Tottenham riots: the morning after
A shocking night of anger, violence and looting on the streets of north London.
By Staff blogger Published 07 August 2011 12:49
From the BBC website:
Emergency crews remain on the streets of Tottenham, in north London, after rioting saw police attacked and buildings and vehicles set alight.
Overnight, eight officers were injured in the violence which erupted following a protest over the fatal shooting by police of Mark Duggan on Thursday.
Police said there were still "pockets of criminality" on Sunday morning and residents reported more looting.
The Guardian's award-winning Paul Lewis was on the ground in Tottenham last night and filed a report in which he wrote:
Looters turned up with cars and shopping trolleys to carry away stolen goods. Nearby, large groups of youths congregated in the surrounding streets with sticks, bottles and hammers.
Some wore balaclava masks, preventing cars from accessing streets as buildings were broken into. Others used large rubbish bins to form burning barricades across the road.
However some of most dramatic looting took place further west, in Wood Green, and continued into the early hours of the morning.
+++
. . .there was still no police presence at Wood Green high street at 4am, even after dozens of stores had been smashed and raided, setting of multiple alarms.
Around 100 youths sprinted around the highstreet, targeting game shops, electrical stores and high-street clothe chains such as H & M.
Glass windows were smashed and the looters, mostly young men masking their faces, swarmed in.
They emerged with handfuls of stolen goods. "I've got loads of G-Star," said one teenager, emerging from a clothes shop. Others came out clasping shopping bags stuffed with goods.
Three teenagers ran down the street with suitcases filled with stolen clothes. Around ten young men stood outside a smouldering Carphone Warehouse, the windows smashed. The theft was casual and brazen, with looters peering into broken shop windows to see if items of value remained.
There were shocking scenes in the suburban back-streets, where residential front-gardens were used to frantically sort and swap stolen goods.
A teenage boy, who looked aged around 14, drove an stolen minicab erratically down a side-street. On the adjacent street, a man who emerged from his home to find his car burnt-out remonstrated with other young men, who ran past carrying clothes.
Passersby, including people returning home in the early hours from nights out, were stunned to discover the lawless mayhem on the streets.
Official Responses
A Downing Street spokesman said:
The rioting in Tottenham last night was utterly unacceptable. There is no justification for the aggression the police and the public faced, or for the damage to property.
Home Secretary Theresa May said:
I condemn utterly the violence in Tottenham last night.Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated, and the Metropolitan Police have my full support in restoring order.
David Lammy, the local Labour MP, said:
The Tottenham community and Mark Duggan's family and friends need to understand what happened on Thursday evening when Mark lost his life. To understand those facts, we must have calm.
Kit Malthouse, London's deputy mayor, said:
I cant see any excuse for the kind of behaviour we saw last night. It's absolutely outrageous to see it on the streets of London.
Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne, of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), said:
I understand the distress that the shooting of Mark Duggan has caused to his family and in the community and that people need answers about what happened to him.
And a local resident, examining the gutted interiors of a betting shop and post office, remarked:
They are shells, it's like the Blitz.
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40 comments
How mny more "rivers of blood" must this country suffer under multi-cultural disfunction.
Both Enock Powell & Nick Griffin prophetised what happend, one was disowned by the tories, the other was threatened with prison.
The latter also for-warned about 7/7 too.
Do we the people have to take the law into our own hands? Or will the politicians admit they have got it very wrong.
No doubt the perpetrators of the violence and the looting of the last couple of days will get a slap on the wrist, while the liberal elite hog the media to trot out their usual trite excuses.
After all everything is 'lovely' in our multicultural paradise...
Ahhh a 'Vibrant, Diverse, multi-cultural society!'.
Enjoy! - i'm out of here!.
"Arab Spring" should be renamed now.
Another Tory government, another inner-city London riot. Plus ca change...
What I find interesting is no one above is considering the bigger picture. I live locally in Tottenham & have been hearing many younger people's views regarding their despair, of youth centres being closed down because of the recent cuts, & no jobs in the near future either. Our culture is suffering a deep attack against education & community values. I am really not surprised by any of this - but the blame lies from up top, with choosing neoliberalism above human needs. Whilst all of you 'comfortable' people chat away ignoring such realities, our 'little' Rome will burn, please wake up!
