London riots spread south of Thames

Violence, vandalism and looting spread beyond Tottenham and Enfield to reach Brixton, leaving 35 police injured

Sam Jones, Paul Lewis, Matthew Taylor and Ben Quinn
guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 August 2011 08.41 BST

There has been a second night of rioting across London, with violence erupting in several of the capital's boroughs, from Brixton in the south to Enfield and Islington in the north and Walthamstow to the east.

What police are calling "copycat criminal activity" – some of it apparently part of an orchestrated plan – has so far resulted in 100 arrests.

Sunday night's rioting followed disturbances on Saturday night in Tottenham, which came after the fatal shooting by police of Mark Duggan, 29, on Thursday.

In a statement on Monday morning, the Metropolitan police said they were shocked at the levels of "disgraceful violence" that had left 35 officers injured.

"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 … 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."

Shops in Enfield Town and the A10 retail park were vandalised and looted, and there were reports of two vehicles set on fire.

Mounted police were seen chasing groups of masked youths, some carrying sticks, away from stores, while lines of riot police readied themselves for trouble.

At 9.30pm on Sunday Met police and reinforcements from Kent began turning the whole of Enfield into a "sterile area". Hundreds of riot police arrived with vans and police dogs, charging at groups of teenagers who disappeared into sidestreets, smashing cars and shop windows as they ran.

A large crowd of youths moved off westwards, with some teenagers saying the plan was to go to nearby Ponders End. A retail park and shops were attacked, among them a closed Tesco Extra store. Workers inside described hearing windows smashing as dozens of youths poured into the store. "They left carrying TVs, alcohol – they were stuffing trolleys," said one shop assistant.

Unlike the previous night's disturbances, this time riot police appeared on the scene in large numbers. Their stance was also more aggressive, with baton charges and dogs used to disperse crowds.

Three officers were taken to hospital after being hit by a fast-moving vehicle at 12.45am, a Metropolitan police spokesman said, while a fight broke out when rival gangs went to King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill, south London, after two victims of minor stabbings were admitted. The hospital brought in extra security for the rest of the night and officers remained on scene dealing with the initial stabbings.

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.

The looting across London was carried out by "small and mobile" groups, the police spokesman said.

As violence spread, about 50 youths gathered in Oxford Circus, central London, and damaged property.

Elsewhere, more than 30 youths, many in masks, vandalised and looted shops in Walthamstow Central, including BHS.

Meanwhile, the family of Mark Duggan's said it was "not condoning" the riots and looting that had rocked their local area.

Duggan's brother Shaun Hall told Sky News: "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."

Hall said the family was "devastated" by his death and dismissed as "utter rubbish" the allegation that he had shot at police.

The Guardian has reported that initial tests suggest a bullet found lodged in a police radio after Duggan's death was police issue. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which has launched an inquiry into the shooting, said it would not comment until all ballistics and forensic tests were complete.

A major investigation codenamed Operation Withern has been launched followed the unrest in Tottenham.

London riots spread south of Thames | UK news | guardian.co.uk

What do you think?

It seems to me there are quite a few local people not entirely happy with the way things are going. Blaming the police for not putting a quicker end to the rioting?

Quote:

But police faced claims they were underprepared for the disturbances despite being warned after the shooting there could be trouble on the streets by people officers trust and who know the area. By Thursday evening and Friday morning, people with knowledge of the Tottenham area were warning officers that there could be a "significant" community reaction to the area which could result in trouble on the streets. There was dismay that those warnings were either not acted on or just ignored. One told the Guardian: "It was not unreasonable to expect serious trouble over the weekend. Their plans were not good enough."

Class traitors! Informing on their younger brothers!

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Youths... heh.

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This doesn't appear to be a particularly political conscious action. The initial trigger was,allegedly, a young woman being attacked by police. Once this was underway, a bunch of other people seem to havew resorted to looting. It's not surprising opinions are split, local people are bing harmed. Also there are no demands as such.

This is more a case of people who have nothing to gain from the maintenance of law and order, becuase the status quo doesn't do them any good.

Things I believe about the London riots


There are five.

1. As always with urban riots, Tottenham and its aftermath have produced political rock-throwing. A familiar polarisation can be witnessed in mainstream and social media alike. From the right comes condemnation of the criminality, uncritical support for the police and a snorting contempt for any attempt to diagnose the events with reference to their wider social and economic context: unemployment, poverty, historic tensions with the Met and so on. From the left comes, yes, an insistence that the events cannot be truly understood without reference to that wider social and economic context, an insistence that the police must be held to account, and so on.

