Eleven people have been taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a five-storey building in London.
About 160 people were evacuated from Emperor's Gate, in South Kensington, after the fire spread from a ground-floor flat just after midnight.
London Fire Brigade (LFB) said the blaze, which had spread to the roof of the building, was now under control.
It said the people taken to hospital were treated for the effects of smoke inhalation.
'Incredibly challenging'
Fifteen fire engines and about 100 firefighters arrived at the scene to find half of the ground floor of the building was alight, LFB said.
Two people were rescued from a second-floor flat, one person was helped from a first-floor flat and another two were rescued from a flat on the fourth floor.
Borough commander Ben King said the blaze had started at 00:31 GMT and described it as "incredibly challenging".
"Our crews have acted with, as you would expect and as London rightfully deserves, utmost professionalism as they have conducted a number of rescues," he said.
The flames became "very significant" and it was a "dynamic incident" for the service to deal with, Mr King explained.
Station commander Steve Collins added that crews worked extremely hard to stop the fire spreading to adjacent buildings.
At about 05:30, the fire service said the blaze had been brought under control.
Mr King said the roof of the building was "significantly damaged" and the ground floor and an adjoining property had suffered damage too.
The service said some residents had been let back into their homes.
The cause of the fire is not yet known and the service said it would remain at the scene until at least Friday afternoon.
Arnis Altens, who was one of the people evacuated, described the fire as "pretty scary".
The 58-year-old said he saw a "small fire" on the ground floor, which people were trying to put out using extinguishers.
"They broke the window and after that the fire spread rapidly... the blaze came out of the window," Mr Altens explained.
"In 14 minutes the whole building was ablaze," he added.
London Fire Brigade
At the scene
Harry Low, BBC News
It's bucketing it down with rain here in south Kensington.
Firefighters using a turntable ladder continue to battle the blaze which is now under control.
There's a heavy police presence too with road closures in every direction and buses on diversion.
Dozens of tired looking firefighters have been accepting hot drinks from a Salvation Army van a street away.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea said council staff were providing assistance and shelter at a nearby hotel for those affected.
Deputy leader councillor Kim Taylor-Smith thanked the emergency services for "the incredible job they have done in very challenging conditions" and council staff "who have sprung into action in the middle of the night".
The veteran political agitator George Galloway declared “a shifting of the tectonic plates” away from Labour after claiming a stunning victory in the Rochdale byelection.
Galloway, one of the most divisive politicians in Britain, won almost 40% of the vote in a contest beset by chaos and controversy and dominated by the conflict in Gaza.
He took aim at Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak in a victory speech that was interrupted by hecklers after a dramatic count at Rochdale leisure centre.
“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” he said. “You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Gaza, in the Gaza Strip.”
Galloway won 12,335 votes – 39.7% of the total – in a much more sweeping victory than anyone had predicted, giving him a 5,697-vote majority.
Labour, which abandoned its candidate over inflammatory comments he made about Israel, finished in fourth place with just 7.7%, having held a near-10,000 vote majority in the constituency.
Galloway, an ex-Labour MP, has now unseated his former party in three elections and will return to parliament representing a fourth constituency in 37 years.
Addressing Starmer from the podium, Galloway said: “This is going to spark a movement, a landslide, a shifting of the tectonic plates, a score of parliamentary constituencies, beginning here in the north-west, in the West Midlands, in London, from Ilford to Bethnal Green & Bow.
“Labour is on notice that they have lost the confidence of millions of their voters who loyally and traditionally voted for them generation after generation.”
Azhar Ali, Labour’s former candidate, did not attend the count and the Guardian understands that other Labour campaigners were told to stay away.
Despite a campaign dominated by events in the Middle East, Galloway said he hoped to put together a “grand alliance” with Rochdale councillors to work on local issues.
Dozens of Galloway supporters had gathered outside the leisure centre shortly after the polls closed, when it quickly became apparent that he was set for a decisive victory.
Inside the count, however, the mood was less hospitable. A family member of a rival candidate muttered “terrorist sympathiser” while another shouting “woe to Rochdale” after he was declared the winner.
