What's up with London? (riots, merged)

My favourite is this one, so subtle -

The thing with that photo (the original) is that it could be any English riot from the 70s 80s or 90s (which might have been educational for young Paul who didn't realise these things happen).
However if you replaced the gold tin with a purple one or a bottle of buck it could be a picture from any Scottish riot

[joea]

Back to a serious note-looks like the goverment is looking at clamping down on social media. Taking a leaf from Mubarak, err the People's Republic of China errr no wait.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14493497

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by joea

Back to a serious note-looks like the goverment is looking at clamping down on social media. Taking a leaf from Mubarak, err the People's Republic of China errr no wait.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14493497

That's only for situations such as we have witnessed, although still not going to be a crowd-pleaser.


If anyone's interested - in extreme situations (war) the telephone networks will be closed down to all numbers that aren't registered on a certain government list, the exception being public telephone boxes - well, those that are left.

[Oberon]

I think the difference between these riots and the others are two-fold. Firstly there was a clear set reason behind many of the others, whereas the reasons behind this one is a little more blurred, and secondly this is the first UK riot in the era of the 24/7 rolling news...which naturally makes it seem all the more dramatic than it is.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Well I don't have Sky, so my only rolling news is BBC News 24, and that was very boring on Tuesday night, showing the same two minutes of footage for almost an hour, interspersed every now and again with a trip to the studio. After watching normal telly we flicked back again later on with live scenes from Manchester - of cars driving past the Britannia Hotel, little or no furore, and then back to the earlier rolling (i.e. repeated) footage.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Don't worry, Dave will get it under control...err...Dave?

LOL....I doubt there's anything in there left that is worth stealing

[MH]

The root causes of the British riots

by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
The Jerusalem Post



What to make of the riots that began in parts of London and have spread to Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool? Are there any root causes we can identify? First, it is apparent that far too many commentators interpret these events based entirely on pre-conceived paradigms. For socialists like Ken Livingstone (former mayor of London), the riots are the fault of the government's spending cuts and the "social division" they have supposedly fostered.
Meanwhile, the far-Right British National Party characterizes the mayhem as a repeat of the race riots that occurred in Oldham in 2001. Only this time, the primary agitators are not South Asians but, in the words of one London-based right-wing blogger, "pampered black youth" who "indulged in welfare scrounging, looting and ****less fathering supported by the bleeding hearts of the BBC/Guardian axis." Many mainstream conservatives point to a state policy of multiculturalism as the culprit.
However, a close look at what is actually going on demonstrates the failure of all these analyses to explain the riots. Contrary to what Livingstone imagines, many of the youths taking part in these disturbances are not poor at all: They are mostly of a middleor lower-middle-class background. In any case, if they are angry with the coalition government and its spending cuts, why are they looting the homes and businesses of middle- and working-class people? It is clearly not the wealthy who are bearing the burden of costs in damages.
Portraying the disturbances as an uprising of the "under-privileged" is to be expected from those who subscribe to the Marxist theory of historical materialism, according to which economic causes are the driving force behind all human actions.
Likewise, those pointing to racial tensions and multiculturalism have ignored the facts. I do not endorse multiculturalism as a state policy, but the area of Tottenham where the riots began is composed of whites, blacks, Jews and Turks. The vandals in that part of London have certainly not divided themselves into separate racial gangs. As Talal Rajab, a blogger from north London, points out, the riots are also taking place in predominantly white areas of the capital such as Enfield, and the looters there are mainly white as well.
Nevertheless, one rationale that has somewhat transcended political boundaries is the relationship between the Metropolitan Police and London's residents.
Specifically, the unrest sparked just after the police shooting of a 29-year old man, Mark Duggan.
Duggan, a suspected member of a local criminal gang, was apparently unarmed at the time, and officers at Tottenham's police station seem to have ignored a local vigil held outside the station, demanding information on the circumstances behind the shooting.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is thus carrying out an investigation.
Yet this is not the first time the police have failed to be transparent when it comes to apparent mistakes.
For example, in 2005, after the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, they initially allowed false reports to circulate that the Brazilian man tried to run away from officers.
Such an explanation does not justify the current riots. Rather, youths driven by greed and a lust for senseless violence have taken advantage of the lack of trust between the police and local communities, using the shooting of Duggan as a pretext. It is telling that many victims of the current unrest have complained of inadequate police protection in their areas.
UNDENIABLY, THE spread of these riots has been planned. Pundits have frequently characterized the Arab Spring as the "Twitter Revolution." It might be accurate to label these riots in Britain a "BlackBerry Revolution." Indeed, broadcasts via BlackBerry (rather than Twitter or Facebook), which immediately came under surveillance by the police, and distribution of leaflets have been instrumental in orchestrating the present unrest.
As for the motivation of the vandals and thieves, one need look no further than what one rioter told Sky News reporter Mark Stone: "We're getting our taxes back."
In other words, the rioters are stealing designer clothes and gadgets ***8211; besides causing property damage ***8211; simply because they can.
Hence, I can only agree with Rajab's concluding observations: "The saddest thing is that while our parents fought for noble causes such as equal rights and the end of apartheid, our generation fights for Nike trainers and iPads. This, I am afraid, will define my generation."

