London Riots

[BGH122]

We're not allowed to use any of those things. We're not even allowed baton-rounds or water cannons. We're having kettling (containment, as other police forces in other countries call it) removed from us too. We're also not allowed to directly strike with batons to anywhere but main muscle mass (arms, legs, thigh).

Have you tried poking them with a pointed stick, or maybe tossing a handful of legumes at them?

OT: Jebus if there was riot here in the states every time some two bit thug was gunned down by the cops we'd be in a constant state of unmitigated chaos. (of course that seems to be the image of an average day over here in the mind of our cousins across the pond.)

Pointed stick? Legumes? Can't you appreciate that these are poor, down-trodden youths who have legitimate gripes with the fascist police of the United Kingdom who're answerable to no-one but themselves? Can't you appreciate that these youths are exercising their right to peaceful protest and it's just a few bad guys who're wrecking it for the majority! It's obviously a police state! The UK is exactly like pre-revolution Cuba!

/sarcasm

In the words of Duggan's mother "He wasn't violent" ... He was under observation by Trident, the violent black crimes unit, and was carrying a handgun which he fired upon arresting officers ... "He was into some thing" ... Drug dealing and gang affiliation is now 'some things' and a perfectly acceptable 'culture'.

Yeah, if immigration weren't such a nightmare I'd move to the US in a shot. I'd love to work for a US police force, but with the five years of localisation it just isn't worth it.

Well, brits are bad at rioting, but contain with teargas and beanbag shotguns? Or you know, bigger cars

We're not allowed to use any of those things. We're not even allowed baton-rounds or water cannons. We're having kettling (containment, as other police forces in other countries call it) removed from us too. We're also not allowed to directly strike with batons to anywhere but main muscle mass (arms, legs, thigh).

Well wow. Sucks to be a riot police dude in britain then doesn't it? :/
Though theres alot of excessive use of those things here.. There was some video of three chicks going to a graduation party getting pepersprayed point blank and chased away by k9s

Oof, that's not good. From what I've heard, numerous US police forces don't seem to have an independent complaints commission. Is that true?

The problem, as ever, isn't the weapons, it's ensuring that one's officers aren't corrupt/thuggish.

 

[TwoSidesOneCoin]

As with handling this riot, I being quite a harsh person when it comes to "the line has been crossed, lets get them" I would happily have the police forces armed with plastic bullets simply mowing down everyone and hand cuffing them, giving them a 5 minuet prior warning that they were about to be approached by modern day line infantry.

Admittedly it would rarely get to the situation where this would be appropriate... but this clearly has... send them in. See how fucking fast the "riots" shop when people start getting winded by high speed rubber(not the American version of this word) xD

I agree with what you're saying, I'm a "The ends justify the means" kinda guy. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that. You want to end it? Then do it quickly and decisively. A warning and if the rioters/looters/participants (aka anyone being there fucking shit up) do not lay down any weapons and get on the floor, after a minute, you open fire with the rubbers.

Also that last bit made me chuckle.

 

[Spartan448]

These riots need to be contained, or they're going to spread. What worries me, though, is that the city where the second riot occured wasn't locked down beforehand. The British police must have been complete IMBICILES to not notice that there was a riot being planned--- ON A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE. Youth violence spreads like Bubonic Plague, and is about as deadly. Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and most importantly, Lybia should all be good examples of that. I say it's time to call in the Blackhawks, and the live rounds, too. Show no mercy to those who don't deserve it.

 

[gigastar]

To me it seems like a football riot that didnt happen at football, Tottenham is a very football-ly place as far as i care.

Also if its gone to Enfield then that means the riot is little more than 2 miles form my doorstep...

Well its been raining, alot, and itll be dawn soon. And i have an axe, a big one. And my father has a chainsaw, a small one, but still a chainsaw.

 

[gigastar]

I say it's time to call in the Blackhawks, and the live rounds, too. Show no mercy to those who don't deserve it.

Going from the press that certain Arab states have been getting over that kind of riot surpression, what would the world think if Britan were to do it?

Even then all theese pillocks have done is set fire to a few viechles and one biulding and loot about 4 shops. The Arab uprisings were for control of their respective countries.

 

[AfroTree]

Riot shields, tear gas, less lethal ammunition, water hoses, batons, tasers...

Yeah, police should use anything and everything that qualifies as "less lethal." There's a chance it'll still kill, but that's what you get for being in a riot.

These riots need to be contained, or they're going to spread. What worries me, though, is that the city where the second riot occured wasn't locked down beforehand. The British police must have been complete IMBICILES to not notice that there was a riot being planned--- ON A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE. Youth violence spreads like Bubonic Plague, and is about as deadly. Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and most importantly, Lybia should all be good examples of that. I say it's time to call in the Blackhawks, and the live rounds, too. Show no mercy to those who don't deserve it.

What. The. Fuck.

seriously. No.

Good gravy, riots are so stupid. Another great example of weak willed people losing control of themselves.

I wanna put you in a riot. lets see how that works out.

snip

Ideally, they wouldn't happen at all

but right now. just keep doing what they're doing, it's not efficient, but it seems to work.

I am not going back to london though. too sunny.

 

[Alar]

So, wait. This was being organized on social networking sites? Don't the Police, or some federal organizations, try to keep out an eye for that sort of thing?

That is, unless they were really subtle about organizing it... but most people doing illegal things online these days tend to be very stupid and very open about it.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

WOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAH RIOTS!
Just seeing the pictures makes me pumped up.

Though the looting was a little too far.

I'm the exact opposite.
The violent, faceless mobs of savage, anonymous brutes breaking everything in sight terrifies me to the core. Imagine just walking down the street and being caught in the middle of that.

