London Riots

[Deemancpa]

Have we heard from our London brothers? Hope all is well. My wife has family there whom she can't seem locate. Does anyone know if mobile service is working properly?

Thanks,

Dee

[riazp]

I dont know Dee, my family over there in london are out of the country on vacations, thank god. Its a horrible mess, I hope your wife can locate her family, and I hope our british brothers are ok.

[CaptainQuintero]

lol London riots?

London, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Wolverhampton, West Brom, Bristol, and Leicester so far.

I'm not in a city..or even large town so I'm nowhere near any of it but for people who have homes and businesses affected I feel bad as no insurance policy covers acts of riots.

-

All mobile services are fine as far as I know, nothing like that has been affected.

[Deemancpa]

Good to know all is well..... wondering what's happening...seems like this thing is spreading. D

[CaptainQuintero]

Good to know all is well..... wondering what's happening...seems like this thing is spreading. D

Pretty much over now, police country-wide have apparently been issued rubber bullets; it's surprisingly quiet tonight as a result lol.

[aavkk]

glad to hear that the violence has finally come to an end. This was really bad.

[CaptainQuintero]

glad to hear that the violence has finally come to an end. This was really bad.

Started back up again outside of London in Manchester and Liverpool lol

[Deemancpa]

When will this end? Thanks for the updates.

[CaptainQuintero]

When the police get tough I guess, they are holding back a lot because last year they beat an innocent bystander to the G20 protests so bad that he died. To be honest it's a reflection on a significant portion of under 25 year olds here, no consequences to their actions in schools or at home, no respect for police who can't really do anything all add up to a devil may care attitude.

They know that even if they are somehow identified from under their hoods etc that that will most likely get a slap on the wrist, its not like the 70s when a copper would just take you and give you a good kicking instead of filing the paperwork.

Teachers can't install respect

Police can't install respect

Parents can't install respect

Of course this isn't all young people, it's just a portion, but a significant portion enough that allows this type of rioting to happen. Both my Aunty and Uncle and all their friends are teachers who have 30-40 years of experience. They all have took retirement over the last 5-8 years due to the way a significant portion of kids are nowadays.

Sad days.

[bstarrs]

http://pitchfork.com/news/43478-labels-react-to-sonypias-warehouse-fire/

Just a side note. Looks like these rioters have really screwed over a whole bunch of indie record labels with their shenanigans.

[Styler]

It's just disgusting, I'm at the opposite end of the country but really feel for everyone effected. I really hope that a lesson is learned from this, the police need to feel that they can step up when the situation warrants it without the fear of being taken to court by some bleeding heart leftie afterwards. At the end of the day, if you are roaming the streets in packs with hoods up and faces covered then you are asking for a plastic bullet to the chest. Just my pissed off opinion!

[nick17]

why are people rioting

[CaptainQuintero]

Literally no reason.

It started off as a protest because someone with a gun was shot during a standoff with armed police, then kids decided to just riot. The police didn't stop them so it spread, then social networking spread the word around and kids organised where to meet up and loot, and again with no consequences, its just spread to half of the major cities here.

There is no political, economic or any reasoning behind it apart from it's people doing it because they can and there is little to no risk of them being caught.

[ZinZan]

I think it's the yob culture. No respect for authority whatsoever

[CaptainQuintero]

Can add Nottingham to the list now too, city centre has been attacked and places looted over night and a police station firebombed.

+ small outbreaks of disorder reported by police in Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cardiff.

This is a pretty good timeline of events, updated regularly too:

TIMELINE

[mazolaman]

we've had a constant companion of sirens here in London.

This started as a peaceful protest against a police shooting.

Then opportunist thieves have taken over,and the real trouble is due to this.

It's almost funny to see a family pull up in a car,mam dad and two kids get out,load up the boot and off they go.Or a woman trying on shoes in a shop,before looting them!

This isn't only to do with unrestrained youth,there are many reasons for this.

It's fascinating in a voyeuristic way to watch how something like this evolves,from a peaceful protest to national unrest,through stuff like twitter and media.

The rioters don't fear police,because police budgets have been cut,so there are too few police.

The rioters don't fear prison,as prisons are full,and prison budgets have been cut.

There will be more like this,as we are building a generation who have no chance of doing anything of any worth,no hope,no aspiration.

We also have a generation of terrible parents.

Interstingly, some of the scumbag rioters are shouting about their lack of hope as they are followed by the everpresent

media,while nicking trainers from JD sports,but I'm afraid they are just using this as an excuse for terrible behaviour.

The people who are really affected by cuts in everything will suffer due to the actions of these people,and this will be used as an excuse to make life harder,this will also be used as an excuse for racism,as our twisted media report it as a black problem,where all colours are culpable in this.

On a nice front,gangs of folk are appearing with brooms to clean up,some good old blitz spirit!

[thechenman]

This kind of stuff is just totally pathetic. Reminiscent of what happened in Vancouver...and all this over what. A gun wielding maniac gets shot by police before he can harm anyone. Give me a break. Stuff like this happens stateside as well. I clearly remember the whole Rodney King riots in Los Angeles as a kid. The looters and vandals will use anything as an excuse. The true losers in these instances are the poor people who own the businesses that are being looted and destroyed, those who want no part of this getting harrassed or beaten in the streets. Criminal behavior necessitates an appropriate response, and we just don't see enough of that these days due to feers of litigation. Crazy...