London Riots
There have now been three, consecutive nights of rioting in London and it appears to be spreading as Birmingham got in on the act. This all kicked off last Thursday when a 29 year old man was shot by Police officers for alledgedly shooting and wounding an officer. The man apparently received medical attention but died at the scene. On Satuday many people in the area of Tottenham staged a peaceful protest but as tempers flared in the heat of the day the night turned into one of utter destruction and violence.
Since then people have been made homeless and have had their businesses destroyed for good as rioters have burnt large sections of London to the ground including; Eling, Clapham, Croydon, Tottenham and Lewisham. The people claim to be angry and looking for answers.
How they will find answers from burning and looting is beyond the average person in Britain. The looting in Birmingham seems to be opportunistic, a case of, well if London can do it...of course what these people are doing is effectively shitting on their own doorstep.
For some reason, since all this kicked off, I have had The Clash songs London Calling and White Riot on repeat play in my head. I think this is because they not only seem to sum up events but recall a time when all this happened before. These sort of events have not been seen for at least 25 years in London, not since the high unemployment of the 1970s and 1980s under the last Tory government. The trouble this time around is that funding has been cut and the people have nothing to do. There are no youth programmes, no incentives for people to remain in education and yet there are no jobs for them either. I am in no way condoning what is going on, but you can see where this tide of destruction stems from.
The sad fact is that the original reason for all of these events seems to have been forgotten. Let's face it, it is fun to smash things and it is fun to burn things down. If you are hot, bored and disillusioned you are going to create your own entertainment and say that it is in the name of anger. Unfortunately this is not winning anyone any points here.
The police are ineffectual throughout this. They just line up and advance and retreat without any real effect. The one thing I will not have is the Fire Brigades being bad mouthed. They are stretched now on a nightly basis with large fires cropping up all over small areas of London. The crews cannot get near the burning building because they have the rioters to contend with. Hell, the rioters will attack anyone, including that stalwart of Britishness the BBC (a crew were attacked early last night).
Our politicians have come home from their holidays early. They will be holding security meetings this morning about what to do next. That is the big question...what can we do next? The rioting is beyond out of control and the violence is both sickening and deplorable. Something needs to be done.
The trouble with saying that something needs to be done is that there is no answer to give these rioters. They say they are angry and looking for answers, but as it has gone beyond last Thursday's events, it is hard to see what the questions are. Is this about the shooting? Is this about funding cuts? Or is this about opportunism? Boredom? The sad fact is that I don't think anyone really knows anymore. This will pretty much have to burn itself out (pardon the phrase). The real victims are those left homeless and without their businesses (some of which have been run for generations). These are the real victims, what will happen for them when the riots finish. Where will they go? They have literally the clothes on their backs and nothing else. It is for them that we should be thinking and for them that the rioters need to stop. After all, they have done nothing wrong and yet it is the innocent people that are suffering from this.
Since then people have been made homeless and have had their businesses destroyed for good as rioters have burnt large sections of London to the ground including; Eling, Clapham, Croydon, Tottenham and Lewisham. The people claim to be angry and looking for answers.
How they will find answers from burning and looting is beyond the average person in Britain. The looting in Birmingham seems to be opportunistic, a case of, well if London can do it...of course what these people are doing is effectively shitting on their own doorstep.
For some reason, since all this kicked off, I have had The Clash songs London Calling and White Riot on repeat play in my head. I think this is because they not only seem to sum up events but recall a time when all this happened before. These sort of events have not been seen for at least 25 years in London, not since the high unemployment of the 1970s and 1980s under the last Tory government. The trouble this time around is that funding has been cut and the people have nothing to do. There are no youth programmes, no incentives for people to remain in education and yet there are no jobs for them either. I am in no way condoning what is going on, but you can see where this tide of destruction stems from.
The sad fact is that the original reason for all of these events seems to have been forgotten. Let's face it, it is fun to smash things and it is fun to burn things down. If you are hot, bored and disillusioned you are going to create your own entertainment and say that it is in the name of anger. Unfortunately this is not winning anyone any points here.
The police are ineffectual throughout this. They just line up and advance and retreat without any real effect. The one thing I will not have is the Fire Brigades being bad mouthed. They are stretched now on a nightly basis with large fires cropping up all over small areas of London. The crews cannot get near the burning building because they have the rioters to contend with. Hell, the rioters will attack anyone, including that stalwart of Britishness the BBC (a crew were attacked early last night).
Our politicians have come home from their holidays early. They will be holding security meetings this morning about what to do next. That is the big question...what can we do next? The rioting is beyond out of control and the violence is both sickening and deplorable. Something needs to be done.
The trouble with saying that something needs to be done is that there is no answer to give these rioters. They say they are angry and looking for answers, but as it has gone beyond last Thursday's events, it is hard to see what the questions are. Is this about the shooting? Is this about funding cuts? Or is this about opportunism? Boredom? The sad fact is that I don't think anyone really knows anymore. This will pretty much have to burn itself out (pardon the phrase). The real victims are those left homeless and without their businesses (some of which have been run for generations). These are the real victims, what will happen for them when the riots finish. Where will they go? They have literally the clothes on their backs and nothing else. It is for them that we should be thinking and for them that the rioters need to stop. After all, they have done nothing wrong and yet it is the innocent people that are suffering from this.
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