We see this kind of thing all the time on the streets of Northern Ireland. Its nothing new when periodically communities turn in on themselves and trash the place. But we haven't seen water cannons or rubber bullets yet, when the authorities try and establish order ack on the streets again.
Of couse it is the communities and the moderate good law abiding residents that suffer most and are left to pick up the tabs.
The same issues about policing, jobs, and community cohesion, crop up all the time and they are the no different to 10 years or 20 years or 30 years ago whether its Bristol or Brixton or Belfast.
In the end its up to the communities to solve their own problems with disaffected fatherless violent youth with no good role models and an endemic culture of violence of their fathers and a lack of a work incentive and any positive future.
This years Tottenham Riots are no different, and the subsequent Enquiries will establish that fact.
@LUDDITE.... "These appalling outbreaks of criminality are often applauded by the extreme political left", dear me, please, in the words of John Mcenroe, "YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS", I think your nurse has been giving you the wrong medication!!!.
So, it was all "totally unacceptable" was it Nick? It is only what you predicted Nick. On 16 March 2010 you said:
"In a democracy, dramatic change cannot be imposed from above or it will fail.
It has to be led by a process of political engagement.
You only have to look at the scale of industrial unrest in Greece to see that it is
impossible to reduce a public deficit quickly if you do not find a way to persuade
people to go along with the process."
I don't think these rioters were persuaded that it was a good idea for the council to shut most of their youth clubs, driving them onto the streets where they were harrassed by the police. See Guardian video report 31 July 2011.
The council will now have to pay towards the cleanup. Have they really saved money? It will cost them even more. False economy from a false government.
the gutted interiors of a betting shop
It was such a joyful and colourful place before.
Another riot, another ethnic minority centred riot, still more apolgies from the liberals for our multi-cultural society...
Just a thought... a landmark store which defied another alien attack from without (the blitz) finally falls to an alien attack from within !
MISSING.........(Flashman) Cameron, Gideon Osborne, Nick Clegg, Theresa May, Boris Johnson,.......All taking another well deserved holiday whilst on duty!!!, hey, but, "we`re all in this together"!!!, nice to know our taxes are still funding these PARASITES whilst the country`s in turmoil!, RIOTS, ECONOMIC CRISIS, etc etc, if these LAYABOUTS want plenty of leisure time they should all RESIGN now!!, after all they are all Millionaires!, no doubt the usual suspects on here will be defending them, but why?, They are all missing from their posts!!, not one of them available!, TOTAL DISGRACE...
And again today, footage of yet more looting in Hackney...I'm sorry but the Afro-carabean community has to accept its share of responsibility...12-13 year old boys out in the streets armed with baseball bats or iron bars...clearly either the parents have completely abdicated all notion of authority or are OK with their kids doing what they are. And the 'racist' card is far too easy an excuse, when I lived in B'ham at the time of the 80's riots, the attackers were black, the victims of looting/vandalism were almost all asians (corner shops/pubs/community centres torched...)
In a sense, a good lesson to those who thought it was a marvellous idea to spend millions of pounds for the London olympics 'regenerating' the area....waste of taxpayer money in my view
Why is it that nobody ever talk about (deep-rooted) causes? Why is it that Cambridge and Oxford educated commentators are unable (unwilling?) to analyse the social cancers of the oldest parliamentary democracy in world? Why is it always a matter of "justifying" or "condemning" and never of COMPREHENDING?
sounds all a bit familiar when the tories were out of control previously & riots seemed the norm......will they listen NO!!
Closing the youth clubs. Cutting community funding - what do we expect in return. No surprise we're all fed up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/29/young-people-gangs-youth-clubs-...
@IVAN MILETITCH...What`s the logic of your point?, would you`ve said that if, for instance, they where from Denmark or Sweden and White?, you would`nt say "i`m sorry but the White Scandinavians have to accept its share of responsibility", would you?, all you are pointing out is that they have black skin!!, lots of the victims are also black, but you obviously won`t point this out because it would`nt suit your point!!, Most of these troublemakers are YOBS and THUGS!!, That`s it!, black and white, and possibly of mixed race!, so this further makes your point illogical.
