I have just got home from Croydon town centre - instructed to leave by security guards because it simply is not safe. The Whitgift Centre, the main shopping centre, has been closed and the glass doors in the building are being reinforced with wooden panels.
Reinforcement and protection are also a common theme along Church Street, the road which joins the now well-known Reeves' Corner. Shopkeepers have closed early, after securing pieces of wood onto their shop fronts. People are desperate to protect their livelihood: the owner of a bridal shop said she would just be pleased to have a paying customer having stayed open until 6 p.m. yesterday evening, by which time most of the shops had been closed for several hours.
Reeves itself is now a shell. Despite the area around the smouldering building being completely cordoned off, crowds of people gather to see the damage for themselves, taking videos and photographs. I over-hear a man, head-in-hands, "I'm just hear to help clear out a friend's shop".
Rumours of further attacks are rife on social networking websites and local residents are preparing for another night of expected riots.
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