Rioting in London

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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:30 pm

Olly3008 wrote:

Im only an hour and a bit away from london, in quite a large town, however i have faith that we shouldnt be affected.

90 minutes away myself but i'm the same as you. The police helicopter has been buzzing about but that's about it so far here.

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:41 pm

Facebook has been buzzing with some fakes, however people i seem to trust say theres been yobs present, but thats Wink

for ya!

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:45 pm

I just came home from London this morning, so I guess the riots will be over soon.

All jokes aside - I read about it in Sunday Times, made me think twice before I went to town yesterday. Eventually, I did, allthough I stayed the hell away from Tottenham. Didn't see a lot of coppers, though, except for the ones keeping an eye on drunken football fans going to watch Charity Shield. But I understand it's still going on, and even spreading to Birmingham. Sad

I hope it stops soon, I like UK too much to watch news like that. Sad

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:46 pm

A stream is here if anyone wishes to watch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14449675

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:45 am

Hope all the boys and girl in Blue on the other side of the Pond keep as safe as possible. From what I have read was the riots are related to the shooting death of man by police. I have not read a detailed report of the status of the investigation of the shooting but the 'net seems to be a buzz with the man first pulling a concealed handgun on the officers who were responding to call of a man with a firearm.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:45 am

My sympathies to the innocent affected by these idiots running wild. One of the first things needing to be done is target those wearing masks in these situations. I have been advocating for that in my country as well. If there are laws in place governing that, they need to vigorously enforced.

As far as looting, if I caught any one looting my place, I have the means to deal with that also (and I don't live in the USA)
Regards

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:08 am

Badgerbait wrote:

but the 'net seems to be a buzz with the man first pulling a concealed handgun on the officers who were responding to call of a man with a firearm.

That was based on the fact that a police radio was later found with a bullet embedded in it. But it has since been reported unofficially that it was a police bullet.
Exact details of what happened have yet to be disclosed.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:11 am

Wile E Coyote wrote:

As far as looting, if I caught any one looting my place, I have the means to deal with that also

easy to say from a distance but what if there are 50+ of them, most under 18 and considering themselves invincible. That's what many locals have faced.

The situation is truly appalling - I live in the midst of one of the "minor" affected areas, and by minor I mean that the only trouble was organised looting of shops, loads of opportunistic mugging and vandalism and the occasional small fire that did not result in any injuries or deaths I know of. When these things are going on, the rumour mill spreads fast and coupled with the tragedy of the recent police shooting (no matter what the circumstances), just about any rumour will do as an excuse to kick off again. There are also well substantiated rumours of flash-mob style advanced planning, although the degree of "planning" seems to be little more than a location and a time (for example yesterday's action was purportedly planned as Hackney, 4pm with many other secondary locations also circulated).

we can only hope there are not further troubles tonight, but it seems likely especially as the police were pushed to the limit last night and clearly unable to deal with massive moving problems in multiple locations. (never mind apparent extension to other UK cities)

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:20 am

I thought I was watching the latest GTA release. Confused

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:04 am

it is seriously depressing but at least there are some positives - for example today numerous people are out on the streets helping with the cleanup efforts. If you are near an affected area and want to get involved there's very specific information on how you can help, mainly on twitter #riotcleanup
(need not be a twitter user to see their posts; They also registered riotcleanup.co.uk but looks like they hit their bandwidth cap immediately) Some areas are not ready for volunteer action as they are still being treated as crime scenes.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:05 am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14450248
Unrest and violence have spread to Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham and Nottingham.

This is very worrying. there's no way there's direct sympathy in all those locations for one guy getting shot, it's just a response to the first riot, as evidenced by the delays between the frst and subseqent events.

