UK - London's Burning - Tottenham Riots, August 2011

[wfgodot]

Meanwhile, sadly, in Brum:

Birmingham riots: intense anger after deaths of three young men

Community leaders in Birmingham are working all-out to calm intense anger in the city's British Asian community over the deaths of three young men who were rammed by a carload of suspected looters.

West Midlands police arrested a man near the scene and recovered a vehicle, which forensics experts are examining. They later launched a murder inquiry.

Groups of residents in Winson Green, the inner-city area where the men were killed as they tried to protect local businesses in the early hours of Wednesday, openly warned of inter-communal violence if the murder inquiry fails to produce rapid results.
---

more at Guardian link above

 

[badhorsie]

Meanwhile, sadly, in Brum:

Birmingham riots: intense anger after deaths of three young men

more at Guardian link above

And one of those poor men was a 21 yo found by his own father

 

[wfgodot]

Here's the DM article on Tariq Jahan and his dad, Haroon:

'My boy's death is NOT a race issue': Devastated father whose son
and two friends were mowed down by riot thugs appeals for calm

 

[wfgodot]

8.08pm

---
In a document sent to businesses in the capital, police gave explicit guidance on what constitutes "reasonable force", saying people do not have to wait to be attacked if they are in their own home or business.

With police numbers stretched the limit, the Met said if someone "honestly and instinctively" believed they, their business or another person was in danger, they could use force.

The guidance says: "You are not expected to make fine judgements over the level of force you use in the heat of the moment."

It adds a weapon can be used and says: " The more extreme the circumstances and the fear felt, the more force you can lawfully use in self-defence."
---

Guardian live updates, more at link

 

[badhorsie]

What they need is some of this

 

[wfgodot]

8:26pm A Malaysian student who was mugged by youths posing as good Samaritans during the London riots has said they threatened to stab him.

Ashraf Haziq, 20, was seen in a YouTube video bleeding after being punched in the jaw less than a month after arriving in Britain. Hooded youths initially pretended to help him to his feet - then went through his rucksack, stealing his mobile phone and wallet, in Barking, east London.

Ashraf, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, relived his ordeal from his hospital bed when he was visited by a friend who filmed the chat and posted it online.

"They threatened to stab me, they told me they had knives," Ashraf says in the footage, available on YouTube and translated by Channel 4 News.
---

more here

Here is the incident again:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfcfcKLmWDM"]‪London Riot: Man in Barking gets mugged after being punched in the face‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

 

[wfgodot]

8.40pm: Guardian leader writer Aditya Chakrabortty offers an analysis of the political reaction to the past nights' unrest, which he says has been too simplistic and partisan.

'If you're a left-winger, the causes of the violence and looting are straight-forward: they're the result of monstrous inequality and historic spending cuts; while the youth running amok through branches of JD Sports are what happens when you offer a generation plastic consumerism rather than meaningful jobs.

'For the right, explaining the violence is even simpler – because any attempt at understanding is tantamount to condoning it. Better by far to talk of a society with a sense of over-entitlement; or to do what the prime minister did yesterday and simply dismiss "pockets of our society that are not just broken but, frankly, sick". You can expect to hear more of the same rhetoric in today's debate in parliament, especially from backbenchers on either side.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/10/uk-riots-fifth-night-live

Police struggle to identify man hurt while trying to stop violence (Guardian)
Man in intensive care after trying to stop teenage rioters during violence on Monday in Ealing, west London

 

[Anabelle]

I'm disgusted. The sad thing is that they will get pathetic jail sentences of a matter of weeks if at all. Some of these people are Teachers! One 11 year old was in court today. My son returned from spending two weeks in Enfield on Sunday. Thank goodness he;s home. Bad,bad news.

 

[hockeymom]

Don't know if this was posted. Its pretty harsh,but I must say,the guy has some great points. And I still say we are on the verge of this in the US.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...gma-spawned-generation-brutalised-youths.html

 

[Trino]

Don't know if this was posted. Its pretty harsh,but I must say,the guy has some great points. And I still say we are on the verge of this in the US.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...gma-spawned-generation-brutalised-youths.html

This editorial sure has a ring of familiarity to it - US.

