What the Hell is Going on in London?

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
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Edmonton
I had a hard time believing what I was seeing when I turned on the BBC news. Entire blocks of buildings in London were on fire and mobs were running loose in the streets. Having actually experienced the mindless violence of of the Poll Tax riots in 1990 I have some vague idea of what British mobs can get up to, but I never expected to see anything like this. The closest thing to it I can remember in a Western nation were the race riots in the USA in Watts and Detroit.

It appears that the authorities were caught completely flat-footed by this level of violence, which is hardly surprising given how widespread and unexpected it is.

London riots: Police use armoured vehicles to clear streets | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Here are a couple of YouTube video links for the fires. It really is quite spectacular and very depressing at the same time.

‪London on Fire: Video of Tottenham anti-police riots, bus blaze‬‏ - YouTube

‪London riots turn mad: Video of massive fire in Croydon‬‏ - YouTube
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,910
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Ever wonder why the Brits will react when **** hits the fan but North Americans just ask for some of the govt lube?

Get your's now in Blue and Red!
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Multiculturalism.

I can't believe people are so daft.

The reason for the Tottenham riots are etched in poverty and wealth disparity. This is eerily similar to the Rodney King fiasco and the poverty stricken slums of South Central L.A.

Tottenham: Nothing Left to Lose

In the most unequal borough of the UK, young people do not riot just for the fun of it. Poverty and a lack of opportunities are the deeper causes behind the public anger that erupted in Tottenham over the weekend, argues Elly Badcock.

Tottenham MP David Lammy on Sunday said that the community has "had the heart ripped out of it" by “mindless people”. In one sense this is absolutely true: mindless politicians imposing draconian austerity measures have ripped out the heart of a community suffocated by decades of racism and social inequality.

Rioting is a high-risk activity, especially if you're young and black. People only tend to do it as a last resort, or when they have nothing left to lose.

Tottenham is a community that speaks over 300 languages and is predominantly of African-Caribbean descent – meaning its diverse community is hit hardest by racism in the job market and on the streets.

Black people in London make up around 50% of London’s low-paid precarious workforce (in cleaning, care homes and hotels) and are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched. If you’re born in Haringey – the borough which includes Tottenham – then statistically you will die two years before the rest of your fellow Englanders. It is the most unequal borough in the country – its 15 wards make up both the richest and the poorest in the country. 10,557 people in Haringey claim Jobseeker’s Allowance – and compete for 450 jobs, meaning that unemployment is twice the national average at 8.8%.

Much mirth has been made of the fact that residents were seen looting hair weaves and groceries – and the viral photo of a woman grinning and holding up a roast chicken from Aldi is undeniably funny. But those lining up to pour contempt on local people meandering through smoke and rubble to load up their shopping trollies should think twice – Haringey has the fourth highest rate of child poverty in London, with 22% of single-parent families living on less than £134 per week. Taking an opportunity to load up on nappies and toilet roll, as residents were seen doing, is a sensible option – when it comes to winter, perhaps the stockpile will mean some families can afford to heat their homes.

This is the reality of ‘nothing left to lose’. This is the reality that leads young people to petrol-bomb supermarkets, burn out police cars, lob missiles at scores of riot cops, erect burning barricades – and it's why they did it without fear.

Long-running mistrust of the police contributed to the fearlessness of young Tottenham residents; in 1985, the death of 49-year old Cynthia Jarrett during a police raid led to riots at Tottenham’s Broadwater Farm and the death of police officer Keith Blakelock. Residents used petrol bombs, bricks, guns and burning barricades in response to racist attacks on their community. 26 years on, the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes, Smiley Culture and Mark Duggan provide an all-too-familiar backdrop to a scene that is starkly similar.

Walking along Tottenham High Road last night, you’d have been hard-pushed to find someone condemning the riots – the mainstream media tried their hardest and have only been able to endlessly recycle one quote, from a local resident who felt ‘unsafe’. At 3am I spoke to a family of five standing outside their front door, the mother reminiscing about the Broadwater riots. Despite worrying about the effects of the looting on local businesses, the family lamented the loss of a friend in Mark Duggan, and joked that they were missing out on Aldi’s bargain riot prices. The grandmother of the family then proceeded to walk to her house on the other side of Tottenham – a route that would take her past barricades and police lines – putting the camera crews parked safely near Seven Sisters to shame. This is a town with a long memory and a real ‘big society’– residents standing together, unafraid and diverse, against an establishment which has inflicted pain, suffering and discrimination upon them for decades.

Tottenham: Nothing left to lose


Tottenham has the highest unemployment rate in London and the 8th highest in the United Kingdom, and it has some of the highest poverty rates within the country.[9] There have also been major tensions between the African-Caribbean community and the police since (and before) the 1985 Broadwater Farm riot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tottenham
 

Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
21,887
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I can't believe people are so daft.

