London Riots

[BonnieShels]

Seems like it's just getting bigger and bigger.
Whereas there is potential of Sky-perbole to have kicked in it seems that they are in fact reporting properly here. Have mates all over the city and they are reporting that the fan is covered now.

Clapham is on the way now.

[Closed Account 2]

Ealing's now ablaze, my friend in Ruislip can see the flames across the A40. This is getting serious now and I don't think there are enough police to deal with the sheer volume of feral youth - in Oxford Street there were units from Thames Valley Police, in Slough there are Bedfordshire Police... I wouldn't be shocked to see troops on the streets.

I can't believe "Dave" is swanning away in sipping espressos in Tuscany while his Capital burns. Where is Boris Johstone ? Probably on ****ing cycling holiday.

[mypost]

Who said August was a "quiet time" in politics?

[BonnieShels]

Ealing's now ablaze, my friend in Ruislip can see the flames across the A40. This is getting serious now and I don't think there are enough police to deal with the sheer volume of feral youth - in Oxford Street there were units from Thames Valley Police, in Slough there are Bedfordshire Police... I wouldn't be shocked to see troops on the streets.

I can't believe "Dave" is swanning away in sipping espressos in Tuscany while his Capital burns. Where is Boris Johstone ? Probably on ****ing cycling holiday.

No mention of Ealing on the news. Had a friend staying there over the weekend. Thankfully she managed to get out in time to Poland on Sunday.

Mad looking at all those places going up when I was just there yesterday!!!

[Lionel Ritchie]

Ealing's now ablaze, my friend in Ruislip can see the flames across the A40. This is getting serious now and I don't think there are enough police to deal with the sheer volume of feral youth - in Oxford Street there were units from Thames Valley Police, in Slough there are Bedfordshire Police... I wouldn't be shocked to see troops on the streets.

I can't believe "Dave" is swanning away in sipping espressos in Tuscany while his Capital burns. Where is Boris Johstone ? Probably on ****ing cycling holiday.

Dave's having tennis lessons apparently. I s*** you not.

[BonnieShels]

great photo of a girl arrested after looting the store... that she works in!!!

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/08/article-2023554-0D58092100000578-48_964x554.jpg

[Closed Account 2]

No mention of Ealing on the news. Had a friend staying there over the weekend. Thankfully she managed to get out in time to Poland on Sunday.

Mad looking at all those places going up when I was just there yesterday!!!

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/08/08/uk-britain-disorder-looting-idUKTRE7776DY20110808

Ealing is happening now, literally as we speak. Apparently it looks like cars were set on fire on the broadway, but now looking at the flames my mate thinks the whole Ealing shopping center might be up in flames, you can see the flames right over the A40.

All London Carling Cup matches (West Ham, Palace etc) are apparently off tomorrow night, England Holland is unlikely to go ahead (not enough police) on Wednesday, talk of the Premier League matches being postponed. Fulham v Villa, QPR v Bolton, Spurs v Everton, Palace and Millwall are at home too, so it's unlikely there will be enough police. All of this football news is unconfirmed, but if anyone's going to a game this week check.

Rumours now that the Airports are going to shut.

[thischarmingman]

Incredible.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=207192798388318292131.0004aa01af6748773e8f 7&msa=0&ll=51.558503,-0.055275&spn=0.114195,0.298691

[tricky_colour]

I'm in Nottingham, a long way from London But I am still pretty worried, probably unnecessarily, Just fetched an axe from the garage 'just in case'.
You just don't know when it will end, I thought it would be over last night but it is worse than ever.
There has been trouble in Birmingham, I'd like to think Nottingham will not be affected, but who knows, there is no precedent for this stuff.

[Pauro 76]

I'm working in Reading and living in Uxbridge, thankfully well away from it all. But Twitter rumours, Uxbridge might be next today. It's absolutely frightening. I've been here 7 years and the lack of leadership from Cameron and Johnson is ridiculous. These people have no respect, no fear, no morals, no ethics. Animals, absolute animals. Many friends here and i hope they stay safe.

[DannyInvincible]

I've been here 7 years and the lack of leadership from Cameron and Johnson is ridiculous. These people have no respect, no fear, no morals, no ethics. Animals, absolute animals.

But what's your opinion on the rioters?

[Pauro 76]

But what's your opinion on the rioters?

Well played sir!

[DannyInvincible]

More seriously, I think these words, apparently from rioters interviewed or overheard in the street, are worthy of consideration, a riot being the language of the unheard and all that.


