Riotous
London
Last year something new happened or something old if you
remember past experience, there were riots. I happened to be out of the country
at the time but news broke that riots had been happening all over London. The
reason ostensibly was the killing of Marc Duggan by the police allegedly
because he had a firearm. This incident sparked off rioting in North London
which came down to South London.
By the time they had really started the reasons were soon
forgotten ad the whole distance took on a momentum of its own. Shop windows
were smashed and looters poured in taking whatever they could get. A friend of
mine who was there at the time told me how frightening it was because he said
it felt as if law and order did not exist. People were smashing windows and
raiding shops and the police were nowhere to be seen. He told me he had seen a
bus driver attacked for the takings of the fares(Since most buses in London
have a pre loaded card system these would appear to have been minimal).
In many ways the targets seem to have been random. One of the
stores attacked was “poundland” where everything costs only a pound. However
this apparently provided rich pickings. Other stores were attacked by mobs and
extensively looted. It took several days for order to be restored ad then of
course the prosecutions began. It looked
absolutely crazy in terms of the fact that Britain is one of the most spied on
societies in the word. CCTV cameras are everywhere and soon looters began to be
identified
In Peckham the smashed up shop of poundland spawned a wall of
peace where people wrote messages of hope for Peckham, a fairly deprived area
of London. Standing nearby a shop rather inappropriately named “loot” stood and
still does (It appeared not to have been attacked). After a spell of
renovations the messages were transferred to the public arch nearby in order to
make a permanent memorial. Today it is possible to go and read them today. All
speak of peoples love for Peckham and their hopes for the future.
Will the riots happen again? I think without any doubt. They
were avoided this year but present government policy particularly cuts in youth
facilities and benefits will probably serve to make the problem worse. In many
ways it is hard to credit the stupidity of rioters thinking that they would not
be caught with CCTV everywhere. However rioters were very much in a minority
among their own age group. Many of the people caught up in the net were simple
opportunists who saw a smashed window and took the pickings. Of course they are
now paying dearly for it with the courts still convicting and harsh sentences
being handed down usually some term of imprisonment.
All around as in Peckham the civil pride shows in the walls.
Even in the ghettos a pride in the area does arise and that is perhaps the best
legacy to come from the whole sorry episode.
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