The Croydon Tamil community has accused the authorities of letting them down.

Predominantly based in London Road, the traders said the police should have done more to protect them from the “madness”.

The statement from Dr Jeyanthan, chairman of the Croydon Tamil business forum, said while the town centre was protected there was no protection for London Road businesses.

He said: “It is utterly disgraceful that a peaceful thriving business community was made to suffer because of some mindless thugs.

“There is no justification or rationale for this wanton destruction. This just reminds us bad memories of war torn lawless Sri Lanka.

“We feel doubly let down. There was no police protection for businesses down here in London Road during the riots leaving us unprotected while the town centre was defended.

“The Croydon Tamil business forum feels that the authorities in Croydon have once again abandoned the Tamil and other ethnic minority businesses on London Road.

“Though we understand that the Croydon police were under resourced and not prepared for a situation like this, we as council rate payers and business tax payers expected the police to do more to protect us from this madness. Sadly we have been let down.”

Dr Jeyanthan said many of the families affected had lost everything in the Sri Lankan civil war and were now suffering again.

He said he hoped the Business Secretary would provide loans and other help to rebuild London road and restore confidence to shoppers.