Emergency services have worked to restore order to a London district after rioters torched vehicles and buildings and looted shops in response to the fatal shooting of a local man by police.

Eight injured police officers, one with a head injury, were receiving hospital treatment following the violence in Tottenham, north London, late on Saturday, which sparked condemnation from Prime Minister David Cameron's office.

"The rioting in Tottenham last night was utterly unacceptable," a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement.

Police yesterday said they were still having to deal with "isolated pockets of criminality in the Tottenham area".

The mayhem, which broke out in Tottenham just before sunset on Saturday, followed a protest over the death of a 29-year-old man on Thursday during an apparent exchange of gunfire with police.

The demonstration had been a peaceful rally outside the police station on Tottenham High Road before two police cars were attacked with petrol bombs.

The violence rapidly spread, with gangs of youths descending on the area, setting shops and other vehicles on fire.

There was concern that the unrest was fuelled by rapid posts on social media inciting others to join in.

Central London has seen student and trade union protests turn ugly in the last 12 months but this outbreak of rioting is the worst seen for years in the suburbs.

Under a hail of missiles and petrol bombs, riot officers and mounted police battled to regain control of the streets and escort fire crews safely through to tackle the series of blazes.

No arrests were reported. Police said restoring public safety was their first priority.

The unrest followed a peaceful march in protest over the death on Thursday of minicab passenger Mark Duggan, a father-of-four. He died at the scene.

The march began at Broadwater Farm, a 1960s public housing estate in Tottenham that is notorious across Britain. In 1985, Police Constable Keith Blakelock was hacked to death on the estate in some of the worst urban rioting in Britain in the past 30 years.