Another heckler, who gave her name as Jane Twill, was removed by security after interrupting the victory speech by accusing Galloway of failing to address the climate emergency.
So confident was Galloway’s team that they briefed reporters within an hour of the polls closing that he had won “comfortably” and announced plans for a “mass rally” immediately after the declaration at his election headquarters, a former Suzuki showroom.
Labour, defending a near-10,000-vote majority and riding high in the polls, had expected a straightforward contest to replace the sitting MP, Tony Lloyd, who died on 17 January from leukaemia. But its campaign was thrown into disarray when it emerged its candidate, Azhar Ali, had repeated anti-Israel conspiracy theories about the 7 October attack by Hamas.
Labour was eventually forced to disown Ali and abandoned its campaign barely a week into the contest. Although Ali’s name was on the ballot paper – it was too late to select another candidate – Labour stopped all electioneering in the town nearly three weeks ago.
Galloway, on the other hand, was galvanised. The fedora-sporting politician toured Rochdale with a megaphone, calling the byelection “a referendum on Gaza” and a chance to stage a protest against Labour.
His team, backed by an army of volunteers from across the country, managed to capture the vote of a significant number of Muslim people, who make up about 30% of the town’s population, with many angry about Labour’s position on Gaza.
Starmer’s party also faced a challenge from another former Labour MP in the form of Simon Danczuk, who was suspended from the party in 2015 after sending inappropriate messages to a teenager. Danczuk, Rochdale’s MP from 2010 to 2017, was standing for Reform UK, the anti-immigration party founded by Nigel Farage.
Danczuk’s new party did poorly, finishing in sixth place with only 6.3% of the vote. A Reform UK source said the party had under-performed due to logistics: the Rochdale contest was the third byelection it had fought in three weeks and it had been focusing on its party conference in Doncaster last weekend.
Galloway, 69, previously unseated his former party in Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005 and Bradford West in 2012, both following campaigns based heavily on events in the Middle East.
Like Galloway’s previous campaigns, the Rochdale contest was mired in controversy. In the week when MPs were raising concerns over their safety, Galloway said the names of Labour MPs were “dripping in blood” after the party’s ceasefire amendment, which did not go as far as pro-Palestinian supporters wanted.
Earlier this week a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of sending a death threat to Danczuk, who hired security guards for the final two days of campaigning.
Galloway’s team said its banners and garden posts had been ripped down in an effort to stop it getting the word out.
There were allegations of dirty tricks on polling day too, as Reform UK lodged a formal complaint about Galloway activists distributing leaflets outside polling stations.
Richard Tice, the leader of Reform, claimed the contest had not been “free or fair” and made unspecified suggestions that the postal vote had been rigged.
“This byelection and result should act as a serious wake-up call to those in power and indeed to the entire electorate,” he said.
“We are supposed to be a beacon of democracy, this shameful contest has been more characteristic of a failed state.”
Galloway’s team had earlier accused Labour canvassers of speaking to voters inside polling stations.
Eleven people have been taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a five-storey building in London.
About 130 people were evacuated from Emperor's Gate, in South Kensington, after the fire spread from a ground floor flat just after midnight.
London Fire Brigade said the blaze, which had spread from the ground floor to the roof, was under control.
London Ambulance Service said 11 people were treated and taken to London hospitals and major trauma centres.
The fire service said the injured were treated for smoke inhalation.
The service said 15 fire engines and about 100 firefighters arrived at the scene to find half of the ground floor of the building was alight.
Firefighters evacuated about 130 people from the property and its neighbouring buildings.
The brigade said two people were rescued from a second floor flat, one person was rescued from a first floor flat and another two were rescued from a flat on the fourth floor.
London Fire Brigade
Station commander Steve Collins said: "The fire has spread from the ground floor to the top floor and roof of the property.
"Crews worked extremely hard to contain the (fire) to stop it spreading to adjacent buildings," he added.
At about 05:30 GMT, the fire service said the blaze was brought under control - about five hours after the crews were called to the scene.