When it's revolution in Egypt you all go, oh wonderful! Why are you dissing us then?

NBC correspondent, Martin Fletcher, wrote the following:


[H]ere's a sad truth, expressed by a Londoner when asked by a television reporter: Is rioting the correct way to express your discontent?

"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"

The TV reporter from Britain's ITV had no response. So the young man pressed his advantage. "Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you."

Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters interviewing the young men everywhere.

It's obvious these people, whether they're versed in the politics of activism or not, whether it's orchestrated or not, or whether they're even really all that conscious as to why exactly they feel an urge to cause such destruction and mayhem, are driven by some fundamental quest for acknowledgement and empowerment; obviously states of being they've exceptionally rarely had the pleasure of ever experiencing before. I don't think it's helped dismissing the whole thing as "mindless criminality", nor does it help to marginalise further by verbal dehumanisation a section of society who already feel very much left out. I'm not sure what answers that gets us, other than insulating those who might actually be worth questioning for such a sorry state of affairs because apparently there's no more to discuss beyond this being "random" and "inexplicable"? And I'm not talking about those who've been arrested. There's a cause for everything. Those rioting are human beings, like us, who share the very same range of emotions as us. If we grew up in their shoes, who's to say we wouldn't be out there with them? It's clear there's a lot of anger and disaffection there, even if it is manifesting itself in such an unsophisticated, hopelessly self-destructive and misdirected manner that is both damaging their own communities and threatening the lives of innocent others, but let's bin the myth that there's no reason behind this.

[SwanVsDalton]

Danny - largely agreed, although the debate, at least initially, is going to be dominated by the 'looting' stories, organised elements loading up cars of swag etc. A lot of this action doesn't really lend itself to understanding. Hopefully after it all dies down a bit, there can be a proper conversation on why exactly this is happening now.

Live in Sydenham, just south of Catford/Lewisham/Peckham, and just north of Croydon. Got home last night about 10pm, all quiet except for a gang of masked hoods quite obviously discussing where they should go for their destruction kicks (heard one say 'Let's hit Bromley'). Is it wrong I'm feeling kinda nostalgic for home off the back of all this?!

[Mr A]

There may well have been reasons for the initial protests but the later stuff simply seems like scumbags taking advantage of how overstretched the police are. Yeah, there's poverty and deprivation, but people still need to be responsible for their actions. There were plenty of people from the same areas who didn't feel the need to smash up their local Currys or torch a shop with flats above it.

[BonnieShels]

Another concern I have Is with the wave of copycat disturbances abounding around England as we speak what chances that our scum element will try something after watching the pictures from London.

[shakermaker1982]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023667/London-riots-Looter-posts-photo-booty-Facebook.html

SCUM.

[Pauro 76]

Is it wrong I'm feeling kinda nostalgic for home off the back of all this?!

Not at all. I'm seriously thinking of coming back. No jobs back home though. David Cameron's speech was a bit meh. But hoping it'll subside soon, surely the looters can't expect to get away with this for a 4th night?

[Pauro 76]

oh and this is quite heartbreaking if you haven't seen it. Poor kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gex_ya4-Oo

[Lim till i die]

As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood". That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century.

Slaughtered for this he was and it turned out he was barely a decade out.


Meanwhile on a lighter note:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkWtMNBgf48


:D

[BonnieShels]

Saw that picture of that goon posing with his stash on Twitter last night. Idiot.

[SwanVsDalton]

Slaughtered for this he was and it turned out he was barely a decade out.

It's only accurate if the title 'Rivers Of Blood' is replaced by 'Lakes Of Swiped Electronics And Trainers'.

[tricky_colour]

I'm in Nottingham, a long way from London But I am still pretty worried, probably unnecessarily, Just fetched an axe from the garage 'just in case'.
You just don't know when it will end, I thought it would be over last night but it is worse than ever.
There has been trouble in Birmingham, I'd like to think Nottingham will not be affected, but who knows, there is no precedent for this stuff.

Just an update, seems there was some trouble in Nottingham, including a police station being attacked.
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Riots-spread-Nottingham-police-station-firebombed/story-13096622-detail/story.html


Riots spread to Nottingham as police station firebombed

[SkStu]

its kicking off in Brighton now. Fcking Animals.

http://officespam.chattablogs.com/archives/Seagull-Stealing-Chips.gif

[SkStu]

Meanwhile on a lighter note:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkWtMNBgf48



opportunistic viral marketing campaign?

