"This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted and defeated," Cameron told reporters outside his Downing Street office after returning from a family holiday in Tuscany to deal with a crisis that has stunned Londoners.
"People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets," he said.
Indicating the intensity of the crisis, Cameron was also recalling parliament from its summer recess on Thursday to make a statement on the unrest, which has spread to Britain's second-largest city, Birmingham, and other centres.
Politicians and police firmly blamed the violence, in which shops were looted and cars and buildings set ablaze in several mostly poor areas of London, on criminals and hooligans.
But some commentators and local residents said its roots lay in tensions and anger over economic hardship in a city where the gap between the haves and have-nots is highly visible and the prospects for many youths are dim.
"We ain't got no jobs, no money. We heard that other people were getting things for free, so why not us?" asked E.Nan, a young man in a baseball cap in Hackney, a multi-ethnic area in east London and one of the worst-hit areas.
The unrest poses an added challenge to Cameron as the economy struggles to grow while his government slashes public spending and raises taxes to help eliminate a budget deficit.
It also shows an ugly side of London to the world less than a year before it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, an event which city officials hope will serve as a showcase for the city in the way that April's Royal Wedding did.
"Last night was the worst the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) has seen in current memory for unacceptable levels of widespread looting, fires and disorder," a police statement said on Tuesday.
Police arrested more than 200 people overnight and a total of 450 over the three nights. Cells were now full with detainees. The statement also said 44 police officers were injured as well as 14 members of the public.
The BBC reported that a 26-year-old man who was shot in a car in Croydon, south of London, during disturbances has died, becoming the first fatality of the riots.
With reinforcements called in from other areas, 16,000 police officers will be on the streets on Tuesday night, almost three times the 6,000 officers out on Monday night, Cameron said.
The police are facing criticism for failing to bring the situation under control as gangs mobilised using social media -- particularly secure-access Blackberry Messenger groups -- and looted shops at leisure.
Some critics said they were reluctant to go in hard for fear of upsetting local sensibilities.
As calls mounted for stronger measures, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said police would consider using baton rounds -- rubber or plastic bullets.
The first riots broke out on Saturday in London's northern Tottenham district, when a peaceful protest over the police shooting of a suspect two days earlier led to violence.
Tottenham includes areas with the highest unemployment rates in London. It also has a history of racial tension with local young people, especially blacks, resenting police behaviour including the use of stop and search powers.
NO WORK, NO FUTURE
Stunned Londoners meanwhile counted the cost of the pillaging and tried to clear up the mess on Tuesday morning.
In the poor eastern district of Woolwich, broken glass littered streets that were strewn with stolen goods, tailors' dummies and other debris.
Simon Mills, manager of Birts & Son, jewellers and pawnbrokers, said he had lost goods worth 50,000-60,000.
"I don't think terrorists could have done a better job than what they have done here."
In Ealing, one resident said about 150 hooded youths had walked down his road smashing car windows.
"It's very sad to see. But kids have got no work, no future and the cuts have made it worse," said Hackney electrician Anthony Burns, 39. "You watch. It's only just begun."
Hackney's Mare Street, scene of serious disorder on Monday night, was largely back to normal by morning, with traffic flowing and the streets swept clean. A few shops had smashed windows boarded up, including a betting shop and a cafe.
The cafe's owner, who declined to give his name, said he would lose as much as 10,000 pounds because of the attack.
"There's no reason for it. It's mindless, they attacked random shops. It's sickening," he said.
The blocks around Clapham Junction were trashed. The train station -- which bills itself as the world's busiest rail junction -- was open. But one building with shops on its ground floor was gutted by fire and still smoking on Tuesday morning. Stores with electronics and audio equipment had been raided.
Roger Helmer, a member of the European Parliament, reflected the anger felt by many Londoners over the violence.
"Time to get tough. Bring in the Army. Shoot looters and arsonists on sight," he tweeted.
ANARCHY IN THE UK
Officials said the violence would not hurt preparations for the Olympics. The London 2012 Organising Committee was hosting an International Olympic Committee visit on Tuesday.
"Everything is going ahead as planned...there is no change to the plans," a committee spokeswoman said, adding that the Stratford Olympic park site near Tottenham was secure.
However, other sporting events suffered. England have cancelled Wednesday's international soccer friendly with the Netherlands and three club games have also been called off.
The damage was also likely to cost insurers "tens of millions of pounds," the Association of British Insurers said.
A fire tore through a Sony Corp warehouse in London's riot-hit Enfield neighbourhood. A Sony spokeswoman could not confirm if the blaze had been started by rioters but that deliveries of compact discs and DVDs could be affected.
The ramifications also extended into international finance at a time when world markets are in turmoil.
"Just a few days ago we were talking about sterling as a new safe haven but these riots taking place are another blemish that must have soured anyone's taste for the currency," said Neil Mellor, currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon.
Colin Stanbridge, head of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the violence could not have come at a worse time for business, with the capital's firms already bearing the cost of the continuing economic turmoil.
"This really isn't the image we want to present to the world," he said.
RECENT RIOTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Rioting on the streets of north London has resulted in the arrest of over 160 people. Here is a rundown of recent riots in Britain:
April 1980 - St. Pauls, Bristol
A police drugs raid on the Black & White Café led to a series of disturbances across the country. Tensions with the police had been growing in the area, with many black youths feeling discriminated against. Over 130 people were arrested.
April 1981 - Brixton, South London
Brixton had long been an area of high tension between the police and the black community. The stabbing and subsequent death of a black man was blamed on police brutality and sparked the riot. Damages were estimated at as much as 7.5 million pounds and 365 police and civilians were injured.
Brixton saw more rioting in 1985, when a black woman was accidentally shot during a police raid, in 1995 when a young black man died in police custody, and most recently in 2001, after a man was shot by police who mistakenly believed he was carrying a gun. Both black and white youths were involved in the riots.
Rioting in Liverpool was motivated by the arrest of 20-year old Leroy Alphonse Cooper whose supporters said he was subsequently mistreated in custody. This was the latest in a series of allegations of police discrimination against the black community, including accusations of drug-planting. Nine days of violence followed in which the police deployed CS gas for the first time in the UK.
October 1985 - Broadwater Farm, Tottenham, London
A week after the 1985 riot in Brixton, the Broadwater estate in Tottenham erupted into violence between youths and the police when a woman suffered heart failure after a police raid on her home. Shots were fired injuring several and 40-year old PC Keith Blakelock died when he was stabbed by rioters whilst protecting a fire-fighter putting out a blaze.
March 1990 - Poll Tax Riots, London
When Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government introduced the Poll Tax - an unpopular levy on individuals regardless of wealth - 100,000 people turned out for a protest in central London which quickly turned violent. Cars were overturned and buildings looted.
May-July 2001 - Oldham, Burnley, Lancashire
The series of riots that spanned spring and summer 2001 was the result of tensions between the white majority and the growing ethnic minority communities. Fighting broke out between far-right groups such as the National Front and local Asian businessmen, as well as the Anti Nazi League. Over 300 people were injured and more than 350 arrested across the North.
November 2010 - Student Riots, London
In 2010 the newly elected coalition government unveiled a wave of higher education spending cuts and a raising of the cap on tuition fees. A planned peaceful demonstration saw students from across the UK descending on London. The protest turned violent when a small group attacked Conservative Party headquarters, smashing the windows, damaging the interior and throwing a fire-extinguisher off the roof.
March 2011 - TUC march, London
Several independent groups used a trade union march against public spending cuts as an excuse to smash shops and banks in central London. One group occupied upmarket grocer Fortnum and Mason while other targets included the Ritz hotel and Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square.
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