Over 334 people in London and about 100 in Birmingham in the English Midlands had been arrested so far due to the worst rioting and looting ever in UK according to police. Violence also broke out in Bristol and the northwest port of Liverpool.

An ugly side of London was revealed to the rest of the world with the 2012 Olympic Games to be hosted in the nation less than a year.

UK is witnessing its worst unrest in decades with vehicles and buildings set ablaze, shop windows smashed, and policemen injured. Looting and rioting started after police shot to death a 29-year-old man in London's Tottenham neighborhood late last week.

Tottenham neighborhood is London's economically depressed area and has a history of racial conflicts being a major home to ethnic minorities.

The horrific violence was reportedly spurred into riots as protesters started throwing stones at police, set cars and buses on fire, and smashed store windows in the midst of a peaceful vigil marking the man’s death.

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg condemned the rioters as criminals and the violence as “needless, opportunistic and completely unacceptable.” However, London residents point at anger over the gloomy economic situation in north London, including high unemployment and reduced public services as the main culprit for the explosion of the rioting and looting.

Cutting short a vacation in Italy, British Prime Minister David Cameron rushed back to London to deal with the city's worst rioting in years. Determined to do everything necessary to restore order in London, by Tuesday night he ordered 16,000 police officers to be deployed to quell the worst three consecutive days of riots.

Click on the slideshow to see how London deals with the riots:

Unemployment London Unemployment London