The protesters threw bottles, pens, eggs, in fact anything they could get their hands on. The targets of their anger were the five young men who had strutted so confidently into the judicial inquiry into the murder of the black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, only hours before.
Under a hail of missiles the five scurried down the walkway from the Elephant and Castle shopping complex in south London with shouts of "racist murderers", "all for white and white for all" ringing in their ears as they ran for cover in a waiting van.
The scenes of violence erupted outside the inquiry into Stephen Lawrence's murder yesterday as the five men - Jamie Acourt, his brother, Neil Acourt, Gary Dobson, Luke Knight and David Norris - completed their evidence.
All five have at different times been charged with Stephen Lawrence's murder in April 1993. However, a private prosecution against three collapsed and two were never brought to trial.
But if the Lawrence family believed the appearance of the five at the inquiry would shed new light on their son's murder they were mistaken. On day 51 of the inquiry, Norris, Knight and Dobson chanted the line that the Acourts had stuck to when they appeared on Monday - "I can't remember", they said over and over again.
When Gary Dobson finished giving his evidence just before 2 p.m., the question being asked by the Lawrence's supporters was - what next? The five men they had waited so long to hear from had not provided the answers they were looking for. Indeed, a High Court ruling had prevented the inquiry lawyers from asking the question: "Did you kill Stephen Lawrence?"
Outside, the anger boiled over.
For nearly an hour after the inquiry was adjourned, traffic around the Elephant and Castle roundabout came to a standstill. As up to 100 police officers tried to contain the crowd as they spilled out into the road, the Bishop of Stepney, the Right Rev John Sentamu, one of the inquiry chairmen, walked among the protesters appealing for calm.
Bishop Sentamu told them that if they waited peacefully the five men would come out. Some of the young men he spoke to agreed to a silent protest, but others shouted at the police, saying: "What you have done to one you have done to us all."
As the five men came down the walkway, it was the spur for the crowd to surge forward. Scuffles broke out among the crowd and the five as the police tried to hold the crowd back.
Members of the militant group, the Nation of Islam, stood in the background and photographed the scenes. One man attempted to throw a bike into the crowd but was held back by the police.
Anger then turned on the police as up to 30 protesters ran to a nearby street and continued to throw missiles and slabs of concrete paving stones. One press photographer ran from the area with a deep cut in his arm as a group of four youths grabbed his camera and tore up his film in front of him.
A unit of police officers with riot shields and metal batons then blocked off the road, although sporadic violence continued. The bottle-throwing went on for another 10 minutes or so, as the police played a waiting game with the protesters but by 4 p.m. the crowd had walked away.
For all the bravado and confidence of the five men, in the eyes of the Lawrence's and their supporters they are guilty of killing Stephen Lawrence. The inquiry into his murder and the police investigation that followed will continue, but his family says they simply want justice.
After their appearance at the inquiry, the five released a statement denying any involvement in the killing.
In a badly spelt statement from "all five of us", they said they understood the quest to find the murderers but "we were not involved, we did not kill Steven Lawrence . . . It is time for us to say `enough is enough - we are innocent'."
Earlier, David Norris had denied that he was a racist, but admitted that he had described black people as "niggers".
The inquiry was told that Norris had been filmed on a secret police video in December 1994 saying that he wanted to blow the arms and legs off black people and tell them: "Go on, you can swim home now."
Luke Knight told the inquiry he was aware of allegations that he was part of a gang that carried knives, but he denied the rumours. He was not a racist and explained that he had made racist comments "in anger . . . silliness. It didn't mean nothing."
When Gary Dobson sat in the witness box, he also denied being a racist and said he was "embarrassed" that he had used racist language. "I was acting like a young kid. I was being stupid," he said.