On the other hand, it would be so awesome to bust into something like Gamestop or a jewelry store and have that moment where you're like "it's mine! It's all mine!", knowing you'll have a decent chance of making off with anything you want.

 

[dibblywibbles]

so a thug gets shot in the head after firing on the cops and this is reason to riot? Vancouver loses in the Stanley cup Finals and all hell breaks loose? Some cities are better equipped to deal with these situations but seriously.... get your head on straight you idjits! looks like I'm going to have to start teaching conflict resolution classes.

 

[Gitty101]

Oh no, just when I thought things couldn't possible get any worse. The last thing we need is civil unrest during these trying times. These people fail to realise that they're not actually getting back at the people responsible - all they're doing is harming the local community. Guess that's commonplace though where ignorance is bred and allowed to thrive.

I'm just glad I don't live in London.

 

[teqrevisited]

The guy fired on an officer, what did he expect? A bullet to the head was all that he deserved. At least he didn't get the chance to be buggered to death in Whitemoor.

If they were rioting for a worthy cause then by all means, but rioting because the law was upheld?

Roll out the APCs.

 

[Shadie777]

This is not even about the guy who was shot, these idiots do not care about that. This is just a bunch of pricks that took advantage of a protest to loot and create havoc. Disgusting.

It seems the BBC has finally updated on this story.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14439970

 

[HooterNanny]

Godamn. At least the student riots were for a good cause (Although admittedly, that cause was somewhat lost with all the 'lets get violent' yobbos involved but still).

 

[BGH122]

Oof, that's not good. From what I've heard, numerous US police forces don't seem to have an independent complaints commission. Is that true?

The problem, as ever, isn't the weapons, it's ensuring that one's officers aren't corrupt/thuggish.

I've got no idea, I'm from Denmark
Don't know if it still stands, but at some point scandinavian police officers weren't able to get charged during certain 'ops', if I remember correctly

Oh! Interesting if true!

I don't know why I always assume that people from outside the UK are American. I guess Americans just proliferate throughout the internet.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

I firmly believe that riots (or any other forms of violent protest for that matter) are senseless and unnecessary. I'm all for having the large-scale movement of the people, just keep it peaceful. Nobody gains whens any officer (who is just doing his/her job and trying to keep the peace, mind you) should have to pay for a quarrel he/she had no prior involvement in. The same goes for protesters, why should a peaceful protester caught in the middle of the violent protesters and law enforcement become a casualty to something sparked by some reckless demonstrator? There are better, peaceful ways to get a point across the board instead of straining the relations between two rivaling groups any further.

 

[BGH122]

There are better, peaceful ways to get a point across the board instead of straining the relations between two rivaling groups any further.

A thoroughly well put post overall. Welcome to the Escapist, if you haven't already been welcomed!

I think the problem is that most of the people involved in these riots (and the new riots/public disorders/lootings that have sprung up across other black areas of London, or so I'm told) never had a legitimate grievance in the first place and were just a bunch of yobs who wanted to get into a fight.

We've got a huge problem in London, that no oxbridge educated politician is actually aware of, with a growing underclass of people who're, for want of a better word, amoral. People who genuinely don't care about society, genuinely don't even consider that their actions have consequences not only for themselves, but for others too and who generally don't understand concepts like 'personal responsibility' and just want to blame everyone else for everything they do. It's very problematic that the general approach of the last decade from the government has been one of excusing the bad behaviour of certain sections of society as failings of the police (be it in their failure to keep control with their inadequate support or failure to maintain positive relations with criminals).

It's all very well for us to say that certain behaviours aren't acceptable, but when not a single burglar nor knife-crime convict received the maximum sentence last year these words become resoundingly hollow.

 

[Bassik]

A lot of young kids are rioting... I allways wonder, when they get home, why doesn't their dear ol' mum smack them in the face? Mine would have killed me. Literally, I would have been murdered and stuffed in the basement if I ever pulled a prank like this.

 

[Adamd1990]

Ah, rioting because a gang member was killed by police. Why don't people care when it is the other way around? Just because some select police members are allowed to kill in only the most extreme and completely justifiable scenarios (such as when a gangsta is shooting at you and others around you, and if you don't put him down he will put others down - o look, same scenario...) doesn't mean when it does happen you're allowed to riot! If I ran the state I would've stopped the peaceful protest straight off the mark, as there was already an investigation initiated.

But hey ho, if you wanna have a good riot, you might as well pick something unjustifiable and throw shit on top of it, so it looks as though rioting, because a policeman killed someone who was trying to murder others, is in fact the only sensible option available, rather than...say...letting the police do their fucking job.

Funny world we live in. You'll never get a demonstration at a gang's hideout when a cop gets killed. Saying that, the last cop killer I remember was that Raul Moat guy, and he was branded a legend by us Brits in closed quarters. And more investigation went into how he got killed in the end than to go "Welp, doesn't exactly matter. He was a murderer, what's done is done."

 

[Shivarage]

Good gravy, riots are so stupid. Another great example of weak willed people losing control of themselves.

I think you have it backwards there... although riots are stupid, they at least prove they havn't completely submit to dominance from the elite classes

 

[Deathninja19]

Well, brits are bad at rioting, but contain with teargas and beanbag shotguns? Or you know, bigger cars

OK for one you've obviously never been to England or seen one of our towns or cities, are streets are so small you can barely fit an average sized car through some roads if there are parked cars. We couldn't have bigger cars if we wanted to (which we don't because our gas prices are so high).

Second we're great at rioting, we're just terrible at containing them. Part of the reason in this case is that the areas are sort of police no go areas due to the amount of violence is directed towards police on a daily basis. Shouldn't be like this but there's nothing you can do really.