A mob of about 100 people created a violent disturbance outside the home of a suspected paedophile last night, police said.
Local residents on an estate in north Portsmouth threw stones and damaged property outside the home of a man believed to have been named in a local newspaper.
About 70 police officers were called to deal with the disturbance which began at around 6.30 p.m., a spokesman for Hampshire police said.
A car was overturned and property damaged in Pauls Grove, north Portsmouth.
The man was among paedophiles "named and shamed" by the News of the World's campaign, it emerged later.
The sex offender was not named by Hampshire Police but a press statement was expected during the night on the incident.
Police were last night protecting an elderly man after he became the second innocent victim of a hate-mail campaign wrongly identifying him as a paedophile named in the News of the World newspaper.
Mr Victor Terry (78) was targeted by an organisation calling itself Antimatter, which confused him with a paedophile of the same name.
About 300 households close to his home in south London received letters giving his name and address and warning people with children to be on their guard. In the letter, Antimatter said it provided "a service to the community by investigating and identifying anti-social behaviour" and said it would inform police and families of any information it discovered about sex offenders.