Road closures have been put in place with the service adding they were likely to remain into the morning rush hour.
Mr Collins advised motorists to avoid the area but said there was no impact on rail services.
At the scene
Harry Low, BBC News
It's bucketing it down with rain here in south Kensington.
Firefighters using a turntable ladder continue to battle the blaze which is now under control.
There's a heavy police presence too with road closures in every direction and buses on diversion.
Dozens of tired looking firefighters have been accepting hot drinks from a Salvation Army van a street away.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea said council staff were providing assistance and shelter for those affected at a nearby hotel.
Deputy leader councillor Kim Taylor-Smith added: "I also want to thank the emergency services for the incredible job they have done in very challenging conditions, and to staff at the council who have sprung into action in the middle of the night."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned police chiefs of a "growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule".
He wants more robust police responses that he says are needed to protect politicians and democratic processes.
This includes an "immediate response" from police to intimidatory protest at MPs' homes.
But human rights group Amnesty International says the PM "wildly exaggerates the issue".
Mr Sunak was speaking the day after the Home Office announced a £31m package aimed at protecting MPs, stating it was in response to the impact of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Now police bosses have been summoned to Downing Street, where the PM urged them to use existing powers to crack down on intimidation, disruption and subversion "urgently".
He said: "We simply cannot allow this pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour which is, as far as anyone can see, intended to shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job.
"That is simply undemocratic... I am going to do whatever it requires to protect our democracy and our values that we all hold dear.
"That is what the public expect. It is fundamental to our democratic system. And also it is vital for maintaining public confidence in the police."
Police are being advised that protests outside MPs' homes and offices should generally be considered intimidatory and therefore "trigger an immediate response".
A Home Office document states: "Elected representatives have been threatened and had their family homes targeted. Council meetings have been repeatedly disrupted and, in some cases, abandoned... Last Wednesday, protestors threatened to force Parliament to 'lock its doors'.
"These are not isolated incidents or legitimate means of achieving change through force of peaceful argument... It is as un-British as it is undemocratic.
"If public confidence is to be maintained and the integrity of the democratic process is to be preserved, it cannot be allowed to stand."
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign - one of the groups behind the series of mass demonstrations held in London and other cities in recent months - has said it does not support protests outside MPs' homes but has defended the right to stage peaceful protests outside MPs' offices and council chambers.
The Labour Party is understood to believe the proposals are sensible but the PM's language is not.
Conservative Donna Jones, the chairwoman of Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, told BBC Newsnight the police do currently have enough powers - and have been using them to arrest protesters.
Ms Jones, who was at the Downing Street meeting, said: "We've all heard the message now from pro-Palestinian groups. We've heard it, we know it, we get what they're trying to say - but this type of unlawful behaviour has got to stop."
However, Del Babu, a former chief superintendent in the Metropolitan Police, said language like "mob rule" was not "helpful".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that appealing to people to demonstrate less could have "unintended consequences" and potentially lead to more people protesting.
Justice minister Mike Freer, who is standing down at the next election due to safety fears, said the extra funding for security measures would "not go to the root cause" of why people felt emboldened to target MPs.
He said unless you deal with the cause you would just have "a ring of steel around MPs" and then "our whole style of democracy changes".
Tom Southerden, Amnesty International UK's law and human rights director, warned fundamental rights were being eroded.
"Talk of 'mob rule' wildly exaggerates the issue and risks delegitimising the rights of peaceful protest," he said.
"Freedom of expression and assembly are absolutely fundamental rights in any free and fair society.
"The UK has undergone a major crackdown on protest rights in recent years, with peaceful protest tactics being criminalised and the police being given sweeping powers to prevent protests taking place."
Charlotte Charles asked for her son's possessions in 2019 after he was killed but officers said everything had been destroyed in the crash.
She said a cremation service would be held on Friday.
Ms Charles said: "After Harry died, we asked if we could have his motorbike, clothes and possessions back.
"It is a way for us to keep connected to our son and we wanted to make a sculpture out of the remains of the bike and to make teddy bears and cushions out of any clothing material that was left for Harry's young cousins.
