Hammersmith and Fulham Council have threatened council tenants that anyone caught rioting is liable to be evicted from their homes.

The hardline plan was announced yesterday by Cllr Greg Smith, Council Cabinet Member for Residents' Services, following a meeting of the council's Service Resilient Group.

He said: " The scenes of violent thuggery, looting and criminal damage from across the capital are appalling. In H&F, the local Police did a fantastic job in keeping residents safe last night when other areas suffered so badly. There were serious risks of disorder in the borough that were successfully prevented and arrests made.

“However, there is an ongoing situation across London and the Police remain on high alert. The council will assist the Police in generating convictions for any disorder that does occur locally by sharing CCTV and other intelligence. We will also radically pursue any council tenants who are proved guilty of being involved in criminal activity by seeking evictions where appropriate."

He has been joined by his colleague, Cllr and former Mayor Andrew Johndon, Cabinet Member fo Housing.

He said: "The rule of law within this borough is absolute and we will be robustly pursuing any council tenants who are proved guilty of being involved in criminal activity by seeking evictions where appropriate.

" The message needs to go out loud and clear that if you are found guilty of violent disorder in the borough then you are not welcome here. You are likely to lose your home as well as your liberty.

" The majority of our 13,000 tenants are decent law-abiding folk and they have the right to go about their daily lives without the fear of hooliganism and criminal activity. Our residents will expect us to come down hard out the anti-social minority from our estates and boot them out."

After a night of "sporadic disorder" on Monday night, Hammersmith and Fulham remained quiet on Tuesday night, with no reports of major incidents.

We'll bring you more news as we receive it, and you can also get updates on the situation across London on Met Police's website.

Police say Operation Withern is investigating the disorder and violence, and  an incident room has been set up. Anyone with information should call the Major Investigation Team on 020 8345 4142.

The team is being led by Detective Superintendent John Sweeney, and is made up of detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, specialist investigators from the Public Order Branch and police support staff.

Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous can contact Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.

August 10, 2011