[BonnieShels]

Carlsberg don't do riots...

[geysir]

England's Burning

[culloty82]

Starting in Salford and Manchester city centre now - for reasons unknown, Miss Selfridge has become the target of choice tonight.

[Pauro 76]

Eerily calm in West London so far. I hope it stays like this. The police presence is keeping people away from my nearest town and grateful for that.

[SkStu]

just something i thought worth mentioning. Since im home at the moment ive been watching a lot of CNN and other north american news stations. Their coverage of the London riots has been so muted its incredible. Usually they are all over stories of rioting/revolt a la Syria, Libya Egypt, Greece... but for London it has been near silent.

Now, i know that the headline in the States at the moment is the credit rating downgrade but London is not even second or third story, it got a 3 minute segment this morning. Would it be beyond the realms of possibility that the States are frightened to give this too much coverage perhaps fearing that it might cause a similar rising up in areas of America? I could be way off, just a thought - im confined to home at the moment so my imagination may be getting the best of me!!!

[Spudulika]

You might not be wrong, the US has had its fair share of race riots, I was listening to a podcast about Rodney King and his troubles. It could kick off very easily in the US, and if it keeps going in England....

[Pauro 76]

Some great positive stories emerging from Twitter.

Sikh locals out in force in Southall protecting the neighbourhood.

http://yfrog.com/h62ncccj

Vigilantes in Croydon and Enfield, the Turkish store owners in Dalston protecting their property... Millwall fans chanting 'No-One Loots Us' in Eltham, great spirit.

[dancinpants]

You might not be wrong, the US has had its fair share of race riots, I was listening to a podcast about Rodney King and his troubles. It could kick off very easily in the US, and if it keeps going in England....

You're assuming that Americans give a sh!t about whats happening in the rest of the world...I can assure you that they don't. The average American probably isn't even aware there is rioting in London.

[thischarmingman]

Some great positive stories emerging from Twitter.

Sikh locals out in force in Southall protecting the neighbourhood.

http://yfrog.com/h62ncccj

Vigilantes in Croydon and Enfield, the Turkish store owners in Dalston protecting their property... Millwall fans chanting 'No-One Loots Us' in Eltham, great spirit.

Bengalis in our area protected their shops and houses from rioters last night. Would have been a lot more damage in Whitechapel last night were it not for them. Bloody foreigners, coming over here and saving our boroughs.

[SkStu]

Bengalis in our area protected their shops and houses from rioters last night. Would have been a lot more damage in Whitechapel last night were it not for them. Bloody foreigners, coming over here and saving our boroughs.

them and their delicious food.

[tricky_colour]

Police station less than a mile away from me firebombed.
I was thinking of taking a stroll up to have a look but then I thought, maybe not ;)

It is madness.
8 arrested but apparently 30 were involved.


It's like living in Somalia!!

[tricky_colour]

Just heard on the news...."hundreds of incidents in Nottingham!!"

(consider it is a tiny city compared to London!!).

[Magicme]

its kicking off in Brighton now. Fcking Animals.

Feck ya, I nearly threw up on the laptop worrying about my cousin and her family who live in Brighton. :-(

[Lim till i die]

opportunistic viral marketing campaign?

Racist. Reported.










If anyone gets that they're as evil as me :p

[BonnieShels]

So, what have I missed. The stream of texts from Brixton/Clapham have ceased.

[dancinpants]

Heres one from Birmingham. Showing recorded stuff at the mo but will be back live shortly:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sangat-tv

[Spudulika]

You're assuming that Americans give a sh!t about whats happening in the rest of the world...I can assure you that they don't. The average American probably isn't even aware there is rioting in London.


The point made as that it's not being reported on the major International networks in a meaningful way, so if it's not reported on local - tree falling in forest etc. Of course they won't give a damn or have heard of it if it's not reported, returning to the question asked - is there a politically driven reason for it?

For the record in Russia it's being carried pretty widely, in the top 5 news items and this is a country where something like this has a potential to kick off, if the kind of scum seen on English streets weren't actually working for the government here - or too scared to do something like this.

If the English police start using tear gas and rubber bullets, how long will it be before the NATO bombing campaign to remove Cameron (back to Italy)?

[pineapple stu]

just something i thought worth mentioning. Since im home at the moment ive been watching a lot of CNN and other north american news stations. Their coverage of the London riots has been so muted its incredible. Usually they are all over stories of rioting/revolt a la Syria, Libya Egypt, Greece... but for London it has been near silent.
Reporting upheaval in "third world" countries is important to justify American regime change and their troops being places they shouldn't be. It helps keep up a negative stereotype of these places in American minds.