I'm in the latter camp, but do I also condemn the burning and looting? Yes, stupid, I do. I find it hateful, depressing, selfish, contemptuous, vicious and frightening. My, possibly paranoid, sense that delinquent youths all across the inner city are emboldened by the current mood has ratcheted up my parental anxiety an unwelcome notch or two.

I have no problem with condemnation, only with condemnation in isolation. That is because condemnation on its own is far too easy - so easy, in some mouths, that it becomes a sort of narcissistic vigilantism: my condemnation is bigger than your condemnation; your smaller condemnation condemns you as a secret non-condemner and therefore a closet excuser and justifier, etcetera. The other problem with condemnation unadorned is that it's a dead end. You condemn. Then what? You have to look for some solutions. Condemning alone is not enough.

2. Rioting is often described as "mindless." The problem is, it's not. I know why the word is used: it expresses our incredulity and sometimes points to the rioting's counter-productiveness - that's the meaning, I think, that David Lammy deployed when he used "mindless" in his strong and nuanced statement yesterday. But people who riot do have minds, and in these lie the reasons for their rioting.

Those reasons vary, and may be various. They will be bad reasons, even when miserably explicable. But reasons, they are. Call them motives, if you prefer. These may be greed, hatred, a craving for status, for battle and excitement and for an antisocial sort of liberty. Some deep, possibly incoherent rage against authority and a safer, kinder more prosperous world they can't join might be part of this story too. None of this is evidence of mindlessness, and to declare it so is to hide from reality.

3. Do the riots and their backdrop indicate that the capital's street criminality is becoming more ingrained? I've a sad suspicion that they do. The whole story, beginning with Trident's operation against Mark Duggan and broadening to smashed shop windows in Enfield and elsewhere, has ushered into the light a still mostly hidden London subculture of guns, thieving and thuggery that normally appears mostly suppressed.

The long-term pattern of overall crime in London is down, but as a careful interrogation of serious violent offences shows, the numbers of teenage and young adult victims of knife and other grave assaults has been rising in recent years - a trend our Mayor has yet to acknowledge. Does anyone believe the drug trade is in decline? Does anyone doubt that localised fraternities of felony are an established part of inner city London life? Does anyone seriously think that the police alone can make them go away?

4. The cops are not perfect: they spin, they're secretive, they do wrong things. But every inch of riot footage confirms to me that I don't have what it takes to be one.

5. From MayorWatch:

I'm not sure there's any practical need for Boris to return from his holiday. Sure, on arrival he could make a few speeches, give some interviews and distract the Met by demanding meetings and briefings. But would any of that really move the situation on?

Probably not, and I detect in some cries for his immediate return the sound of political points being scored. What's more, Boris's few words on the phone to the BBC did strike roughly the right chord. It was unfortunate that he twice referred to Mark Duggan as "Michael", but as well as denouncing the rioting he rightly stressed that there are "legitimate questions" to be put to the police.

The real test of Boris will be to keep striking the right chord and adopting a fitting profile after he gets home. His habit over policing has been to hog the limelight when it makes him look good and duck it when it threatens to be less than flattering. If that changes, at least one good thing will have come out of the horrible events of recent days.

Things I believe about the London riots | UK news | guardian.co.uk


--
Mainly becuase the "mindless" line bugs me too.

I'm not convinced this really constitutes an 'escalation' yet, but...

London riots escalate as police battle for control

• Full-scale alert as violence spreads across capital
• Disorder breaks out in Birmingham city centre
• Mayor and home secretary return, PM still on holiday


guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 August 2011 21.09 BST
Article history

London's emergency services were on full-scale alert on Monday night as rioting, fires and pitched battles with police erupted around the city from late afternoon.

The Metropolitan police poured hundreds of extra officers on to the streets as trouble flared in the north, south and east of the capital.

In Hackney, east London, masked and hooded youths smashed up shops and threw missiles, planks of wood and wheelie bins at riot police. Several abandoned vehicles were set alight. There were also violent scenes in Lewisham, south-east London, where petrol bombs were reportedly thrown at officers, and shops looted. A bus was torched in nearby Peckham as police struggled to respond to the spread of sporadic violent incidents.

Witnesses said a 100-strong mob cheered as a shop in the centre of Peckham was torched and one masked thug shouted: "The West End's going down next." A baker's next door was also alight. One onlooker said: "The mob were just standing there cheering and laughing. Others were just watching on from their homes open-mouthed in horror."

The unrest had spread beyond London with West Midlands police confirming outbreaks of disorder in Birmingham city centre. Shops including a branch of Louis Vuitton had windows smashed and were looted. Extra officers were being sent into the streets of Britain's second city.