Yes, i saw that article too (
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/29/young-people-gangs-youth-clubs-... )
. pretty much predicting events just a week ago (and also weeks, and months and years ago by so many others. We know it and we say it all the time: this is what happens when a system is structured to marginalise and discriminate and further deprive it's "poor" people
It's a combination of liberalism and my generation's values from the 60's that has led to this.
"Young People" seem to think that they are somehow entitled to things beyond a basic education without having to work for it.
They have been told by successive governments that they have rights and of course the PC brigade have ensured that the underlying culture of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity goes unpunished and encourages a lack of respect for anything. It starts in schools where anarchy is allowed by law.
What happened last night is a disgrace and is inexcusable and those that can be caught should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
It's time for the decent people to strike back staring with educating the young that the only right they have is to become a responsible member of society of face some draconian sanctions.....fat chance!
With LBJ's Great Society just getting airborne, the Watts Riots in the mid-sixties shook up white folks in the USA more than even Rock & Roll.
Although the Vietnam War took away some of the energy. the officer corps/enlisted man relationship took quite a battering. Hence, a professional army came into being; not forgetting to mention the social workers and the POlice manpower recruited from the US ethnic population.
Then along came Barrack Obama! Let's look on the bright side for a change.
Some non-white contender may yet emerge.
[ Having seen the video records broadcast by the various television channels. we did not observe one black or asian police officer present at the Tottenham disturbance ]
Colour Coded
If the IPCC does conclude that the police shot an armed man who tried to kill a police officer, then those rioters and apologists should hold their heads in shame!
@Kingie
And just exactly why should any young person care to become 'a responsible member of society', when society offers them such a raw deal - unless they happen to have born with wealthy, white parents?
p j wall. I've never been to Bradford, but did drive through once, but wasn't that impressed.
@ Dark Heart of Toryland.
I agree, and where's the example of responsibility for them to follow: the banks? the tabloid media and police? responsible claiming of expenses? responsible dossiers for wars. The list goes on.
All the youth have been taught to expect is a piece of the wealth that advertizing rubs their noses in all day and night.
But I condemn the violence, it has just made things worse.
@ PJ WALL - yes, had they been from Norway etc... I'd have said EXACTLY THE SAME. So yes, it is (check the news/headlines...)predominently a 'black uprising' & I'm saying that to a great degree, the solution can only be found within that community. For instance, I imagine that you (as I do & I suspect many parents too) know where your children are at this time of night (22:00). Clearly, there are hundreds of kids whose parents either don't know that they are riotting or do not care all that much (or who 'cannot stop their kids going out', but this indicates, for whatever reason, abdication of parental authority) I hope this has clarified the 'logic of my point' to you (similarly, the rise of the far right is mostly a white issue & the answer also lies within the white middle classes & how they think a protest vote for BNP might be OK)
I condemn absolutely the notion that with no effective policing in evidence I'm gonna pass up on the opportunity to go and grab myself some electronic gizmos. I'm only fuckin human...and generally on the potless side.
Then again, I'm obviously disgusted etc...but obviously a 96" plasma supports a substantial proportion of moral heft; especially when you're living in a society run run by self-serving, public-school, socially-bankrupt shitehawks.
I blame Laurie Penny.
BBP Midlands update: "West Midlands Police said it was aware of some disorder, including vandalised shops and incidents of theft.
Nine people have been arrested, a spokesman said. Six of those arrested are juveniles."
Once again, is it normal or acceptable for parents to let their children out at night without any parental control?
I live in "vibrant and multicultural society" but not in Britain. So far there have been no riots of any consequence but there is an undercurrent that tells me that many of these variant groups can't stand each other and that the majority group is fed up with the lot of those other variant groups.
The test as I see it is this, would you invite any of those diverse cultural groups into your home.
If the answer is no it shows what you think of the multicultural stuff.
I am a minority person who is married to a majority person. We keep the riff raff away from our home and thus have no trouble.
A pity that nations can't act like that.