"The police officers told us that everything had been destroyed in the crash as there was a huge explosion. We put it out of our minds."
Justice4Harry19
However, the family's spokesman Radd Seiger was informed before Christmas that several items including clothing, the helmet, and the frame of the bike had been "frozen and preserved", pending the conclusion of criminal proceedings, in December 2022.
Ms Charles added: "It has really hit me hard and I've had to go back on antidepressants. As if that weren't bad enough, as the items of clothing were being returned, some of Harry's tissue was also discovered on his clothing and we only found that out a couple of weeks ago.
"We are now, therefore, having to go through a second cremation service on Friday and we all are all re-traumatised. It just all feels so unfair."
PA Media
Northamptonshire Police has launched an investigation into how the case was handled from the beginning.
Mr Seiger said there had been a "massive breakdown in protocol and communication" from the police.
"This poor family have been let down very badly yet again. Why were they told everything was destroyed when it wasn't?
"Why were they not told that was not the case until 15 months after the criminal case was concluded?"
A Northamptonshire Police spokesperson said: "Harry's clothing, helmet and bike were removed from the original collision site in 2019.
"Recently, police examined the items in order to repatriate them with the family, at which time human remains were subsequently discovered on Harry's clothing."
Police said they had worked with the coroner's officer to return the human remains to a funeral director on 7 February at the request of Harry's family.
Det Chief Supt Emma James, of Northamptonshire Police, added she would be meeting the family in the coming days to "ensure complete transparency".
Polls have opened in the Rochdale byelection after a chaotic contest dominated by the war in Gaza.
The veteran campaigner George Galloway is the bookies’ favourite to win after Labour abandoned its candidate over inflammatory comments he made about Israel.
Galloway, the former Labour MP, has described the poll as “a referendum on Gaza” and sought to capture the votes of thousands of disaffected Muslims.
Labour had expected to increase its 9,668-vote majority in the Greater Manchester town until it emerged that its candidate, Azhar Ali, had repeated anti-Israel conspiracy theories about the 7 October attack by Hamas.
Ali will still be on the ballot paper – it was too late to select another candidate – but he will sit as an independent MP if he wins. The result is expected at around 3am on Friday.
The byelection was called after the death of Rochdale’s MP, Sir Tony Lloyd, from leukaemia on 17 January.
Labour enjoys an average 20-point lead in the national opinion polls and was riding high on the success of the Wellingborough and Kingswood byelections earlier this month, both of which it won from the Tories with double-digit swings.
But what was expected to be a straightforward contest to replace Lloyd was thrown into disarray when Ali’s comments were published by the Mail on Sunday on 11 February. He had suggested Israel had deliberately relaxed security after warnings of an imminent threat.
Labour, which has held Rochdale since 2010, hopes that enough of its supporters will vote for the party on Thursday to stop Galloway, although byelections always have lower turnouts than nationwide polls.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party faces a challenge from another former Labour MP in the form of Simon Danczuk, who was suspended from the party in 2015 after sending inappropriate messages to a teenager.
Danczuk was Rochdale’s MP from 2010 to 2017 and is standing for Reform UK, the anti-immigration party presided over by Nigel Farage.
The two other main parties, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, are not expected to mount a serious challenge, while Labour’s vote is expected to be split further between a handful of local independent candidates.
Galloway, 69, is expected to be the main beneficiary of the chaos having campaigned on a pro-Palestine ticket aimed at Rochdale’s Muslim community, which accounts for about 30% of the population.
It would be the third time the veteran agitator has unseated his former party after victories in Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005 and Bradford West in 2012.
Like his previous campaigns, the Rochdale contest has been mired in controversy. Galloway last week said the names of Labour MPs were “dripping in blood” after the party’s ceasefire amendment, which did not go as far as some pro-Palestine supporters wanted.
The four-week contest has been mired in controversy. Earlier this week a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of sending a death threat to Danczuk, who hired security guards for the final two days of campaigning.
Galloway’s team said its banners and garden posts had been ripped down in an effort to stop it getting the word out.
