London riots 10 years on

[scenario8]

This thread was shut down but was the “main” thread at the time;

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Here we are a decade on.

There’s a documentary on BBC2 right now that will be on IPlayer shortly “The riots 2011”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58058...

As a Croydon boy what happened disgusted me. The mindlessness at Reeves Corner sticks in the mind.

Edit to apologise for the overly London-centric thread title.

Edited by scenario8 on Monday 9th August 22:03

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDooDoo]

Main memory from that was Sangat TV in Birmingham

[oyster]

Lost count of the amount of predictions of it happening again ‘this summer’.

[robscot]

scenario8 said:

This thread was shut down but was the “main” thread at the time;

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Some racist comments in that thread

[Radec]

Was heartbreaking listening to the father's account of losing his son along with the 2 other lads that got run over while trying to protect local businesses in Birmingham.

[Mojooo]

Can't believe its been 10 years

I wonder if the Govt have a mechanism to turn off all the major social media channels if it happens now as I suspect it could spread even faster these days.

[anonymous-user]

Mojooo said:

Can't believe its been 10 years

I wonder if the Govt have a mechanism to turn off all the major social media channels if it happens now as I suspect it could spread even faster these days.

Seem to remember 'BlackBerry' phones being used specifically to arrange rioting in 2011 because they could send private/encrypted group messages. WhatsApp would probably be the thing nowadays.

[Last Visit]

BabySharkDooDooDooDooDooDoo said:

Main memory from that was Sangat TV in Birmingham

Which was bloody awesome.

[Mojooo]

I suspect if it happened today it would be worse - as the guy said at the end of the BBC doc - poverty is probably worse and we have less Police.

[Mr Tidy]

It seems to go in cycles, so we are probably due another one somewhere sadly.

Long before Croydon we had Brixton and Toxteth in 1981, and St Pauls in Bristol.

[Mojooo]

Bradford 2001
London 2011

2021 was our year!

[Crackie]

Mojooo said:

I suspect if it happened today it would be worse - as the guy said at the end of the BBC doc - poverty is probably worse and we have less Police.

There are certainly fewer police but according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation https://www.jrf.org.uk/about-us there's been no change in poverty rates in England during the last 10 years. Poverty rates have gone down in Wales and NI ( 2% lower and 4% lower respectively ), The poverty rate for working age adults has increased by 1% in Scotland.

[Johnnytheboy]

Mojooo said:

Bradford 2001
London 2011

2021 was our year!

The rioting classes only had a very narrow window of hot weather, probably not long enough to get worked up about something.

[anonymous-user]

oyster said:

Lost count of the amount of predictions of it happening again ‘this summer’.

Surprised it has happened sooner. Those looted TVs are now well out of date , 40 in screen anyone?

[JagLover]

Crackie said:

Mojooo said:

I suspect if it happened today it would be worse - as the guy said at the end of the BBC doc - poverty is probably worse and we have less Police.

There are certainly fewer police but according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation https://www.jrf.org.uk/about-us there's been no change in poverty rates in England during the last 10 years. Poverty rates have gone down in Wales and NI ( 2% lower and 4% lower respectively ), The poverty rate for working age adults has increased by 1% in Scotland.

Looking for "justifications" is a little pointless. The simple fact is that the police lost control of the streets and once they had done so a large criminal element took advantage to loot at will. The riots were brought under control once police were put on the streets in sufficient numbers and they had orders to intervene rather than stand by and watch.

[Gecko1978]

JagLover said:

Looking for "justifications" is a little pointless. The simple fact is that the police lost control of the streets and once they had done so a large criminal element took advantage to loot at will. The riots were brought under control once police were put on the streets in sufficient numbers and they had orders to intervene rather than stand by and watch.

As I recall they did not have the equipment to fight back, they ended up driving armoured vehicles into the crowds to disperse them. After which bojo bought water cannon that were never used.

Unlike riots of the past where a protest March came to violence, this was people on mass gathering to riot and loot. But it only spread to a small area that is it was not nation wide every town an city just a few across the country.

[Derek Smith]

Here’s a thought:

The main method of combatting major disturbances specific to an area or areas is mutual aid. Police forces are required to have a simple plan which, in effect, is a minimum level of police per division/whatever to, in essence, tick over and provide minimum response. All the rest will be embused and sent to nominated forces.

After the Cameron/May double decimation of the police, the norm for my old force is that they hardly ever reach the minimum levels of old.

Happy anniversary.

[HappyClappy]

I lived not far from Clapham Junction at the time and walked down to see the carnage unfold. Saw the now closed Debenhams being looted, party shop on fire and the police further up lavender hill just watching it all unfold while doing SFA. The local residents formed a wall of people along the start of Northcote Road to stop them rampaging any further.

I would say the area has never fully recovered despite the community sweep up in the days that followed. Lots of families moved out the area to be replaced with graduate types renting the terraced houses. They still call it nappy valley but it feels more like club 18-30 now. Not somewhere I would chose to bring up my kids anymore.

The weak authorities missed a huge opportunity to clear up the area by evicting all those involved in the riots from council properties. Instead we got weekend show trials followed by a slap on the wrists. Pathetic.

Edited by HappyClappy on Tuesday 10th August 07:55

[Vickers_VC10]

I also have the gangster posing with his sack of Tesco value rice in my head

[Mojooo]

I imagine the reason the Police took the softly softly approach was because they didn't want to make it worse

I suspect it died down more because people had had their fun the the first 3 days.