UK - London's Burning - Tottenham Riots, August 2011

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From Indymedia and while I find the looting abhorrent, this is so true


Corporate and social media is full of people condemning the looting. But is it really that surprising? Consumer items like brand clothing and smartphones are constantly in your face where ever you go. In the shops, huge ads, on tv, on the internet, invading and pervading even the most private spaces. At the same time, most of these goods are entirely out of reach to most people. Especially to kids with no rich parents, the majority of kids out there, and not a lot of prospects. In today's economic climate, they are seen to be even more unattainable, while constantly being dangled in front of everyone's noses. It's akin to the legend of Tantalus really, who is tortured in hell by having food and drink within reach, until he reaches out. His punishment is everlasting temptation without satisfaction. Very much like every day life for most of us. If there then is an opportunity to actually get hold of all this stuff, that is hyped up to be the ultimate fulfillment of your needs, how is it surprising that the enterprising youth takes advantage of it?
 
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Resident Mizu Rahman, 34, said a plain clothes police officer had told himearlier in the day, around 2pm, that there was intelligence disorder was imminent.

"The police officer came down the street warning us there would be
trouble," he said.

"He showed me is ID. He said: do you live here? I said yes. He said bare [sic] in mind St Andrews Road is going to be the front-line tonight."

There was no obvious reason why the rioting should have spread to Enfield Town, which is in the outskirts of north London.

Rahman, an engineer, said he had seen already seen a message on Facebook earlier in that Enfield would be "next on the hitlist".
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/07/tottenham-riots-police-duggan-live
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two more sample tweets:

@Conservatives #WheresBoris today then?! #Enfield and #Tottenham are in a mess and where is Boris and David to comment? #TottenhamRiots

Police rush to protect Tesco and ASDA in #Enfield. That's what it's all about. Protect money from people.
 
Excellent Maev Kennedy look-back:

Tottenham: echoes of a history not forgotten as rioting returns
The weekend's violence and looting in north London is reminiscent of 1980s inner city unrest
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In 1981 Toxteth saw some of the worst rioting in Britain. It began when police pursued a man into the area, wrongly suspecting that he had stolen a motorbike. A second man, Leroy Cooper, a photography student who had been at a youth club, intervened and was in turn arrested for assault.
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Cooper pleaded guilty on legal advice and spent nine months in borstal. This summer he told the Liverpool Daily Post that when he left borstal the area still looked like a war zone. "The riot was a symptom of there being something really wrong with our society," he said. "We smashed our own community up, we destroyed our own homes. There had to be something wrong."
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Click to expand...
more at Guardian link above
 
Reports now of a stabbing in #edmonton.

Reports as well, also unconfirmed by MSM, of petrol bombs on the A10. (#enfield #tottenham)
 
More from Guardian live updates:

11.31pm: David Cameron was among among politicians denouncing violence in north London while local MP called riots an attack on ordinary people, writes Andrew Sparrow in a wrap-up of political reaction:

But Ken Livingstone, Labour's mayoral candidate, struck a different note, suggesting that the government did bear some responsibility for what had happened.

There was a "growing social dislocation in London", he said in a post on the website LabourList. "The economic stagnation and cuts being imposed by the Tory government inevitably create social division."

While stressing that there was "no justification" for violence, Livingstone also said it was "pure hypocrisy" for Tories to urge people to support the police when the government was actually cutting police numbers.
Click to expand...
 
Forces of Murdoch already evidently blaming rioting on social media (with immigration in its gunsites for the morrow):

Oh, so it's Twitter's fault for the rioting... Absolute ....wit on Sky News. These are criminals. End of. #Enfield #Tottenham
 
badhorsie said:
Yes, easy to blame it on Twitter rather than years of capitalism and a generation with no hope
Click to expand...

Years of capital dangling before their eyes the expensive toys of success, while all the while career opportunities turn to dust.
 
From the Guardian
Preliminary ballistics tests are understood to show that a police officer fired two bullets during the operation to arrest Mr Duggan last week, report Sean O'Neill and Fiona hamilton in The Times (paywall):

One killed him and the other lodged itself in the radio of another policeman who was lucky to escape injury.

Mr Duggan was armed at the time but it is not clear whether he ever opened fire or even drew his weapon when police stopped him last Thursday.

Extensive testing on Mr Duggan's gun, the police weapons and recovered bullets is continuing in an attempt to establish the sequence of events leading to his death.
 
12.13am: Looting is going on in Brixton, unhindered by the police, according to the Guardian's Matt Taylor.

At the scene, he witnessed a couple of hundred people taking goods out of Footlocker, which has now been set on fire. Some let on bicycles while others passed it to friends in waiting cars.

A police helicopter is circling overhead while police on the ground have congregated on side street close to the looking but have not yet intervened. Those taking part in the looking are aged in their teens or early twenties.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/07/tottenham-riots-police-duggan-live
Click to expand...

Two more sample tweets:

#LondonRiots Big Dave to fly in tmw, sleeves rolled up, karate chopping air every other word. "we inherited this from lab Govt..."

What Are You Gnna Tell Your Mum When You Come Home With Ralphys And A Laptop ? #LondonRiots
 
MSM confirming reports of more areas affected:

12.29am: Walthamstow can be added to the lists of areas where there have been disturbances tonight.

A resident from there has just called the Guardian to complain that the media are not focussing on trouble there. She claimed that at a Barclays cashpoint was targeted.
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12.39am: Matthew Holehouse from the Telegraph tweets:

Confirmed from two witnesses: looting of sports shop in Kingsland Road shopping centre, Hackney. Gang of 30 pursued by cops.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/07/tottenham-riots-police-duggan-live
Click to expand...

Prayers for London.
 
Daily Mail, adding more pictures and text to the tale:

Police and the riot blunders: Top officer flew off on holiday hours
before mayhem and doubts emerge over shooting that sparked carnage
• Claims bullet found in police radio was issued by the force
• Scotland Yard faces criticism over its readiness for the riots, despite repeated warnings
• Mark Duggan's family condemn the violence
• One police officer hit in face with a brick, another severely injured after being speared with a scaffold pole
• Local MP says community 'had the heart ripped out of it'
Click to expand...
 
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