Riots in London

eddie, are you okay?
Does it affect you. either at home or at work?

tatiana wrote:eddie, are you okay?
Does it affect you. either at home or at work?

Hi Tats.

Not my manor: I live in East London and the rioting took place in Tottenham, North London (I'm very glad that I don't work at Tottenham Hale Tube station).

I can't say that I'm particularly surprised. If you've been following my "Knife and gun crime in London" thread in this section, you'll know that something quite troubling is happening, particularly amongst young people in this city.

Also:

1. Hot weather.
2. School holidays.
3. Short-sighted cutting of youth provision by local authorities due to government cuts.

This was an explosion just waiting to happen.

Residents count cost of rioting

August 07, 2011


Riot police look on as fire rages through a building in Tottenham

Horrified residents surveyed the damage to their community after a night of rioting and looting following the fatal shooting of a local man by police.

Eight police officers are being treated in hospital after trouble flared up in Tottenham, north London, on Saturday night.

The violence came two days after a man named locally as Mark Duggan, 29, was gunned down by police in the area.

After a peaceful protest by community members demanding "justice", the mood turned nasty and buildings and vehicles were set alight.

Starting about 200 yards from Tottenham Police Station, the riots then spread to other parts of the local area and by the early hours of the morning, crowds of looters were smashing shop windows in a retail park near Tottenham Hale tube station and plundering goods from almost every store.

Teenagers and adults were said to have turned up in cars and filled their boots with stolen items, unimpeded by police.

Scotland Yard said later that a total of 26 police officers had been injured in the unrest, and 42 people were arrested for offences including violent disorder, burglary and theft.

AOL

The remains of a burned out bus in Tottenham following a night of rioting.

I'm glad to know that you are ok Eddie

tigerlily wrote:I'm glad to know that you are ok Eddie

I was never in any danger, Tigerlily.

London is a vast patchwork quilt of various districts (former villages absorbed into the "Great Wen" as it expanded over the centuries), so a 3-minute walk will sometimes place you in a neighbourhood of quite a different character from your starting-point.

My manor has its own problems (see "Knife and gun crime" thread), but no large-scale rioting here, as yet.

tigerlily wrote:I'm glad to know that you are ok Eddie

From me also....

The perception of Brits, both by themselves and by others, as a race of "Stiff upper lips" is largely illusory: it's all very well for excitable Frenchmen to indulge in this kind of behaviour- so runs the myth- but we don't do that sort of thing over here.

Ah! But every now and then we do.

All kinds of murky passions lurk beneath the apparently phlegmatic surface of everyday life- and these passions periodically erupt in spectacular style:





^^
The "Captain Swing" riots in agricultural Dorset, 1830-31.

...stay safe eddie.

Victim's family condemns rioting

August 07, 2011

The family of a man shot dead by police say they "are not condoning" the riots and looting that rocked north London, leaving 26 police officers injured.

The trouble flared up in Tottenham, north London, two days after Mark Duggan, 29, was gunned down.

It followed a peaceful march by members of the local community demanding "justice" for Mr Duggan's relatives.

Community and political leaders were swift to criticise the rioting, looting and arson that swept across the area after the protest by community members demanding "justice" for Mr Duggan turned nasty, with buildings and vehicles including a double-decker bus and two police cars engulfed in flames.

People were left destitute after being forced to flee their burning homes, and looters went on the rampage in a retail park near Tottenham Hale Tube station, grabbing whatever they could.

Scotland Yard said 26 officers were injured during the unrest, and 55 people were arrested for offences including violent disorder, burglary and theft. All the injured officers have now been released from hospital.

Mr Duggan's brother's Shaun Hall told Sky News: "We're not condoning any kind of actions like that at all. It seems to be the press who are generally saying that it is linked to my brother. OK, some questions were supposed to have been answered, they weren't answered, therefore there was a domino effect from that, we don't condone that at all.

"I know people are frustrated, they're angry out there at the moment, but I would say please try and hold it down. Please don't make this about my brother's life, he was a good man."

Downing Street called the rioting "utterly unacceptable", while Home Secretary Theresa May said: "Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated." Meanwhile, Mayor of London Boris Johnson said he was "appalled at the scenes of violence and destruction", while local MP David Lammy also condemned the rioting.

While many local residents were dismayed, others voiced the fury that had fuelled the disturbances. One 18-year-old man said: "Police know what they should have done, they should have come to speak to the community themselves," he said. "They don't care. You get no opportunities around here. The police stop you because you're black. They stop you because you're wearing a hood."

AOL

and LaRue, is she okay?


or has she gone on her holidays already?

tatiana wrote:and LaRue, is she okay?

LaRue is a Oxfordshire resident who ventures to London every now and then, so I guess she's OK. Or very unlucky....

More riots in other parts of London on Sunday:

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London in grip of fresh rioting

August 08, 2011


A fire hose continues to pump water onto a smouldering building in Tottenham, north London after trouble flare on Saturday night

Emergency services have been dealing with disturbances across London as fresh bouts of rioting and looting broke out.

Police officers were being deployed to respond to "copycat criminal activity" across the capital, Scotland Yard said. The fresh violence comes after a protest in Tottenham, north London, on Saturday, which followed the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan, 29, on Thursday.

Disturbances erupted on Sunday in several boroughs in north, south and east London, with reports of trouble in Brixton, Enfield, Walthamstow and Islington.

Three officers were taken to hospital after being hit by a fast-moving vehicle at 12.45am on Monday, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said. The officers had been in the process of making arrests in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, after a shop was looted by youths.

Meanwhile, a fight broke out when rival gangs attended King's College Hospital after two victims of minor stabbings were admitted, police said. The hospital has brought in extra security for the rest of the night and officers remain on scene dealing with the initial stabbings, the spokesman added.

Six fire engines were dispatched to deal with a blaze at a Foot Locker shop in Brixton, south London, and witnesses saw riot police clash with looters at a Currys store nearby.

Press Association photographer Lewis Whyld described the scenes at a Currys store, also in Brixton. He said: "A couple of 100 youths were rioting and looting. Riot police went in to get them out and there was a big fight in the street. Youths were throwing rocks and bottles and there was a bin on fire. They used a fire extinguisher to push the police back so they could get back into Currys and continue taking things out."

Elsewhere, more than 30 youths, many in masks, vandalised and looted shops in Walthamstow Central, including BHS. "Officers attended the area and the situation is currently under control. Groups of youths are continuing to target shops in Waltham Forest and officers are on scene," the spokesman said.

Police Commander Christine Jones, said: "Officers responding to sporadic disorder in a number of boroughs made more than 100 arrests throughout last night and early this morning. This is in addition to the 61 arrests made on Saturday night and Sunday morning."

She went on: "Officers are shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them. At least nine officers were injured overnight in addition to the 26 injured on Saturday night. We will not tolerate this disgraceful violence. The investigation continues to bring these criminals to justice."

AOL

eddie wrote:1. Hot weather.
2. School holidays.
3. Short-sighted cutting of youth provision by local authorities due to government cuts.

A couple of additional factors distinguish the present riots from those in Brixton and Broadwater Farm in the 1980's:

1. 20% reduction in police numbers due to government cuts.
2. Advent of "social networking" sites. If you can coordinate a rave in the UK or a revolution in north Africa with such tools, you won't have much difficulty organising a riot in a particular London borough.