London Violence Extends Into Third Night

Prime Minister David Cameron heads back from holiday as chaos spreads beyond the British capital to Birmingham.

August 9, 2011 - Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/08/20118818455...

Riots have spread to new areas of London while looting erupted in the cities of Birmingham and Liverpool as Britain's worst violence in decades extended into the third night.

Shops and cars were set ablaze across London late on Monday and early on Tuesday as authorities struggled to contain the unrest in the capital city which will host next summer's Olympic Games.

Looting by groups of hooded youths spread to Ealing in west London and Camden in the north. Television pictures showed groups of men running through the streets and smashing shop windows.

They also set fire to buildings in Croydon, a south London suburb, and Clapham, where they looted shops and cash machines and set fire to at least one shop.

The violence, which began in the northern Tottenham district on Saturday, also spread to Peckham and Lewisham. In Peckam, flames leapt into the air from a torched building, while rubble was strewn across the street. People walked in and out of shops looting.

Police with riot shields responded by charging them as they tried to seal off an area around Hackney Central station in the east of the city. Dozens of officers have now been deployed to the streets of Hackney.

But in a sign that the unrest had spilled outside of the capital, attackers smashed shops and looted property in the central England city of Birmingham. Police also confirmed that more than 30 people had been arrested.

Liverpool police said a small number of vehicles were set on fire and reported some criminal damage. They said officers were responding to a number of isolated outbreaks of disorder," including vehicles set ablaze and buildings attacked in the city's southern neighborhoods.

Al Jazeera correspondent Barnaby Philips, reporting from Tottenham, said lots of people are out on streets but there is anguish and dismay about what has happened in this community over the weekend.

"People realise that jobs, property and investments have been damaged for years to come, and they are very distraught about it.

"Thankfully Tottenham is calm as of now."

Crisis meeting

Meanwhile, the office of UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who has faced media criticism for being away on holiday during the riots, announced he would cut short his trip and return to London to chair a crisis meeting on the unrest.

"The violence we've seen, the looting we've seen, the thuggery we've seen, this is sheer criminality ... these people will be brought to justice, they will be made to face the consequences of their actions," said Theresa May, the interior minister, who also cut short her holiday because of the riots.

Scotland Yard commander Christine Jones said tonight's events were "simply inexcusable" as she announced the force had now arrested 225 people and charged 36 people over the escalating riots.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Potter, reporting from Lewisham, said the area's streets had been blocked off by riot police, but there did not appear to be any end in sight to the violence.

"The initial cause of violence in Hackney is said to be the use of 'stop and search' power on black youths by the police," he said.

"A large proportion of the black community in London believes that police use 'stop and search' powers far too much. They feel they have been unfairly stopped using those powers.

"The interior minister's effort to contain the violence has failed to stop the spread to many other areas of London."

As police struggled to contain the spiraling disorder, they ordered London football clubs to call off matches.

The violence, which is unrelated to any football issues, began near Tottenham's ground in north London over the death of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old man who was shot dead by the police on Thursday.

Very few details of Duggan's death have been released. Police said initially an officer was briefly hospitalised after the shooting and media reports said a bullet had been found lodged in the officer's radio.

Although a gun was recovered from the scene, The Guardian newspaper reported that the bullet in the radio was police-issue, throwing doubt on speculation that Duggan had fired at an officer.

Britain's police watchdog is investigating the incident and would not comment on the report.

Government officials branded rioters as "opportunistic criminals" and said the violence, the worst in London for years, would not affect preparations for next summer's Olympic Games.

History of racial tension

The multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Tottenham, where the rioting began, has a history of racial tension, with locals - especially Afro-Caribbean residents - resenting police behaviour, including the use of stop and search powers.

Police said on Monday they had responded to what they called "copycat criminal activity" across London.

There was looting in a number of boroughs in north, east and south London by small and mobile groups. And the youths appeared to have used a free message service on Blackberry mobile phones to coordinate attacks on shops and police.

Research In Motion, the Canadian manufacturer of the smart-phones, said it would work with British authorities, but gave no details on what information, if any, it would give the police.

"We feel for those impacted by this weekend's riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can," RIM spokesman Patrick Spence said in a statement.

"It's not so easy to explain the violence of the past two days," Al Jazeera's Phillips, reporting from the riot-hit district of Brixton, said earlier.

"It began in the north London neighbourhood of Tottenham - the catalyst was the killing by police of a black man."

British politicians say racial tensions or poverty do not justify what has happened in the last couple of days.

"The riots that took place in Tottenham on Saturday night and subsequent disturbances in other parts of London are totally unacceptable," Interior Minister May said.

"Once again I would like to pay tribute to the brave police officers who put themselves in harms way to protect the public, their property and local businesses."

Nick Clegg, Britain's deputy prime minister, echoed the sentiment, "It was needless, opportunistic theft and violence, nothing more, nothing less. It is completely unacceptable."

"There are different interpretations of the events. On the [political] left, people would be blaming policing methods perhaps, and also be looking at unemployment, poverty and cuts in social welfare," our correspondent said.

"On the [political] right, people are more vigorously condemning the looting and 'opportunist copycat' violence that has swept London."

London police criticized

The London police force has been criticized for its handling of recent large protests against the austerity measures, and its chief and the top counter-terrorism officer recently quit over revelations in the News Corp phone-hacking scandal.

While Britain's politicians were quick to blame petty criminals for the violence, neighbourhood residents said anger at high unemployment and cuts in public services, coupled with resentment of the police, played a significant role.

"Tottenham is a deprived area. Unemployment is very, very high ... they are frustrated," Uzodinma Wigwe, 49, who was made redundant from his job as a cleaner recently, said.

Steve Kavanagh, a deputy assistant commissioner with the London force, said the first priority had been to ensure the safety of fire crews who came under attack as they tried to put out blazes.

"We weren't flat-footed," he said. "Priorities had to be determined and the resources were put where the greatest risks were. We experienced a very rapid increase in levels of violence."

The riots come at a time of deepening gloom in Britain as the pain from economic stagnation is exacerbated by deep public spending cuts and tax rises aimed at eliminating a budget deficit that peaked at more than 10 per cent of GDP.