 

[badhorsie]

Aftermath of the riots, ages in court range from 11 to 47 so far, including an organic chef and a teaching assistant

 

[UFO]

Don't know if this was posted. Its pretty harsh,but I must say,the guy has some great points. And I still say we are on the verge of this in the US.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...gma-spawned-generation-brutalised-youths.html

This is a great read. Thank you for posting.

 

[wfgodot]

Blaming "liberal dogma" for the riots is a bit rich. This sort of thing goes all the way back at least to Thatcher and her "there is no such thing as society." It's certainly true though that "New" Labour bollixed things up amazingly. Bliar and poor Gordon - yes, a bit adrift, those boys. But it did happen on Cameron-Clegg's watch.

When in doubt....blame Nick Clegg!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9RI-QolQek&feature=related"]Nick_Clegg's_Fault by Sly and Reggie (election song contest ) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[wfgodot]

Good reading from the Guardian's Aditya Chakrabortty, who grew up in Edmonton, London:

UK riots: political classes see what they want to see

---
Instead, permit me an observation: in the intervening years, whenever telling other journalists or people in government about my childhood home, I might as well have been describing a tribal settlement in the hills of Orissa. Not that I blamed my audience. Edmonton and Tottenham may be parts of the capital, but they aren't central or glamorous or promising punts in the property market; for most Londoners, they're just bits you drive through to get to Ikea or the M25.

Until, that is, this week.
---

much more at link above

 

[wfgodot]

Mail today:

It's payback time for the looters: Police snatch squads swoop on homes of riot suspects in a string of dawn raids across London

Racial tensions reach boiling point in Birmingham as vigilantes arm themselves with baseball bats after deaths of three young Muslims

Face of the mystery man beaten by mob: Police finally identify victim in critical condition after riot attack

 

[wfgodot]

Cameron statement and now-ended Commons debate blogged here.

 

[UFO]

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-facial-recognition-riots-134919385.html

Using facail recognition technology to catch some rioters.

 

[Paulette]

Here's a good read.

Does publishing photos of rioters infringe their human rights?


"It raises the question of whether or not it is compatible with article 8 of the European convention of human rights, which calls for respect for private life but also permits infringement of that right if in accordance with the law and, for example, to protect the public. It is an issue that has periodically arisen..."

Geez...these folks are hilarious! The city has gone up in flames, business is ruined, tourism is ruined, people are shell shocked...and what do they want to discuss? Photos of the miscreants!!

At least one person has some common sense. David Cameron.

"Picture by picture these criminals are being identified and arrested and we will not let any phony concerns about human rights get in the way of the publication of these pictures and the arrest of these individuals."

 

[wfgodot]

While I'd never equate David Cameron with "sense" of any sort, the EU human rights mandates are frequently humorously whack. However, one should go in fear of statements which include the words "phony concerns about human rights." In this case, certainly, yes; but it's too easy to apply these words in an attempt to argue against legitimate concerns. It's what a person given to spending three nights of the riots in Tuscany before returning might try.

---

David Cameron pledges 'whatever it takes' (Independent)

Includes a host of links to Independent coverage of the riots and their aftermath at link above.

 

[hockeymom]

Here's a good read.

Does publishing photos of rioters infringe their human rights?


"It raises the question of whether or not it is compatible with article 8 of the European convention of human rights, which calls for respect for private life but also permits infringement of that right if in accordance with the law and, for example, to protect the public. It is an issue that has periodically arisen..."

Geez...these folks are hilarious! The city has gone up in flames, business is ruined, tourism is ruined, people are shell shocked...and what do they want to discuss? Photos of the miscreants!!

At least one person has some common sense. David Cameron.

"Picture by picture these criminals are being identified and arrested and we will not let any phony concerns about human rights get in the way of the publication of these pictures and the arrest of these individuals."

The rioters didn't appear to have any concerns for human rights when they started up,so why should we be worried about theirs?