As the home secretary, Theresa May, broke off her holiday to return to London, the number of arrests from three consecutive nights of violence rose to 215, with 27 people charged. It was also announced that London mayor Boris Johnson would be returning early from his holiday. However, the prime minister remained on holiday in Tuscany.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said one-third more officers were available on Monday nightthan on Sunday, when shops were ransacked and torched in Brixton, south London, and trouble reported in Enfield, Edmonton, Walthamstow and Islington.

Kavanagh vowed to deliver "speedy justice" for Londoners, condemning the waves of looting as "disgusting behaviour, ripping apart people's livelihoods and businesses".

Officers from Thames Valley, Essex, Kent, Surrey and City of London were drafted in to support the Met. But apparent "copycat" riots continued to spread in the wake of Tottenham's riots on Saturday precipitated by the fatal shooting by police of Mark Duggan, 29, a father-of-four last Thursday.

In a bid to contain them, Scotland Yard introduced special powers in four areas – Lambeth, Haringey, Enfield and Waltham Forest, allowing stop and search without reasonable suspicion. The section 60 powers were invoked at midnight on Sunday. One incident of stop and search in Hackney was reportedly the catalyst for violence which erupted in Mare Street shortly after 4pm, and saw local hooded youths battle police.

The Guardian understands senior officers are prepared to add more areas to the list. The special powers have been perceived as targeting certain ethnic groups, thus fuelling tensions.

Meanwhile, the maker of the BlackBerry smartphones, Research in Motion, said it would co-operate with a police investigation into claims its popular BlackBerry Messenger service played a key role in organising the London riots.

Acting Metropolitan police commissioner Tim Godwin, said: "We need to separate grievance and criminality." The situation was deemed so serious, he said, that he had taken several phone calls from David Cameron.

Croydon, Barnet, Streatham, Clapham and Islington were among a number of areas of London where shops were being advised to close early amid fears of violence.

After meeting Godwin, May said: "Those responsible for this violence and looting will be made to face the consequences of their actions. So far there have been at least 215 arrests and 27 people have been charged. But as the police take statements from witnesses, as they look at CCTV evidence, more arrests will be made."

Brixton bore the brunt of Sunday's violence. The Lambeth council leader, Steve Reed, said: "We are asking the mayor's office for additional police for tonight and the next few nights." Condemning the "copycat activity", he said: "Somebody described it as gangs of kids doing Supermarket Sweep. It was Curry's where they were after plasma screen TVs, and H&M and Foot Locker where it was clothes and trainers. It wasn't about social issues, it was an opportunity to go on the rob."

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, visiting Tottenham, said the violence would leave "big scars" on the community. Surveying the wreckage after the torching of businesses and homes in Tottenham High Road, he spoke to Steve Moore, who lost his jewellery shop in Saturday's violence. "I'm devastated, it's completely gone. My shop just doesn't exist anymore," Moore told him.

Referring to the "copycat" violence across London, Clegg said: "Let's be clear, the violence we saw last night had absolutely nothing to do with the death of Mr Duggan. It was needless, opportunist theft and violence – nothing more, nothing less."

Boris Johnson released a statement describing the scenes of violence and destruction as "utterly appalling".

"I understand the need for urgent answers into the shooting incident that resulted in the death of a young man and I've sought reassurances that the IPCC are doing exactly that," he said. "But, let's be clear – these acts of sheer criminality across London are nothing to do with this incident and must stop now."

Three police officers were taking to hospital after a car was deliberately driven at them in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, where a shop was looted on Sunday.

An inquest into Duggan's death was due to open on Tuesday though there seemed to be conflict between Scotland Yard and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over complaints by his family over "lack of contact" following his shooting. On behalf of Scotland Yard, Kavanagh said: "I want to apologise to the Duggan family because I think both the IPCC and the Metropolitan police could have managed that family's needs more effectively".

Rachel Cerfontyne, who is in charge of the investigation, said: "Following my meeting with the family yesterday I am very clear that their concerns were not about lack of contact or support from the IPCC. Their concerns were about lack of contact from the police in delivering news of his death to Mark's parents."

She added that "if necessary" the complaint would become part of the IPCC's investigation.

