Just thought I’ll post just to keep those interested in the developments of what is happening in the UK - granted that I’m getting it from the same news sources as the rest of the country, it’ll probably be the same sort of information that you non Uk’ers are getting.
Basically, this all started with the shooting of a black male in the North East part of London called Tottenham, the place where he was shot is not an affulent area by any means and the majority of the individuals there are from ethnic backgrounds. The background on Mark Duggan is that he was a known gangster to the police and that they had information on him, hence why they were following him.
It was originally thought that he fired a shot to the police after they stopped him in a taxi - he was shot in the chest and died. It should be noted that the police here in the UK do not carry guns so this was a specialised unit - therefore one could argue that they had reason to stop him.
There is speculation in the press now that he was not the first to fire at the police so it is now a case of whether it was a lawful killing.
The above matter is being investigated by the Independant Police Complaints Commission.
The outcome for this was that there was a peaceful demostration by some individuals. It should be noted that there are feelings that ethnic individuals are more likely to be stopped and searched in this area so the feelings run high. This has always been an ongoing issue in the past (I’ve never been stopped and searched but I’ve always been a good lil boy).
So as with most peaceful demostrations, this turned into a violent demostration by people that decided that they wanted the oppourtunity to riot and loot. Therefore, over the weekend, places were burnt down and looted with most of the stores being typical ‘chav’ stores (not sure what the equiv would be in the USA - trailer trash/rednecks, I don’t know)…
So this spread over various broughs in London (mainly concentrated in the east end of london - areas that I know quite well). The people looting and setting fire now are just idiots and thugs, some as young as 8-11.
So to stem the tide of the destruction that spread across the city (both north and south london), it was decided to bring in extra police units from around the UK, to the point where Welsh police were in London.
Over the next couple of days, the violence and mayhem spread to other cities such as Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham,Gloucester and other several places. It is a bit close to home as Gloucester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton,etc are pretty close but since it was oppourtunitists then I doubt the trouble will come my way. Although there are some work colleagues that have been affected but mainly due to travel problems. Shops have been advised to shut up shop early.
The level of scum like behaviour has gotten to the point where thugs are stripping individuals clothes and stealing it off their backs literally, a man is in intensive care after getting beat up by standing up to these individuals, 3 men in Birmingham are dead because it is speculated that they got run over by looters, businesses are ruined, people are being made homeless as some people live above these shops that are getting burnt, people are finding people stealing from their homes as they sleep.
The good news is that people from these communities are coming today to show that they will not be beating and are clearing up the damage that has been caused by these stupid individuals. To these looters, they see knowing wrong with stealing and just want to get something for free, they may try and say that they are getting back at the government due to taxes, or reduced cuts but what they fail to realise is that by doing this, the government will have to cut further, raise taxes in order to pay for the damage (plus I think most of them never have seen a wage slip in a while).
They have no fear of the police and about 650 people have been arrested with about 105 being charged.
It’s stupid that people have been working hard for years to build up their lives and businesses, buildings that survived wars are now gone. Hopefully it will stop soon when the children get bored.
EDIT - All I know is that if I thought of looting when I was younger, my parents would have ripped me a new one. I don’t fear the police, I fear my parents wrath more!
EDIT2 - Like I said above, I’m getting it from news sources and the odd witness account by family (Since they live in the areas affected). However, I’m as clueless when it comes to the details esp when it comes to the matter of the original shooting.