When the rioters came to attack the premises of Kurdish and Turkish businesses in Hackney's Stoke Newington High Street and Kingsland Road on Monday night, the owners were waiting for them.
"It was between about nine and 10 at night," said Yilmaz Karagoz, sitting in his coffee shop next to a jeweller's shop that has been shuttered since Sunday when the rioting began and a pharmacy that closed a day after.
"There were a lot of them. We came out of our shops but the police asked us to do nothing. But the police did not do anything so, as more came, we chased them off ourselves." The staff from a local kebab restaurant ran at the attackers, doner knives in their hands. "I don't think they will be coming back," Karagoz said.
On Green Street in East Ham a similar-sized group of rioters was chased away by several hundred Asian residents. And in Bethnal Green local shopkeepers came out to defend their property.
Tuesday night there were further reports of communities taking steps to defend themselves. Dozens of men were guarding the main Sikh temple in Southall, west London.
Around 200 people were walking around the centre of Eltham, south-east London, following rumours that the area was going to be the latest place to be hit by disturbances. The group, predominantly men, had been congregating in pubs since the rumours began to circulate in mid-afternoon. "This is a white working-class area and we are here to protect our community," said one man. In Enfield, north London, about 70 men were seen chasing a group of youths.
Further anecdotal evidence also suggested that in other cities hit by Monday night's violence, communities were also remaining vigilant. On Amazon sales of baseball bats and truncheons rocketed overnight. Sales of one aluminium bat increased 65-fold in a day, albeit from low initial sales, while a truncheon jumped from a sales rank of 5,973 to 136.
Deputy assistant commissioner Stephen Kavanagh had already said it was not baton rounds or water cannon that would defeat the rioters – it was communities themselves. "We are already seeing a community kickback. People are angry. This is their neighbourhoods that are at stake," he said.
Before Monday evening's events there were warnings that Turkish shopkeepers in Tottenham were forming "protection units" to stop their businesses being looted, while retailers in nearby Wood Green were said to have equipped themselves with crowbars and other weapons after holding emergency meetings.
When the trouble came, hairdressers, sales assistants and butchers were among the scores of Turkish and Kurdish workers who stood outside their businesses in Green Lanes, Haringey, from 8pm having been warned by police to expect trouble.
The Guardian filmed others – some armed with baseball bats – on guard outside shops and restaurants in Kingsland Road, only a mile away from Hackney's burning high street. Three workers from Re-Style Hairdressers were among those out in Green Lanes, after word spread that an attack was imminent at about 4pm.
"I was here with my brother and my boss waiting for them until about midnight," said 16-year-old Huseyin Beytar. "If some guy ever breaks a window in this street, all the Turkish Kurdish people come down to protect the shops. We're like a family."
"We have to do things for ourselves," said Huseyin. "We have to look after each other. If they come here tonight there will be a fight, a big fight."
"We were outside ready and expecting them," said the manager of Turkish Food Market, who asked not to be named.
"But I felt very panicky because we are not safe from either the rioters or police.
"We put all of our efforts into this shop. It took 20 years to get it like this. But we do not know about our rights.
"I'm scared that the police and the government will attack us if we defend our businesses.
"We are being squeezed between the two."
Debbie Mumdy, 41, who lives nearby, said: "Most of the residents are really relieved that the Turkish community has been protecting the area. It's thanks to these guys that Kingsland High Street wasn't attacked."
And Nick Smith, chairman of a charity fundraising business based near Dalston Junction, said: "It's brilliant. These guys are obviously going to keep the trouble down. I don't think this particular area is going to be attacked."
But a 23-year-old council worker, who had just been evacuated from Hackney town hall due to fears of further rioting, said he was concerned tensions between communities could increase.
"It is just going to make matters worse. I would hate to see this turn into a generational or racial battle."
In his coffee shop in Stoke Newington, Karagoz tried to explain another feature of these riots – why Turkish and Kurdish youths had generally not joined the looting.
"We have businesses and work hard for what we have. As parents we want our children to work, earn money and be able to buy what they want, not steal it. Our young people know we would be ashamed of them if they were doing this."