Police to swamp London streets to tackle unrest

By Matt Falloon and Stefano Ambrogi

LONDON |
Tue Aug 9, 2011 9:12pm IST

LONDON (Reuters) – Thousands of policemen prepared to deploy on London’s streets on Tuesday night to head off rioters and looters who have rampaged through parts of the British capital virtually unchecked for the past three nights.

Community leaders sought to explain the violence, the worst in London for decades, as rooted in the growing disparities in wealth and opportunity in this huge, multi-ethnic city.

But many Londoners have been stunned by the looting in which gangs ransacked shops, carting off clothes, shoes and electronic goods, torched cars and defied the police.

“This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted and defeated,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after he cut short a family holiday in Tuscany to return home to deal with the crisis.

“People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain’s streets,” he said.

Indicating the intensity of the situation, Cameron also recalled parliament from its summer recess, a rare move.

The unrest poses an added challenge to Cameron as Britain’s economy struggles to grow while his government slashes public spending and raises taxes to help eliminate a budget deficit — moves that some commentators say has aggravated the plight of youth’s in London’s inner-cities.

It also shows an ugly side of London to the world less than a year before it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, an event which city officials hope will serve as a showcase for the city in the way that April’s Royal Wedding did.

“Last night was the worst the MPS (Metropolitan Police)has seen in current memory for unacceptable levels of widespread looting, fires and disorder,” a police statement said on Tuesday.

Police had arrested more than 200 people overnight and a total of 450 over the three nights. Cells were now full with detainees. The statement also said 44 police officers were injured as well as 14 members of the public.

Cameron said that 16,000 police officers would be on the streets on Tuesday night, almost three times the 6,000 officers out on Monday night.

But many Londoners feared another night of trouble.

Youth gangs were reported to be coordinating their movements though social networks — particularly secure-access Blackberry Messenger groups — and targeting shops.

In areas ranging from riot-scarred Hackney to upmarket Sloane Square, some shops closed early or put up boards, witnesses said. Shops and pubs closed early in Wimbledon on Tuesday afternoon as rumours circulated that gangs would target the upscale neighbourhood, witnesses said.

Tottenham member of parliament David Lammy said in a message on Twitter he was asking Blackberry to suspend its messaging service.

It was “clear this is one of (the) reasons why unsophisticated criminals are outfoxing an otherwise sophisticated police force,” he said. “Londoners cannot have another evening like last night tonight.”

The BBC said a 26-year-old man was shot dead in Croydon, south of London, the first fatality of riots that have spread to Britain’s second largest city Birmingham and other centres.

The police have faced criticism for struggling to bring the situation under control and failing to go in hard for fear of upsetting local sensibilities.

As calls mounted for stronger measures, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said police would consider using baton rounds — rubber or plastic bullets.

The first riots broke out on Saturday in north London’s Tottenham district, when a peaceful protest over the police shooting of a suspect two days earlier led to violence.

Tottenham includes areas with the highest unemployment rates in London. It also has a history of racial tension with local young people, especially blacks, resenting police behaviour.

IN THE GHETTO

Gavin Poole, director of the Centre for Social Justice, said many of the youths involved were from a “lost generation” who faced a life of living in ghettos with little opportunity.

“These are the actions of people who live in chaos, hopelessness and poverty,” he said, quoted by the Press Association.

Their behaviour was criminal and should be punished,” he said. “Yet we have to recognise that this mayhem also exposes a broken section of British society.”

Other Londoners meanwhile counted the cost of the pillaging and tried to clear up the mess on Tuesday.

In the poor eastern district of Woolwich, broken glass littered streets that were strewn with stolen goods, tailors’ dummies and other debris.

Simon Mills, manager of Birts Son, jewellers and pawnbrokers, said he had lost goods worth £50,000-£60,000.

“I don’t think terrorists could have done a better job than what they have done here.”

In Ealing, one resident told Reuters about 150 hooded youths had walked down his road smashing car windows.

“It’s very sad to see. But kids have got no work, no future and the cuts have made it worse,” said Hackney electrician Anthony Burns, 39. “You watch. It’s only just begun.”

Hackney’s Mare Street, scene of serious disorder on Monday night, was largely back to normal by morning, with traffic flowing and the streets swept clean. A few shops had smashed windows boarded up, including a betting shop and a cafe.

Several hundred volunteers carrying brooms, dustpans, rubber gloves and black bags gathered in Clapham, south of the River Thames, to help clean up the mess from Tuesday night.

Garbage trucks were also out in force. Other people — some wearing “Team Clapham” and “I Love Battersea” T-shirts — were inside shops helping to tidy up.

Despite the show of community spirit, Roger Helmer, a Conservative member of the European Parliament, reflected the anger felt by many other Londoners over the violence.

“Time to get tough. Bring in the Army. Shoot looters and arsonists on sight,” he tweeted.

NO SAFE HAVEN

Officials said the violence would not hurt preparations for the Olympics. The London 2012 Organising Committee hosted an International Olympic Committee visit on Tuesday.

“Everything is going ahead as planned…there is no change to the plans,” a committee spokeswoman said.

However, other sporting events suffered. England cancelled Wednesday’s international soccer friendly with the Netherlands and three club games have also been called off.

The damage was also likely to cost insurers “tens of millions of pounds”, the Association of British Insurers said.

A fire tore through a Sony Corp warehouse in London’s riot-hit Enfield neighbourhood. A Sony spokeswoman could not confirm if the blaze had been started by rioters but that deliveries of compact discs and DVDs could be affected.

The ramifications also extended into international finance at a time when world markets are in turmoil.

“Just a few days ago we were talking about sterling as a new safe haven but these riots taking place are another blemish that must have soured anyone’s taste for the currency,” said Neil Mellor, currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon.

Colin Stanbridge, head of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the violence could not have come at a worse time for business, with many firms already struggling.

“This really isn’t the image we want to present to the world,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft, Avril Ormsby, Jon Hemming, Sonya Hepinstall, Jon Boyle; Jodi Ginsberg; Peter Griffiths and Georgina Prodham; Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Article source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/INtopNews/~3/tZLmro6P4fo/idINIndia-58694120110809

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