Tuesday, August 9, 2011

London Riots

Let's get one thing correct about the riots and looting that occurred in London and other UK cities last night. It was not about some black guy being shot by a police officer last week.
The riots, looting, destruction of property and burning of buildings was purely about a minority of young people (and I include kids in that) seeing it as an opportunity to rob and destroy property.

The scenes were shocking and made me sick to be a citizen of Britain.

Honest and law abiding people were running from their homes in fear of their lives. Innocent bystanders were robbed and assaulted. People are now without their cars after it was torched. Business owners are waking up to their businesses cleaned out, or worse still burnt out.

The response from the Government has been shambolic. David Cameron only decided to return from holidays after 3 days of riots. Nick Clegg offered sympathy, but no substance. Worst of all was Theresa May this morning who simply cannot get a grip on the reality of the situation. She sounded like a broken record on Sky News and 5 Live this morning. Stating the obvious that what is happening is "sheer criminality ", yet she fails to reassure the public by at least considering help from the army or water cannon use. Her statement about 400 people being arrested and that some shall be in court today, does not act as a deterrent. Asking people to stop, does not work.  Saying these are unprecedented scenes are not the words the people living in fear want to hear. They want action. They want to be able to protect their families, home and property. They want the police to answer the phone and to come and help them.

What was evident last night was the fact that the police could not cope. Although there were thousands of them on the streets, there were not enough to deal with hundreds of rioters in concentrated areas around Greater London. Some police officers have worked for 37 hours continuously, there is no way they can continue to work. Untrained police officers not wearing riot uniforms were being used to control the rioters. They do not have enough officers and drafting in police from other areas of the UK will only lead to riots in those areas then under staffed. More buildings and vehicles will burn because the fire service will not attend fires until the area has been secured by the police. You have to fear for the next few nights if the UK Government do not take decisive action. I fear to say it, but it may not be long before someone is killed or burnt in their home.

I was made aware of 2 old news items last night whilst watching the riots. Hindsight is something that is often used as a form of reflection after you realise you made a huge mistake. Theresa May could regret these words from September last year : Theresa May : We can cut police budget without risking violent unrest (Guardian)

Finally, Nick Clegg may well have a smug look on his face this morning as he sits around the table at No 10 and whispers in Cameron's ear "I told you so." Nick Clegg warns of riots if Tories are elected (Sky News via YouTube)

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