London riots escalate as police battle for control | UK news | The Guardian

Stroll through the shanties
And tha cities remains
Same bodies buried hungry
But with different last names
The vultures robbin everything
Leave nothing but chains
Pick a point on the globe
Yes tha pictures tha same
Theres a bank, theres a church, a myth and a hearse
A mall and a loan, a child dead at birth
Theres a widow pig parrot
A rebel to tame
A whitehooded judge
A syringe and a vein
And the riot be the rhyme of the unheard
- RATM

I fucking hate terms like "social exclusion", which just attempt to mask poverty as something else. But that said:

Looting 'fuelled by social exclusion'

Young looters from poor estates have nothing to lose and no reason to obey social norms, say experts


Alexandra Topping
guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 August 2011 19.58 BST

After the riots came the looting. Across London windows were smashed, and shops emptied. On Monday experts said social exclusion and the breakdown of law and order could have spurred looters to disregard social norms.

"Many of the people involved are likely to have been from low-income, high-unemployment estates, and many, if not most, do not have much of a legitimate future," said criminologist and youth culture expert Professor John Pitts.

Unlike most people, some of those looting had no stake in conformity, he said. "Those things that normally constrain people are not there. Much of this was opportunism but in the middle of it there is a social question to be asked about young people with nothing to lose."

On much of the footage of the widespread theft after the riots, looters can be seen brazenly taking the goods they want, some without taking the precaution of covering their face. In one video shot early on Sunday morning in Wood Green, people can be seen leaving H&M with a haul of goods, with others standing around JD Sports apparently waiting for their turn to take goods.

One north London resident, who wanted to be identified only as Tiel, described a conversation: "I heard two girls arguing about which store to steal from next. 'Let's go Boots?' 'No, Body Shop.' 'Hit Body Shop after it's dead [meaning empty].'" The girl came out of Boots "nonchalantly, as if she'd done her weekly shop at 4:30am", he added. He described others, holding up clothes to themselves in the broken windows of H&M. "They were just so blasé about what they were doing."

In Wood Green about 100 youths targeted shops, including electrical stores and clothes chains such as H&M. "I've got loads of G-Star," said one teenager, emerging from a clothes shop. Other teenagers were seen with suitcases filled with stolen goods, and in the early hours of Sunday residential front gardens were used to sort and swap them.

Evidence has also been emerging that looters are attempting to sell their stolen goods. In Tottenham, just off the high street, one 20-year-old, who refused to give his name, said he had heard looters trying to get the booty off their hands as soon as possible.

"I know some were on corners trying to sell laptops from Currys for 20 quid. What you going to do with it?" he said.

Looters found ways to justify their actions, Pitts added. "They feel they can rationalise it by targeting big corporations. There is a sense that the companies have lots of money, while they have very little." Combined with a lack of intervention from police and increasing lawlessness, the combination was explosive: " [Looters] quickly see that police cannot control the situation, which leads to a sort of adrenalin-fuelled euphoria – suddenly you are in control and there is nothing anyone can do."

A generation bred on a diet of excessive consumerism and bombarded by advertising had been unleashed, he added. "Where we used to be defined by what we did, now we are defined by what we buy. These big stores are in the business of tempting [the consumer] and then suddenly these people find they can just walk into the shop and have it all."

One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said a police officer patrolling Brixton Road on Monday morning told him he thought 12-year-olds were looting.

Dr Paul Bagguley, a sociologist at the University of Leeds, said looting was a common feature of most riots but a mixture of practical reasons could have increased its extent. Rising unemployment was important not only as a catalyst of unrest, but because it meant more people were unoccupied on the streets leading to "biographical availability". "It's a straightforward argument, but powerful. Without jobs people are more likely to be hanging around the streets. Also there are simply more desirable, portable consumer goods to steal than ever before."

Looting was seen as a less risky activity than rioting: "Looting tends to involve a wider range of people – children, women, older people – because it does not involve physical violence. Riots enable people to lose their inhibitions, give them liberty to do things they wouldn't normally do."

Areeb Ullah, a Tottenham resident, said looters had disregarded the needs of the area and local people. And while large stores were targeted, some smaller shops had not escaped the looting. "The businesses around here were barely getting by anyway. A flower shop was set alight. What has that florist ever done? I saw a man in his shop just crying. This is only going to make Tottenham worse."

Looting 'fuelled by social exclusion' | UK news | The Guardian

makes me furious to hear theresa may, who somehow manages to look smug and terrified at the same time, dismiss these riots as 'sheer criminality'. it's the equivalent of getting up to the podium and going 'not my job, mate'.

half the people rioting are barely literate, we know that. and yet the only form of dissent we'll accept from them is a strongly worded letter to the editor? maiden speeches in the commons?

everything is political ms may.

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Originally Posted by contracycle

"Many of the people involved are likely to have been from low-income, high-unemployment estates, and many, if not most, do not have much of a legitimate future," said criminologist and youth culture expert Professor John Pitts.

Just like me! Awesome. See you later, I'm off to get a new tv.

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