What it tells me is that there a lot of people looking for an excuse to get out there and cause mayhem, and I don't like the idea of that very much. I know thimes are hard and nobody is happy but this won't make things better. Unhappily, a lot of people don't have the sense to see that.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:17 am

Once the mob lose their fear of Police who don't turn up or get stuck in (many have no riot training) it is very hard to put the genie back in the bottle. I think most have no political axe to grind, but are out for anything they can get, and get a thrill from playing 'chase' with the Police. I noticed that several fires seemed to have a looted betting shop in the middle, I reckon that's professional criminals using unrest as a cover to borrow a safe or two.

Dealing with this is a fine line - do too little and everyone criticises the Police for being invisible, on the other hand we aren't Syria, and don't shoot unarmed protesters. We do have lots of practice from decades of unrest in Northern Ireland, though.

It starts with an incident which soon gets forgotten - I think the first Toxteth riots started when some lads got stopped by the Police on a stolen motorbike.

Sad times, and you can't help but think that planned Police cuts might be quietly forgotten about. Meanwhile out Home Secretary says we should shop any family member who was our on the streets all night. Yeah, right, that'll work. Rolling Eyes

'Rubber Bullets' by 10cc

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:46 am

Theres a message lurking around my town on where to go today, hope nothing comes of it.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:00 pm

which city (broadly) are you in? don't be too specific.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:17 pm

The man shot in Croydon has died. It may not be connected to the riots of course. Gun murders aren't that rare in the UK.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:43 pm

There's a lot of opportunity to make some politics here too. The police are mostly standing around, containing the rioters as best they can, without getting heavy-handed. They've got a point to make about cuts and redundancies.

They'll wait until there is a howl, demanding tough action, from the politicians media and general public before they take the gloves off.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:12 pm

I just heard on the radio about a twitter group calling itself: #riotwombles
set up looking for volunteers to clean up the mess.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:40 pm

Mr Tambourine Man wrote:

The man shot in Croydon gas died. It may not be connected to the riots of course. Gun murders aren't that rare in the UK.

What UK are you living in? My UK is stabbings

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:20 pm

The world has gone crazy if the UK is permitting a small group (comparitively) to run rampant. I hope the powers in the states decide to "take action" Laughing

. They seem to want to help all these other nations out of control.

This thread is dangerous.... Laughing

.

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21158

STAY SAFE UK BAITERS! As I understand it, this is spreading into other areas as well and people are losing homes and possessions.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:46 pm

Olly3008 wrote:

Mr Tambourine Man wrote:

The man shot in Croydon gas died. It may not be connected to the riots of course. Gun murders aren't that rare in the UK.

What UK are you living in? My UK is stabbings

UK looters don't usually shoot people either. I'm not jumping to conclusions here.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:55 pm

next victim wrote:

STAY SAFE UK BAITERS! As I understand it, this is spreading into other areas as well and people are losing homes and possessions.

That'll be the spivs in the city. They've had my pension and savings. Crying or Very sad

Rioters only want my trainers and mobile phone.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:13 pm

Not that many shootings around here, it's all fists and boots and pool cues and kitchen knives. Most of the gun carrying yardies have never fired a weapon in their lives so often don't have much luck when they do.

Happily (maybe) Britain and London in particular is one of the most heavily surveilled areas of the word, CCTV footage is plentiful, and a lot of these dudes are stupid enough to fill their phone cameras with trophy photos. Also facebook, Twitter and the mobile networks all leave a lovely clear paper-trail so there will be arrests... lots of them.

My only worry is that this really is completely decentralised, and it simply is the result of deep, widespread discontentment and disrespect for law and order. If this is the case then the root cause is much harder to deal with, and arresting individuals will not help.

Worrying times.

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:36 pm

Posting from the U.S. Gotta say, these riots are some mad stuff. Good to see some citizens so peacefully taking the law into their own hands Rolling Eyes

Although over here it's more a TV show than anything else, I send my regards to all those of you having to live through this nonsense.

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21158

Our country is headed that direction, you just don't see it in the lame stream media. Flash mobs, muggings, beatings and killings happening across the nation. Check out some cop blogs if you want to see what is happening here!