The reason for the Tottenham riots are etched in poverty and wealth disparity. This is eerily similar to the Rodney King fiasco and the poverty stricken slums of South Central L.A.

Tottenham: Nothing Left to Lose

In the most unequal borough of the UK, young people do not riot just for the fun of it. Poverty and a lack of opportunities are the deeper causes behind the public anger that erupted in Tottenham over the weekend, argues Elly Badcock.

Tottenham MP David Lammy on Sunday said that the community has "had the heart ripped out of it" by “mindless people”. In one sense this is absolutely true: mindless politicians imposing draconian austerity measures have ripped out the heart of a community suffocated by decades of racism and social inequality.

Rioting is a high-risk activity, especially if you're young and black. People only tend to do it as a last resort, or when they have nothing left to lose.

Tottenham is a community that speaks over 300 languages and is predominantly of African-Caribbean descent – meaning its diverse community is hit hardest by racism in the job market and on the streets.

Black people in London make up around 50% of London’s low-paid precarious workforce (in cleaning, care homes and hotels) and are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched. If you’re born in Haringey – the borough which includes Tottenham – then statistically you will die two years before the rest of your fellow Englanders. It is the most unequal borough in the country – its 15 wards make up both the richest and the poorest in the country. 10,557 people in Haringey claim Jobseeker’s Allowance – and compete for 450 jobs, meaning that unemployment is twice the national average at 8.8%.

Much mirth has been made of the fact that residents were seen looting hair weaves and groceries – and the viral photo of a woman grinning and holding up a roast chicken from Aldi is undeniably funny. But those lining up to pour contempt on local people meandering through smoke and rubble to load up their shopping trollies should think twice – Haringey has the fourth highest rate of child poverty in London, with 22% of single-parent families living on less than £134 per week. Taking an opportunity to load up on nappies and toilet roll, as residents were seen doing, is a sensible option – when it comes to winter, perhaps the stockpile will mean some families can afford to heat their homes.

This is the reality of ‘nothing left to lose’. This is the reality that leads young people to petrol-bomb supermarkets, burn out police cars, lob missiles at scores of riot cops, erect burning barricades – and it's why they did it without fear.

Long-running mistrust of the police contributed to the fearlessness of young Tottenham residents; in 1985, the death of 49-year old Cynthia Jarrett during a police raid led to riots at Tottenham’s Broadwater Farm and the death of police officer Keith Blakelock. Residents used petrol bombs, bricks, guns and burning barricades in response to racist attacks on their community. 26 years on, the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes, Smiley Culture and Mark Duggan provide an all-too-familiar backdrop to a scene that is starkly similar.

Walking along Tottenham High Road last night, you’d have been hard-pushed to find someone condemning the riots – the mainstream media tried their hardest and have only been able to endlessly recycle one quote, from a local resident who felt ‘unsafe’. At 3am I spoke to a family of five standing outside their front door, the mother reminiscing about the Broadwater riots. Despite worrying about the effects of the looting on local businesses, the family lamented the loss of a friend in Mark Duggan, and joked that they were missing out on Aldi’s bargain riot prices. The grandmother of the family then proceeded to walk to her house on the other side of Tottenham – a route that would take her past barricades and police lines – putting the camera crews parked safely near Seven Sisters to shame. This is a town with a long memory and a real ‘big society’– residents standing together, unafraid and diverse, against an establishment which has inflicted pain, suffering and discrimination upon them for decades.

Tottenham: Nothing left to lose


Tottenham has the highest unemployment rate in London and the 8th highest in the United Kingdom, and it has some of the highest poverty rates within the country.[9] There have also been major tensions between the African-Caribbean community and the police since (and before) the 1985 Broadwater Farm riot.

Tottenham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What BS.

They did it for the pure Hell of it, with the added inspiration of free goods from looting.

Mark Duggan was a drug dealer, with a history of violence, reputedly armed and searching for an enemy after the stabbing of a woman.........

He fired at police. One officer had his radio destroyed by a bullet.

He got dead. Good shooting, Boys!

The fault is largely on the head of police, who did not react with enough force rapidly once the riots began..........any fool could have told you the streets would be full on the next evening......they should have been full of riot cops.

Poverty is not an excuse for rioting.
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
39,778
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Poverty is not an excuse for rioting.

Excuse != Cause. You're beginning to sound like Breivik again.

London Riots - Here We Go Again

If, like me, you are middle aged, you will have seen many riots in the UK. Brixton, Broadwater Farm, and Toxteth are some of the the better known examples in the past 30 years or so. These riots are always triggered by an incident involving the heavy handed policing of members of an ethnic minority community, usually black. The Broadwater Farm riot was triggered by the death of a black woman, Cynthia Jarrett, when the police were searching her home. The riots always occur in communities that are characterised by high unemployment, poverty and poor housing. Tottenham has a history of these problems, Broadwater Farm is just one example, and we still have not heard the true facts about the mysterious death of Smiley Culture, who died whilst in police custody in his own home in April 2011. Allegedly he stabbed himself. A thousand people protested after that incident. What the riots show is the simmering resentment that exists in many inner city communities in the UK.