I think the Tottenham (& subsequent Enfield!) riots are indicative of the general mentality of a (vast?) ection of the population. A gun carrying 'gangsta'(I'm sure the list of convictions is soon going to follow) is killed by the police (that's the risk associated with this type of activity after all!) & we see a demonstration (not against gun crime! no...) against Police brutality! And this invariably turns into a riot where support for a multi cultural society is translated in helping yourselves to Ipods etc... in widespread looting. The Afro-carabian community is its own worst ennemy, in that gun crime is predominantly a 'black on black' affair. (by this I mean the victims are also predominently black) & any chance of ever finding a solution or a way forward will have to come from within the community. Incidentally, I was living in Lozells, B'ham (for about 2 1/2 years) at the time of the 80's riots, and after 10pm you'd have been lucky to meet anyone who wasn't carrying drugs/knife/gun (poss all three!)
People still saying that Stephen LAwrence murder was racist But P.C Blakeocks wasn't, In Eugene Mclauglin ,Ellis cashmore's 1988 political book they said that Keith Blakelocks murder was racist and a black lady jennifer Ellis' 1988 political book she said it was racist too, saying that there was also anti black racist murders of black women that year,
and Blakelocks widow said racism is a double edged sword, she didn't blame the police for not finding his racist kilelrs, she blamed the local black community who shielded them, and 13 other black people said his murder was racist. the Mcperson report cocnclusion, that any incident has to be treeted as a racist incident if anyone say's it is
After the Bradford riots, many business simply left the area never to return. The same will happen here. These appalling out-brakes of criminally are often applaud by the extreme political-left. The hard working and law abiding citizen from all communities simply look on in despair.
isnt it about time the adults in this country stood up to these idiots
and started being on the side of the people who try to help ie police.instead of running them down
@ evol -- Agree with you...but I'm afraid this puts us in the 'old fascist' category... Nowadays, trying to explain that, after all, there is a 'moral right' & 'moral wrong' catalogues you as an old fart (at best, at worst, you can see the result with the Christian couple court case * LOST! * vs local council!)
Almost anything is excused... we 'have' to understand that young black boys underachieve at school, and this is why there is a higher likelyhood of criminality in that particular ethno-economic group (it is true that there is a link between academic underachievement & low-level crime rate). However why blame society when a 12 year old systematically doesn't do his homework / absconds - when teachers are (again, at best) verbally abused by boys(& sometimes girls) of that age, well the parents (sadly more often than not parenT) are to blame.
You may think all this is anodecdotal, but I view all this as symptomatic. Moral standards are generally slipping, so at the 'top of the scale' you find MP's fiddling their expenses & newspapers endemically tapping phones etc... & at the 'bottom' you find people who find it acceptable to smash shop windows & help themselves to goods & then blame all this on poor race-relations
Luddite - after the Brixton riots the area thrived as never before. These appalling outbreaks (not 'out-brakes') of criminality (not 'criminally) sometimes lead to increased investment and expansion. The hard working and aw abiding citizens (not 'citizen') simply look on in delight.
@ PJ WALL (2) ... actually, your remark about me not saying anything about the victims being black is unfounded....just look up (same article 4.18am 8th aug - about 12 boxes below your own entry!) - I did try & explain that part of the reason why the solution lies within the afro carabean community is that gun violence is mostly a 'black on black' affair
@ Ivan Miletitch >> Agree with you entirely; and sadly, these low-lifes are unwittingly achieving the most efficient BNP recruitment campaign!
These idiots didn't riot in protest against cuts or the murder of a known 'gangsta', they looted everything that wasn't nailed down for personal advantage.
Most of those caught on camera were educated under a Labour run government. How the likes of D Abbot can then blame the Coalition for acts committed by mindless idiots with zero self-respect raised under a system run by her beloved party for 10+ years gob-smacks me - opportunity politics at its very, very worst.
I wonder how many of the looters could answer the sum required to get your post posted on this site?
Unfortunately with every peaceful demonstartion comes a lorry load of fellow travellers and looters and crinminals, who have nothing to do with the demo.
In future all organisers of peaceful demos should bear in mind the collateral damgage that could be generated by their peaceful march and should take appropriate action to see it doesn't get out of hand.
It happened with the 'Cuts' Demos, its happened at Luton as well.
This is the "big society" - where there are fewer and fewer rights: benefits go and dispensable charities take over; youth clubs go; sure start goes. People with no rights do not feel they belong; how can they? It's "them" and "us" - and the answer is crime, despair or rioting. These three are the violent responses to the violent disowning of people by the State.
Cameron is returning from Tuscany? A little late, but even later might have helped...
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