LONDON (Reuters) -- An explosion of rioting, looting and stabbing in cities across sweltering Britain led police to call yesterday for the restoration of 18th-century riot laws.

Youths throwing bricks and bottles fought running battles with police in riot gear in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, in the English Midlands, during the early hours yesterday.

"Literally every day of the year, in the inner cities, the police sit on potential rioting. The sensitivity with which they deal with it decides whether or not there will be a riot," Ron Hadfield, the West Midlands police chief, said on television.