London Riots: Worst Civil Unrest in Decades
A murder hunt was launched after a 26-year-old man died after being admitted to hospital suffering from gunshot wounds.
According to a police statement, the as yet unnamed victim was discovered in a car at about 9.15pm in Croydon, south London.
As the man became the first fatality of the ‘unprecedented’ London riots, David Cameron has come back from Tuscany early to deal with the unrest. He went into a meeting with COBR (the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) at 9am and then made a statement saying: “If you’re old enough to commit these crimes, you’re old enough to face the consequences.”
This came after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s website queried: “Where were the statesmen as London burned?” ABC went on to say: “London burned and meanwhile Prime Minister David Cameron fiddled with the foil on a bottle of Pinot Grigio in Tuscany, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg quietly recovered at home from his getaway in sunny France and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne remained ensconced at a hotel somewhere in Beverly Hills.
“Britain’s already shaky confidence in its leaders, several of whom have spent the summer trying to wriggle free of their association with the hacking scandal, will be further disturbed by the determination of the nation’s powerbrokers to cling to the sun bed.”
The troubles started on Saturday after a protest outside Tottenham police station descended into violence. A crowd demonstrated after alleged gangster, Mark Duggan, 29, was shot dead on Thursday. The protest began peacefully, but soon descended into chaos and has since spread around the UK.
Last night it wasn’t just London that was affected – Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham also suffered riots with mass looting – while surburban Ealing in west London was also hit by looters.
People have been left homeless after their homes were set on fire, shops were ransacked, and, in a chilling development, people were asked to get out of their cars by looters before their vehicles were set ablaze. One women talked of waking up to find a masked man at the foot of her bed, after looters broke into her home. It is also alleged that the rioters tried to set fire to Ealing Studios, while Tesco and Sainsbury’s were attacked. Shocked and determined locals met at the Ealing Horse pub to begin to cleaning up their neighbourhood from 10am today.
Frost found this video of the violence in Ealing:
In Notting Hill, acclaimed restaurant The Ledbury was attacked and dinners were mugged, before thugs were chased off by kitchen staff. There were also reports on Twitter of yobs wielding machetes in the area.
One rioter said: “We are getting our taxes back.” It was, however, unconfirmed whether or not this person – and many others involved – have ever actually paid tax.
As 16,000 police are set to retake London, Home Secretary Theresa May said: ‘We don’t do water cannon, we rely on consent,” as she ruled out tough action. She added: ‘We need robust policing but we also need to ensure that justice is done through the courts.”
As vigilantes are forced to defend shops, she has been criticised for the soft approach and the government appears increasingly out of kilter with the mood of law-abiding citizens.
In the meantime, the police have put photos on their website to try and find some of the culprits, link here
The Met added that 334 people have been arrested in London since rioting broke out on Saturday. So far 69 have been charged.
The youngest person to be arrested so far is 11 years old.
