Tottenham Riots

This is making internetional news. It's on another forum that I post on that is seperate from MA altogether.
 
Top news on Al Jazeera, major headline on ABC, CNN and FOX, and headline on France 24. Makes you proud to be British don't it?
 
You know that new film "Rise of the Planet of the apes". Do you think the extras forgot to stop acting when they finished the film making?
 
Now its personal! They trashed the pub I drink in when I ditch lectures! Oh and they smashed up my uni to
 
helicopters flying around chapeltown in leeds. i literally live up the road.
there have been 2 shootings in the past 5 days, both gang related.
The police are really trying to help people and the victims of the shootings and their families so their wouldnt be a need to riot.
the police seem to have taken loads of precautions and have set up barricades just in case.
good thing.

i need to call my grandmother tomorrow and see if shes okay, she lives in the heart of chapeltown.
and my uncle is on ambulance duty tomoro.
 
Reminds me of the mob violence during the LA riots. Some yob in that crowd yelling 'RESPECT!' ... as if he'd know the meaning.

They need to do like the gendarme does and send in the snatch squads.
 
Er. . . what? When was the last riot that you can name in the US? How long ago was the most recent event of this magnitude in the US? How is this like the US at all?
 
1992 LA riots (Rodney King), 2000 LA riot (Laker's victory), 2001 Cincinnati riots, 1999 WTO riots, 2005 Toledo riot.

Any more questions?



Canada's suffered quite a few itself in recent years - four in the last decade after some hockey games, and also following a few politically controversial events.
 
Agreed on both accts. there LBR... the most recent Canadian one was their loss of the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins if I recall. Not approaching the same level though (which is a good thing) as what's kicking off at the moment in the UK.
 
Unfortunately it is just 'kicking off'.

There was more rioting, wanten senseless violence, looting and vandalism in one night, than was seen throughout the whole of the 1980s under Mrs Thatcher.

There arent the prison spaces to jail these kind of numbers and the Police are massively under-resourced.

These kiddos see what the arab kiddos can do on their moby phones and do the same, even in the leafy suburbs of Ealing (traditionally the 'Queen' of London suburbs - or words to that effect.)

I expect to see David Cameron playing footie with the 'yoof' of today soon enough along with George Osborne booging along to Reggae/Rap/Jungle etc with some daft baseball hat on.
 
You are joking?

1980 - St Paul's riot - 25 injured, 130 arrests (strength unknown)
1981 - Brixton uprising - 324 injured, 82 arrests, 5000 rioters to 2500 police
1981 - Toxteth riot - 494 police injured (rioters unknown)
1981 - Moss Side riot - unknown injuries, one policeman shot with a crossbow
1981 - Chapeltown race riot - numbers not recorded
1981, 1985, 1991 - Handsworth race riots - two dead, two unnaccounted for, 35 injured
1985 - Broadwater Farm riot - unknown numbers, one policeman hacked to death by protestors with machetes
1985 - Brixton riot - numbers unknown, one journalist died of head injuries
1985 - Leeds United riot - one young boy crushed to death, 96 policemen injured
1990 - Poll tax riots (admittedly not technically the 80s) - 113 injured, 339 arrested

These are barely civil disobedience in comparison.
 
Last night the Police were overwhelmed - that didnt happen in the 1980s - they had trouble but did deal with it.

One can argue semantics and statistics - but what I am pointing at is very basic and raw:-

London:- Notting Hill, Hackney, Lewisham, Peckham, East Ham, Ealing, West Croydon, Enfield (again), Oxford Circus, Woolwich and most likely others that I didnt fill in - there were so many.
Bristol, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham,Leeds Chappelhall - where 1 fellow was kille, Birmingham all reported serious incidents last night.

I am not going to argue this point, other than to say the exact statistics for last night will bear themselves out in the fullness of time and someone more significant than myself will almost certainly make the same comparison.
 
The police lost control of cities for over 24 hours in the 1980s - I'd hardly call that dealing with it.



Each riot was fairly small and relatively non-violent (albeit destructive) in comparison to others that have occurred previously. The argument that it's worse sounds like typical tabloid scare tactics.



Being unrealistic about the riots and their effectiveness lends strength to the looter's cause. If we deceive ourselves into believing the riots are worse (they're not, by a long shot) then fear takes over and poor decisions will be made.
 
Ok as stated earlier, semantics and statistics can be argued - I am not going to.

Over-reaction is not wise this is correct - but equally under-reaction and underestimating the intensity of violence last night is equally as foolish.

I dont recall any reports from the 1980s of folk being robbed en-masse in restaurants by gangs in upmarket areas like Notting Hill or of gangs armed with machettes.
 
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