The US has no intention of invading England, and so doesn't need to portray that image. In fact, it probably helps not to show that the likes of Syria and England aren't as different you might think.

[Pauro 76]

Very calm in my area of north west London. Thank feck. Quit work for the day earlier after seeing wildfire tweets of a riot in Uxbridge. Shops shut early, but my thanks to the police for re-assuring the public and to Hillingdon council on social networks for dismissing the wildfire tweets and keeping the head whilst everyone was losing theirs.

[Spudulika]

A few things to think about which, after a check on news sources, haven't been joined up - but maybe it's 1+1=59

1. The British Police force is to shed numbers in a cost cutting/optimisation drive.
2. Complaints have been made about police knowing what was about to happen, when it was about to happen and this has been reported to the media in advance of outbreaks of violence (for example in Manchester yesterday).

Now, far be it from me to espouse a conspiracy theory - but since the attempt to put in place a less discerning ruling elite who would no longer block British and French interests in Libya, and the British security services exposure in Northern Ireland with "new threats" to keep their budgets high. Is there a chance that there is a certain joy in some quarters that the cities are in flames?

Agree with you Stu that the media in the US will not show their partner having street riots. It just doesn't fit their "paradigm".

Al Jazeera's reporting is interesting.

[Macy]

I think it's too easy to dismiss them as scumbags and thugs - there's clearly an underlying issue. Obviously it doesn't suit politicians to admit that, and the right wing media are happier just talking water cannon and rubber bullets and probably "bringing back the birch". If nothing else, just why do they have so little respect for society, the police and other peoples property? Truly Thatchers children/ grandchildren? I in no way condone what's happened just to be clear.

Secondly, London sucks in all the police resources and shock horror it kicks off around the rest of the England!?! For example, GMP were policing London, while Manchester and Salford was being sacked. No surprise that, judging what I heard this morning, that there is no danger of the effected areas getting their cops back, but sure once London is calm...

[Spudulika]

I read the article by Kevin Myers earlier and it was quite pointed, yet it's nothing that isn't known, but scarcely admitted. If anyone can remember when Brian Glanville was on PK Today a couple of years ago with PK and Des Cahill, there was a scandal about the Newcastle (I think) players roasting some girl. It was discussed and Glanville said - It cannot come as a surprise as many of these young men are victims of a culture where there is an absence of fathers, they're raised by single mothers, they don't have an education, suddenly they are wealthy and without control.

He was immediately cut off and the two Irish flubbered around trying to cast him as a racist. I was disgusted as, despite his faults, Glanville can be very good and is a decent man. He was 100% correct from a social commentary POV yet it didn't suit the pc brigade. Same again this time in England and there is a real undercurrent of illfeeling towards others. Until the issues are addressed openly there will be more and more of this behaviour. Seeing scum of all colours and religions rampaging through city streets is chilling, especially that there are some groups gleefully manipulating it.

Edit: More than 11,000 police have been laid off in England and Wales, by 2015 13,000 more will be cut. 4 of 8 youth centres in Clapham have been closed since last year.

[geysir]

Last night I heard on BBC R5, after the traffic report (congested areas to avoid) came the riot report (troubled areas to avoid).

[dancinpants]

The point made as that it's not being reported on the major International networks in a meaningful way, so if it's not reported on local - tree falling in forest etc. Of course they won't give a damn or have heard of it if it's not reported, returning to the question asked - is there a politically driven reason for it?

But its right there, on CNN's front page, ABC News' front page, msnbc's front page, npr's front page, and its on Fox News' front page. Jesus, even my local news station have been reporting on it widely for the last few days. Its not the headline simply because the people here are more worried about the economy because , well, it's a bigger issue. And thats not even mentioning next years election.

Its being reported, theres lots of info on the internet if people have the interest to follow. They don't do so simply because they don't really care.

[Real ale Madrid]

I think it's too easy to dismiss them as scumbags and thugs - there's clearly an underlying issue. Obviously it doesn't suit politicians to admit that, and the right wing media are happier just talking water cannon and rubber bullets and probably "bringing back the birch". If nothing else, just why do they have so little respect for society, the police and other peoples property? Truly Thatchers children/ grandchildren? I in no way condone what's happened just to be clear.


This man obviously seems angry - interesting the way the beeb dealt with him - by calling him a rioter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o&feature=youtube_gdata_player