London Riots

‘I thought England was civilised – but it is sick’, says woman forced to leap from burning flat during riots

Notwithstanding the fact that Londoners are a civilized society witnessed large scale disturbances and looting spree.

Last time it was December, when thousands of students took to the streets to condemn drastic increase in university tuition fees and a number of small student groups clashed with police.

Tottenham has a large concentration of black populations with a history of racial tension and anti-police feeling. In 1985 Tottenham underwent bloody riots after a woman died of heart attack apparently shocked by police raid on her house. Those riots were among the most violent in the country’s history, with one officer stabbed to death and nearly 60 others were hospitalised.

Widespread rioting, looting and arson occurred across parts of England during the first week of August 2011. The riots started in Tottenham on 6 August 2011, when about 200 people, including certain relatives of a local black man, Mark Duggan, who was killed after an alleged fatal exchange of gun fire with the police, marched peacefully in Tottenham to protest the incident. The clash followed a peaceful march. Shops were smashed as residents looted stores. People of every class including the teenagers ostensibly belonging to affluent background were seen pushing shopping carts full of stolen goods down the streets. Hundreds of stores were looted, buildings were set ablaze. In the days that followed, as copycat rioting and looting broke out in other English cities, everyone started talking about bringing in the Army. How familiar!

Two police patrol cars and a number of vehicles were set on fire in the vicinity of Tottenham. Disturbances continued over the following days in other areas of London, including Wood Green, Enfield Town, Ponders End, Waltham stow, Islington and Brixton. At least 186 police officers were reported injured. On 8 August, rioting and looting occurred in Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol, Medway and Leicester. As of 13 August, 2,275 people were arrested, of which more than 1,000 had been charged. Five men have died: a man was shot on 8 August, three men of Pakistani origin were run over by a car driven by another man on 10 August, and an elderly man was beaten on 8 August who died three days later.

The police, however, apologised for “inadvertently” giving the impression immediately after the shooting that Duggan had fired at officers. Though a gun was found in the car Duggan was travelling in, but ballistic tests did not confirm the allegation.

The riots were so sudden and unprecedented that police was taken off guard and outmaneuvered by mobile gangs of rioters. A few policemen were deployed in the streets and they were not prepared to counter the miscreants.

Although the rioters came from all Britain’s ethnic communities, the violence aroused fears of heightened racial tensions ‘especially in Birmingham, where three Pakistanis were killed when they were hit by a car, reportedly driven by black youths. Hours later Tariq Jahan, whose 21-year-old son Haroon was killed, urged calm.

“This is not a race issue,” Tariq Jahan said. “The family had received messages of sympathy and support from all parts of the community ‘all races, all faiths and backgrounds.”

Realising the gravity of incidents, Prime Minister David Cameron, Home Secretary Theresa May, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Opposition Leader Ed Miliband cut short their holidays to return to London. Parliament was recalled on 11 August to debate the situation. By this time, disturbances and unrest had largely abated and thousands of residents across the country had started the clean-up process.

Cameron promised authorities would get strong powers to stop street mayhem from erupting again. He said authorities were considering new powers, including allowing police to order thugs to remove masks or hoods, evicting troublemakers from subsidized housing and temporarily disabling cell phone instant messaging services.

Cameron also said earlier that the government, police and intelligence services were looking at whether there should be limits on the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook or services like BlackBerry Messenger to spread disorder.

BlackBerry’s simple and largely cost free messaging service was also used by rioters to coordinate their activities. An 18-year-old woman was charged with using BlackBerry messaging to encourage others to take part in violence. Several others have been charged with inciting violence on Facebook and Twitter.

After the terrible events in Norway, its leaders’ response was a commitment to more openness and democracy. Many started asking for an absolute clampdown on basic free doms, and suggesting Twitter or BlackBerry messaging be shut down. Technology is neutral. Rioters used it but so did the police, so did those exchanging information about where it was safe to be, and so did those mobilising the clean-up. Greater Manchester Police used Twitter to give calm and detailed reports of what was happening ‘a huge source of reassurance. In the face of nihilism, the need to connect is paramount.

These riots are not new phenomenon. They date back to 1981 when the first serious and sustained riots occurred in Liverpool and Brixton in London. These riots were the outcome of the high handed policing of local communities. The 1981 Brixton riots resulted into a major inquiry led by lord Scarman. The inquiry revealed that anger against the harsh policing methods of ethnic ministry communities was instrumental in triggering the riot.

The Scarman Reports

The Scarman report is considered to be a landmark in British race relations. It also revealed urban deprivation, unemployment and wide-spread discrimination as the underlying causes of the riots. In order to bring an end to the riots, the report recommended better ethnic policing practices, Urban regeneration and employment-generating schemes. The report, however, did not yield the desired result and subsequently mistrust between the police and the local communities continued to grow.

The Macpherson Inquiry

In 1999, the Macpherson inquiry was set up to inquire into the police investigation of the murder of a black teenage Stephen Lawrence. A wide-spread culture of institutional racism embedded in structures of the police was reported by the inquiry. Several years after the inquiry nothing seems to have changed when it comes to policing the ethnic communities. The recent riots prove this to be true.

Arif Azad, an expert in public policy issues, in his article entitled ‘the Underlying cause’ said: ‘That the perception of black and ethnic minority communities as being over-policed as suspects and under-policed as victims has come to prevail ­in ethnic minorities as a consequence. Figures from various sources seem to back up this view with one source asserting that black and ethnic communities were nine times more likely to be stopped and searched as compared to their white counterparts’.

Given the above mentioned facts, it can be safely said that the riots are not the outcome of merely poor law and order situation. The racial discriminatory treatment embedded in the community policing has triggered these riots. However, the following are the factors which are directly or indirectly linked with the riots.

1.    Racial Violence
2.    Death in Police Custody
3.    Death in Suspicious Circumstances
4.    Unemployment
5.    Mistrust between the police and the local communities

As the riots are not new, the British government should come forward with a comprehensive strategy so that the riots may not erupt again. There is huge trust deficit between the police and the local communities. The discriminatory attitude embedded in the police structure needs to be addressed immediately. The well planned strategy by the government and the fairness on the part of police while dealing with the local and ethnic communities will bring an end to violence in future.