..............

Good article MH.
One small thing though, as yet there is nothing to indicate that Duggan was unarmed and there is sufficient to indicate he was armed, the problem was that the claim was made that he had fired at police and they returned fire.
According to IPCC statements released so far the actual police involved never made any such claim.
That points to management failures and an failed attempt to pre-emptively colour their positioni n a more favourable light.....which is exactly what they did with the Menendez shooting, the major difference being that they kept on repeating the lies about Menendez long after they knew they were obviously untrue whereas in this case they just clammed up and said nothing more.

[Oberon]

The Riots have now spread to Edinburgh...here's some shocking footage filmed in the streets of the city.
Warning, graphic:

[Sammi79]

That is an interesting article MH, although a couple of things to point out. The man who was shot by police was apparently armed - at least a non-police issue weapon was recovered from the scene, said the police. Also they are not stealing designer clothes and ipads its a bit more downmarket than that, more like alcohol and cheap trainers. The last thing I would argue with is that none of the rioters were working class - unless you consider the lowest class in Britain to be lower-middle class, well we're not all small business owners with half a mortgage and 2 cars thankyou.

Other than that it warns of simplified pre-conceived ideas for the root causes then places its own statement from 1 person as the singular reason - high taxes. If you look at the comments though the most recent one on that page, and if you really want a simple answer to all of this then listen to Paul Yarden:

'The last 40 years in Britain have raised two generations who know everything about their rights and benefits but nothing about their responsibilites and obligations.'

[Sammi79]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The Riots have now spread to Edinburgh...here's some shocking footage filmed in the streets of the city.
Warning, graphic:

break out the rubber bullets! call in the army!

[jumpy]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The Riots have now spread to Edinburgh...here's some shocking footage filmed in the streets of the city.
Warning, graphic:

lmao

[BossMark]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The Riots have now spread to Edinburgh...here's some shocking footage filmed in the streets of the city.
Warning, graphic:

I bet that tosser Cameron and his goons still wants to cut down on our police force
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14485592

[MH]

Originally Posted by Sammi79

'The last 40 years in Britain have raised two generations who know everything about their rights and benefits but nothing about their responsibilites and obligations.'

From may point of view its a mix various reason....
Failed multiculturalism where the "stay behind" weak individuals or communities blame the system/authority instead of themselves for their life failure is one of them.
The ethnically different minority people mostly divert to racial explanations for their failure.
Usually they hold to anything that can back their stance and justify
"screw the system" criminal behavior turning it into sort of ideology.
An ideology that sometimes is fueled by politicians with their corrective sympathy and "rational" injustice explanations to get votes.
In Israel in Hebrew its called "corrective discrimination"..... (that's direct translation)


Shooting black man in dubious circumstances is one of good examples of self rationalised ethnic criminal violence.
"Yeah its because he is black so lets riot" as if police would have to shoot a white criminal for PC each time for the balance.

Add to this opportunistic vandalism and rioting for the heck of it and free stuff which comes from all groups-"to get the taxes back".
Groups that by the way are in similar state of mind but different self explanation.

Multiculturalism is one of the issues that adds the fuel to the fire but not only one.
A reason the flames may be a bit higher this time?

[Growler]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The Riots have now spread to Edinburgh...here's some shocking footage filmed in the streets of the city.
Warning, graphic:

The very idea... What unmitigated gall!