A Sri Lankan Cricket Buff in the Side Lanes
Pic from Sky News
I received this unsolicited report from a contact in my cricketing network. He is clearly a law-and-order man and the sentiments are not necessarily endorsed; but the account is f some significance …. and calls to mind the value — or ortherwise — of such testimonies in, say, the Cronulla riots in Sydney …. and for that matter reports from Tamils caught up in the trapped situation in the north eastern corner of Sri Lanka in early 2009. that is, all such observations have to be pooled and sifted. Michael Roberts.
Hello everyone,
Just a note on theLondonriots that have been on-going since Friday
Pic from AFP/Getty
Firstly thanks to those that sent messages and calls. I can report that I’m ok, and area where I live has not been affected by the problems to date. I did notice on my way home from work tonight that a number of shops were closed very early and some police presence on the streets. The reporting by the media has been a lot slower than amongst the people thanks to social media. Earlier today there was supposed attacks planned for tonight in Brent, South Kensingtonand others hence the police and locals getting prepared. Most of attacks are done at night.
The overall scenes and destruction especially of heritage buildings and businesses is unbelievable. The whole affair originated from Friday when during a shootout the police shot and killed a man. There are some reports he was carrying a weapon, possibly fake. The man was from Tottenham inLondon. A group of residents from his hometown organised a rally or march through Tottenham to the local police station demanding answers from the Top Cop.
How this then ended up in riots, burning of buildings, buses, cars including police, and the subsequent looting of shops is still unclear. There was a report that a girl was struck with a police baton which could have sparked the incident, but this is not confirmed yet.
The subsequent days have seen idiots attempt copy-cat scenes for no apparent reason. The family of the deceased man have distanced themselves from the troubles and publicly condemned such actions.
Overnight we say this extend beyond London into Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol, and subsequently there have been a number of sporting and other events such as Wednesday’s Football clash between England and Holland that have been cancelled or postponed for security and safety concerns.
All the areas affected are the major English towns, no rural/country areas affected.
When you look closely most of those areas within the major cities are areas of lower social standards, which are struggling. It’s no surprise they have used this opportunity to cash in and get whatever they can. The only exception is Ealing, which is a bit more posh, and houses were attacked. Everyone is struggling with financial crisis but looting is not the answer.
Contrary to some foreign media reports there is no racial or ethnic element to [these riots]. Involves mixed races. The majority of the culprits are youths with some reported to be as young as 11. It is currently school holidays here and clearly these scum have nothing better to do. [As] mentioned earlier the social media such as Twitter and Facebook have helped them organise and spread things quicker than in the past. Police are now using these to make arrests.
The big brand name stores and products have been targeted the most for looting.
Both the Prime Minister and Mayor of London were overseas on separate holidays. David Cameron returned fromItalysoon, the Mayor was initially refusing to come back. Overall this is an embarrassment and shame to the UK. London resembled a third world country with failure to control law and order. This inadequate security, action and response are [a serious concern] considering [the fact thatLondonis] hosting the Olympics this time next year.
Today/tonight the people are fighting back, firstly by volunteering to clean up the mess, secondly by having to stay and defend their properties themselves.
The Police failed badly here. They should have used force and even something like teargas and ended this a lot earlier saving people’s homes and businesses. But the blame is not entirely theirs. Part of the reason for the inaction is because human rights activists jump up and down when they do. Really if you start deliberately committing crimes you don’t deserve any more human rights!
This is a good lesson for governments and people to allow their official forces to take necessary measure to restore law and order, and not bow down to these stupid activists around this world. There’s enough problems in the world, those contributing to this should be stopped, and removed from society.
They will now waste money on enquiries, when really common sense could have prevented or ended this earlier.Britain needs to do some major work to repair its damaged ego, especially when it has been trying to dictate to other nations to follow its way of life!
England is a beautiful country with a lot of opportunities but some things are such as work ethic, food hygiene, rubbish removal, line queuing and now this are 3rd world standard!
Hope the drama is finished soon so that we can enjoy our weekend peacefully and restore this town to the way it should be with stunning architecture, amazing history and lots to do. The peoples cleanup efforts and helping each other is touching to see.
Cheers
Name withheld
PS. As I write I can hear numerous sirens sounding, which isn’t a good sign, but we can hope for the best!
