UK Features

Post London riots: Notes from an observer

By Geraldine O'Loughlin Aug 12, 2011, 2:01 GMT

A boy writes a message at a \'Peace Wall\' on a boarded up window of a shop in Clapham, London, Britain, 11 August 2011. London appears to regain calm, after violent riots that started in Tottenham on 06 August.16,000 police officers are at present deployed in London. EPA/MARIUS BECKER

This week we saw unprecedented rioting and destruction in London and surrounding areas. One of my Twitter friends was caught up in the middle of the action and live tweeted through the worst of it. It kept me up, reading her worrisome reports as the US news was preoccupied with the stock market fluctuations.  Here is a first-person account/opinion from Gerica, describing the moment. - April MacIntyre Monsters and Critics TV, celebrity, arts, lifestyle editor.

@primanirules     
 
I’m feeling dazed. Dazed but sadly not completely surprised by what’s happened. I also feel deeply upset after seeing parts of this city firsthand that have been completely destroyed.

I’m a city girl. I grew up in Birmingham and have lived in London for 23 years. I’ve travelled all over the world. London can be very hard work at times but it is a truly great world city.

There was a incident on Thursday in N. London which involved the police and a young black man who was shot and sadly died. Some have said this was the catalyst for the unrest. The family of the deceased appealed for calm and are appalled by what has occurred. I believe there is no one sector of society to ‘blame’ for what’s happened.

It is a culmination of years of poor policing and irresponsible social-economic policies by Governments of all persuasions.

Gangs of thugs ran amok through London for four nights in all. They looted and set fire to buildings, car-jacked, robbed and assaulted citizens at random - in the street and in their homes. They attacked fire-crews and there were 111 assaults on police officers. There have been five fatalities including an elderly man who was viciously attacked by a gang of thugs whilst he tried to put out a fire. Many peoples' lives have been ruined.

Those involved are mostly disadvantaged and some are very young. There were several arrested who had jobs and held positions of responsibility. One is the daughter of a millionaire. They are a tiny minority of the population and they used various social networking media to orchestrate their rampage.

Today the Metropolitan Police, after trawling through hours of surveillance tapes and collating a huge amount of intelligence from the public, were able to raid the homes of further suspects and arrest them. As I type, there have been 1,009 arrests in London altogether and 464 have now been charged. There is a 500 strong police team working on the investigation.

I live in an ethnically diverse, mainly low-income area in South London. More professionals have moved in over the past few years so the area’s demographic is gradually changing.

Due to the riots local stores closed for one day and there were only two stores damaged. An affluent neighbourhood approx two miles away experienced looting. Further along from there in a busy, deprived and densely populated area there was widespread looting, theft, property damage, assaults and acts of arson.

Sunday and Monday night were scary. Police and fire-crews flew past my building en route to get there. Between their sirens and the surveillance helicopters overhead I didn’t sleep. For the last two days, 16,000 police are stationed city-wide and things seem to be getting back to normal. Other affected cities are calm now too.

I don’t know how long this peace will last but something good must come from this. People are really coming together already and despite everything, London is still a great city.