Underreported tales of the British riots

People in Liverpool and London are trying to clean up from nights of rioting as police in other English cities try to figure out if they'll be next. Police stations, cars, jewellery stores and electronics shops seemed to be the targets of choice so far as gangs of mostly young people smash and burn city centres. Meanwhile, politicians attempt to make sense of the surge of violence, the worst in a generation in Britain and stoked by the new fuel of social media.

— Lesley Ciarula Taylor, Staff Reporter

Downtown Midland looters captured on CCTV

 

Escaping the violence

I heard a bang, then a smash, then my son came down and by the time he looked out of the window, the van was on fire and then it was just panic," she said. "The next thing we had riot police knocking on the door saying, 'You've got to get out.' It was terrifying. I don't know how I got out. I just thought 'crikey, how am I going to get past that [the van] if it bangs?' I didn't get back to sleep until about 6am. I'm tired out now and just worried because you don't know if people are going to come round again."

— A middle-aged woman, who wanted to remain annonymous, to Nottingham Today

Jamie Oliver's Birmingham restaurant wrecked
The famous chef tweeted about what happened at his restaurant during looting a few nights ago.

On the cleanup

An American said to me, we're not going to change the way we think about you until you stop clearing up after your riots. No-one else does it. We riot and then we mop it up with a napkin.

— Journalist Caitlin Moran in a BBC News Magazine article

"I call this an insurrection:" Darcus Howe on the BBC
Broadcast on live TV, this interview with broadcaster and writer Darcus Howe likely didn't go the way the BBC had expected it would:

A resident's account on the mayhem in Gloucester

I saw a small group of what looked like youths pass, hoods up, hidden by the veil of darkness. Having followed much of the coverage of the riots, watching the needless and spontaneous destruction of buildings, it wasn’t a giant leap to consider that my house, prominent in that it’s one of two on a street corner, could be subjected to harm. Thoughts instantly whir around your head – should I arm to protect in the event of it? Will this, like the burglary, become one of those unfortunate memories you work so hard to prevent your children from having to have? Every parent worries about their families’ welfare at the best of times. When thugs, who wantonly and destructively attack the livelihoods of local people, are at play, this increases tenfold.

— Rich Lee, a resident of Barton Street in Gloucester, writing for This is Gloucester

Southall Sikhs protect their temple

"You need a lift? Of course we can give you a lift, come on."
While many viewers are turning to the BBC for riot coverage, another station is getting online raves for its "exclusive live coverage" of the riots."
Sangat TV has been following the riots, streaming online and posted video of riots and arrest. In this video, the crew give the police a ride to catch a suspected rioter.

(You can watch more of their coverage here)

Actor Daniel Craig on the riots: "It's obviously a very complicated issue"

EBay to keep an eye on listings
The online marketplace told the International Business Times it plans to keep an eye on any suspcious listings that may be goods stolen during riots and report them to police immediately.

"Our thoughts are with the businesses and communities affected by recent events in London and around the UK. eBay will cooperate fully with the investigating authorities to identify and remove any listings which are linked to criminal activity," said an eBay representative.

Comments

[Kamran M.]

i dont understand when this all started? and WHY?
what the heck happened? obviously they are attacking random places, but what msg are they trying to send? i dont get it! seems like a terrorist attack!!

[Tabber]

It's about the fact the disadvantaged have had enough of being kept down and oppressed, and they're taking it out on the establishment. Is it that hard to figure out?

[Babar]

New realities of life, negative aspects of social media.

[LauraB]

A man was killed last week while being arrested in Tottenham north suburb of London. Backlash started there to show up the cops. Following that, people in 100 pound trainers with 300 smartphones decided to use this as an opportunity to cause panic - claiming poverty and unemployment as the reason for the backlash. Really, they organized looting and "rioting" to steal via social networking such as blacakberry messenger. Then, it spread like wildfire - you now see little old women stealing from clothing shops and teens taking 40 " TVs - all ages, all ethnicities, all income levels are participating.

Unfortuanlty now, 3 men were killed in another suburb due to these riots. They said the riots started after a man was killed but all they are doing is destroying private property and ruining lives.