The London Riots

[Heald]

Not sure how far this has gone outside of the UK media but this is completely insane.

What started as an isolated string of violent acts has now turned into a full-blown insurrection. The police, nor the government, have any kind of grip on this situation. It looks like this won't end until the rioters/looters get bored, the army gets called in, or there is nothing left to burn/steal. Unfortunately it looks like the last option is the most likely. Furthermore, now splinter riots are starting up in the other large cities, Birmingham and Leeds.

We go into the third night with absolutely no sign of it stopping. Luckily I don't need to travel near the affected areas but some of my friends and family do.

This is completely nuts, not in my lifetime would I imagine this would happen.

[Telume]

What're the riots for anyway?

[Heald]

Some in the media continue to claim that it was because someone (who was allegedly in possession of a firearm and opened fire on the police) was shot dead by a police marksman in the stand-off. A peaceful protest outside the police station was hijacked by criminal elements and it has escalated from there. There is no reason for this idiocy any more, it's just completely mindless. These people aren't even angry about anything, they're just bored and having nothing else in their life worth doing.

[The Blue Avenger]

God damn, that is some scary stuff. I can't imagine having to live where that was happening.

The NY Times says that the riots sparked when a confrontation between cops and a gang ended up with a gang member dead, but that seems more like an excuse than anything else. I get the impression from my limited news intake that there's been a lot of unrest in Britain recently - there were protests recently over the university system, weren't there?

Edit: Beaten to the punch by the man himself.

[Heald]

Word is now that they are heading into Camden. Camden, for those who may not be aware, is where Amy Winehouse's home is. This could turn really ugly.

[ChobiChibi]

I get the impression from my limited news intake that there's been a lot of unrest in Britain recently - there were protests recently over the university system, weren't there?

Lol, yes. A couple of my friends went to them. Most of those protests were peaceful, just a few groups got out of hand, from what I heard. And those few groups caused a hell of a lot of damage. Nice one students

I've heard (from facebook) that some have started in Bristol too now. Not sure, just a rumour, but I wouldn't put it past 'em. To be honest, if Bristolians will riot over a Tesco store opening, fuck knows what they're capable of.

Lets hope this all calms down, it's just getting silly now.

[Telume]

This kind of reminds me of the McDuffie riots that happened here a VERY long time ago, I wasn't born but I saw articles on it, this was horrendous and it happened for similar reasons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_McDuffie

Article about the effects 25 years later: http://www.floridacdc.org/articles/050515-1.html

[ChobiChibi]

Well, apparently the Bristol riots are heading up towards where I work. Hopefully won't make it, cos I'm quite far from the city centre and there's another retail park closer, but there we go. See you on the other side *salutes*

[Gavin Luper]

Well, apparently the Bristol riots are heading up towards where I work. Hopefully won't make it, cos I'm quite far from the city centre and there's another retail park closer, but there we go. See you on the other side *salutes*

Stay safe!

[Asilynne]

Stay safe!

I second this <3 I will have to take a plane and bitchslap a mob if anyone hurts you or your store!!!!

[DarkestLight]

Yeah been reading about this. Kinda hope they keep going for a while. Maybe for a month. Why? Infrastructure falls, and they'll need money to rebuild :/ Help fix our stupisd ass eco problem. If we can't actually start a war, let unhappy people be the root fix to the global economy.

I dun want no one to get hurt and all that, but still, let's make some good out of this....

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Heck, if this one was going on in Helsinki, I wouldn't know what it would be like, except, terrible. The Finnish media does provide us news about this, but I have hard time understanding the situation. I mean, this may sound silly, but London is such a big city, you know where the riots are spreading first not from the television news or something, but from unconfirmed rumours. And that's what makes it even more scary. You see, in a smaller town, you'd know straight away where the riots are going to, no unconfirmed rumours that spread horror everywhere. I sure hope everybody from TPM and their friends and relatives in London are safe!

[Blademaster]

Just curious, but what exactly constitutes an English riot? It just sounds like a paradox to me. I keep hearing about all this Hell going down in London right now, but all I can envision it as is about 10,000 consecutive and repeating instances of this:

[Heald]

Just curious, but what exactly constitutes an English riot? It just sounds like a paradox to me. I keep hearing about all this Hell going down in London right now, but all I can envision it as is about 10,000 consecutive and repeating instances of this:

[insert funny guy video]

I wish, it's involved hundreds of businesses being smashed in, looted and in some case burnt out. The number of cars burnt out is probably in the 100s, several double-decker buses and police vehicles have been wrecked/burnt out. Several historical buildings have gone up in flames.

However, this was quite an amusing highlight.

Yeah been reading about this. Kinda hope they keep going for a while. Maybe for a month. Why? Infrastructure falls, and they'll need money to rebuild :/ Help fix our stupisd ass eco problem. If we can't actually start a war, let unhappy people be the root fix to the global economy.

I dun want no one to get hurt and all that, but still, let's make some good out of this....

Look up broken window fallacy.

Although large sections of London being destroyed could be good in the long run. London is mostly filled with complete shit, with the few nice areas far, far too expensive for any normal person to live in. Hopefully this will force lots of people to relocate from the capital and help grow other areas that need some extra population.

[Cynder]

Damn riots, I nearly got caught in one today while I was in Liverpool :O It's not pretty. They're breaking out all over the place - there's one going on half an hour away from where I live!

[ChobiChibi]

I survived

... I wanted to come back with some kind of war story about how we fought off rioters, but they didn't make it up to us. The store next door closed early though.

However, our store just outside the centre was targetted. I was told it was set on fire, but I've heard that not much happened also... It's weird. All the other stores in my area closed early. Just generally felt a bit panicked.

Did have a shoplifter (who my manager, who is 61, chased out the store) and some guy who thought about stealing the contents of my till. Just another night in store.

[Gavin Luper]

I survived

... I wanted to come back with some kind of war story about how we fought off rioters, but they didn't make it up to us. The store next door closed early though.

However, our store just outside the centre was targetted. I was told it was set on fire, but I've heard that not much happened also... It's weird. All the other stores in my area closed early. Just generally felt a bit panicked.

Did have a shoplifter (who my manager, who is 61, chased out the store) and some guy who thought about stealing the contents of my till. Just another night in store.

Man! It's getting ridiculous over there.

Again, keep safe, won't you? That goes for all you Poms.

[Becky]

Agreed, stay safe...I've been watching for new on the riots and it's just scary, the things that are happening.

[DarkestLight]

o.O So wait, are they over now? Or are they being quelled, or have we really reached 28 Days Later status