsh ambulance service said they were called back to the scene at 22:30 and five people were taken to hospital.
Resident Vicky Takata said she could see “a lot of riot police” and a helicopter “lighting the torch on us” from her window.
“It was a carnage,” she recalled. “I’ve never seen anything like it outside of television.”
Cardiff: Ely mob throws fireworks at police
Other witnesses said young men were chasing police officers on the road and throwing rocks and missiles at their cars.
“Police with shields were literally across from my car with all of us,” recalls Takada. “It was very scary.”
The unit said it was thinking of the families of the two dead boys and those affected by the riots.
The car was set on fire and the roof fell over
Bridy Boole, who knows the Evans family, said Harvey had “a lot of friends” and loved motorcycles and football.
“He was best friends with Kailes, [they] I was into the same thing. It wasn’t unusual for them to be together,” she said.
Mr Bour said he believed the two were being chased by police “because of the video being circulated”.
Car with smashed window on Snowden Road, Ely
Social Justice Minister Jane Hutt told Sened on Tuesday afternoon that more arrests were expected.
Prime Minister Mark Drakeford, whose Cardiff West constituency includes Ely, said he was “deeply concerned” by the “moving reports”.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said what happened was “amazing and totally unacceptable”.
Plaid Simr and the Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling for a thorough investigation. Welsh Conservative Senned Group leader Andrew RT Davies called it “very disturbing”.
Cardiff City Council leader Hugh Thomas appealed for calm, saying local authorities were “helping clean up so that the city of Ely can be rebuilt and presented with a more positive image”.
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