It was Sunday afternoon when Daisy O’Doherty heard a thumping noise. Peering out the window she saw it was coming from a group of men in balaclavas standing on a green armoured car with a machine gun on the roof.

“It looked like something was about to go off,” she said. “My sister was staying with me at the time, she was absolutely terrified,” she told MyLondon. “There were no police around reassuring people about what was going on.”

In addition to the men in the military vehicle, the car park next to her flat on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking was filled with youths in designer tracksuits pulling gun signs. They crowded around other military vehicles and souped-up convertibles, revving side quad bikes until the air filled with exhaust smoke.

READ MORE: Met Police receiving tens of calls each week about corrupt officers on new integrity hotline