In the case of the Tottenham riot, which took place on Saturday, supporters of the family of Mark Duggan, who was shot and killed by the police last week, staged a peaceful protest. The police failed to respond to requests from the family to speak to a senior officer. The family and their supporters were kept waiting for hours. The police clearly failed to deal reasonably with the family, sparking further anger. After the Duggan shooting incident, we heard that a police officer had been shot, implying that Duggan had fired on the police, now we hear that both the bullets that were fired came from police weapons. Did someone fire on the police? We don't know. But what we do know is that the police have a history of putting out misleading information in the aftermath of incidents of this kind. In the case of Jean Charles De Menezes, in 2005, the police said that he had behaved suspiciously, and had vaulted a barrier at Stockwell tube station. This turned out not to be true. Jean Charles De Menezes was just a man on his way to work. The police killed an innocent man, and eye-witnesses to the shooting later claimed that they had no need to shoot him dead.

There is a clear pattern here. Communities plagued by unemployment, poverty and poor housing. Heavy handed, inept and racially dubious policing. The police putting out misleading statements about what happened. The police being used to keep a lid on the simmering community resentment. The establishment mouthing platitudes and making token gestures about investment and regeneration. And so it goes on and on and on. This is 21st century Britain, a place where institutional racism and poverty are still being swept under the carpet, where mass unemployment, and four million people needing housing, has become acceptable . Riot inquiry follows riot inquiry but the same old pattern is still repeated. Kack-handed responses by Home Secretaries like Theresa May, who today launched a tirade against the "criminals" who burned and looted. Yes, Theresa, it was wrong and should be condemned, but why did it happen on your watch? Why were so many people involved? Why did it spread so widely? Tell us the answers to that Theresa, instead of mouthing off the usual platitudes about criminality.

The people who really suffer in the end are the people of the afflicted communities themselves. They are the ones whose houses and businesses are destroyed. I wonder what would happen if people took their resentments, arson and riots to Kensington or Mayfair? What sort of police response would we see then? A very different one to one we saw in Tottenham on Saturday night I'm sure. The point is that nothing will ever change until we have an economic system that can provide decent housing and jobs for all, and a police force which is there to protect citizens, instead of helping to keep them under control. Clearly capitalism is not that economic system, and as long as it exists, so will these problems.


London riots - here we go again!
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
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In the bush near Sudbury
What BS.

They did it for the pure Hell of it, with the added inspiration of free goods from looting.

Mark Duggan was a drug dealer, with a history of violence, reputedly armed and searching for an enemy after the stabbing of a woman.........

He fired at police. One officer had his radio destroyed by a bullet.

He got dead. Good shooting, Boys!

The fault is largely on the head of police, who did not react with enough force rapidly once the riots began..........any fool could have told you the streets would be full on the next evening......they should have been full of riot cops.

Poverty is not an excuse for rioting.
Wait until someone comes to take your guns.
 

Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
21,887
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Wait until someone comes to take your guns.

Now THAT would be an excuse for rioting.......:)

This crap makes me sick.

Duggan was human garbage.....not that he deserved a death sentence, but the police have a right to defend themselves.

And they have a right to be presumed innocent of wrong-doing...............at least until there is some smidgen of evidence to the contrary.

And most of the rioters probably don't even know Duggan's name.
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
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G
Generation Entitlement is taking what they believe they are entitled to. Free stuff. Free everything. This morning as I was on the tube I listened to a teenager tell his mother how all his friends had been texting him last night with updates on their looting activities - they had been out stealing dvd players, xbox's and 300GBP Brazilian weaves (which brings up another "unmentionable" about these riots). He then proceeded to tell his visibly upset mother that he should have been out there with his friends getting free stuff. He was laughing. He thought the whole thing was a big joke - and to the rioters it is. Burning buildings, torching police cars, stealing anything and everything is a direct reflection of the total lack of respect for self and others that is rampant in Britain, in particular in what North Americans would likely refer to as London's black ghettos (Brixton and Tottenham, two areas where the rioting began are two of London's most impoverished black neighbourhoods). Being poor does not make you a thief - and these people are not stealing because they are poor - if they were they would be stealing food and necessities - not loading up the trunks of their cars with Nike shoes as they did in Tottenham Hale.

Square Mile Wife: London is Burning
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,910
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Low Earth Orbit
The trickle up theory.

Loot at pillage at the home level.

They must have learned that from the Bankers down in the City of London.