The British public's response to the riots.

[SomeUnregPunk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucM1cZIXl8Q


burned out homes, business, vehicles... people attacking others, stealing stuff and then tossing the stolen goods away...

...yes this is politically motivated riot that has absolutely nothing to do with hooliganism.

 

[Jegsimmons]

i think people are missing an important point (that is mentioned above by a few)

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Except for the fact of the rioters organising themselves through things like Blackberry Messenger and being made up mostly of teenagers that I doubt have ever paid taxes. So they're not that poor. I accept the problem that is going on with our society but it's not the way to solve it. It's not the way to get your voice heard. There is no excuse.

Please provide an example of ANYTHING being changed or influenced by a peaceful demonstration. I'm not trying to justify what is currently happening in London but saying that violence is not the way to get your voice heard is absolute bullshit. Do you honestly believe the rich, who are currently in control of the Western World, give a flying fuck about your problems?

 

[Sarcastic_Applause]

all i can say really is that i'm just as disgusted by the people who post on their accounts "send the army in!" or "gun them down"... these are the same supposed 'enlightened minds' that said we shouldnt criminalise the youth, and the same people that condemned Libya for using the military to quash Protesters.

For some of the Rioters, i can understand why they're enraged to the degree that they'd loot; They're desperate, but people seem to just tar them all with the same brush. It just proves that people willing to pass judgement on those rioting are just as bad, especially if they're serious about the 'Gunning down' method...

It truly makes me ashamed to be British.

 

[Jegsimmons]

Except for the fact of the rioters organising themselves through things like Blackberry Messenger and being made up mostly of teenagers that I doubt have ever paid taxes. So they're not that poor. I accept the problem that is going on with our society but it's not the way to solve it. It's not the way to get your voice heard. There is no excuse.

Please provide an example of ANYTHING being changed or influenced by a peaceful demonstration. I'm not trying to justify what is currently happening in London but saying that violence is not the way to get your voice heard is absolute bullshit. Do you honestly believe the rich, who are currently in control of the Western World, give a flying fuck about your problems?

examples of protesting accomplishing something?

ummm...look up MLKs biography....thats one...and they were WAY more oppressed than these guys (because they were actually oppressed instead of bullshit excuses like the rich keeping them down.)

or...womens rights movement....

Egypt was fairly peaceful in its protest.

those are just off the top of my head.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Except for the fact of the rioters organising themselves through things like Blackberry Messenger and being made up mostly of teenagers that I doubt have ever paid taxes. So they're not that poor. I accept the problem that is going on with our society but it's not the way to solve it. It's not the way to get your voice heard. There is no excuse.

Please provide an example of ANYTHING being changed or influenced by a peaceful demonstration. I'm not trying to justify what is currently happening in London but saying that violence is not the way to get your voice heard is absolute bullshit. Do you honestly believe the rich, who are currently in control of the Western World, give a flying fuck about your problems?

do you think making people who struggle to get by, scared in their homes, scared for the safety of their families is a way to have your voice listened to?

 

[Brutal Peanut]

certain pictures in this thread are not relevant to the topic i assume ....
in other words
WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SEE ???!?!?

Oh rainbow vomit pictures, how I obviously adore thee.

 

[Doc Theta Sigma]

Except for the fact of the rioters organising themselves through things like Blackberry Messenger and being made up mostly of teenagers that I doubt have ever paid taxes. So they're not that poor. I accept the problem that is going on with our society but it's not the way to solve it. It's not the way to get your voice heard. There is no excuse.

Please provide an example of ANYTHING being changed or influenced by a peaceful demonstration. I'm not trying to justify what is currently happening in London but saying that violence is not the way to get your voice heard is absolute bullshit. Do you honestly believe the rich, who are currently in control of the Western World, give a flying fuck about your problems?

Not at all. I know the government doesn't give a flying fuck about me or you. However you're not exactly going to get a breakthrough by going around wrecking shit because you feel that the world owes you something. Every interview the BBC has had with rioters has been along the lines of:

"It's the governments fault cause like I can't afford stuff so I'm not gonna give up a chance to get stuff for free like"

The majority of the rioters are self entitled teenagers. Yes. There is an underlying cause to this and there is a problem with society. But smashing up small businesses and burning down building won't make the rest of the public or the government want to listen to you.

 

[Battenbergcake]

As a member of the british youth i'm pretty disgusted that such unimformed people exist and that they've used an out of hand conflict as a vechicle for their own mayhem.

I'm not for police violence but sometmes you've got to lay down the law and come down upon those who won't listen with a vey heavy hand.

It's sad when i acttualy wished he had a Batman or Daredevil to handle these things, hell i'd even go with Judge Dredd at this point.

I mean, would you riot knowing that this man is THE LAW!!!

 

[Jegsimmons]

As a member of the british youth i'm pretty disgusted that such unimformed people exist and that they've used an out of hand conflict as a vechicle for their own mayhem.

I'm not for police violence but sometmes you've got to lay down the law and come down upon those who won't listen with a vey heavy hand.

It's sad when i acttualy wished he had a Batman or Daredevil to handle these things, hell i'd even go with Judge Dredd at this point.

I mean, would you riot knowing that this man is THE LAW!!!

AnthraX Agrees!!!!!

 

[RivFader86]

Water cannons? Those are an actual weapon?

Unfortunately, I see this as a bunch of paranoia after a tragic event. Equipping the police with guns seems like a rash decision, even if they are only rubber bullets. Plus the resources to train all these officers would cost quite a bit, don't you think?

the site is in german but the picture says it all.

http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article10106435/Wasserstrahl-nahm-Demonstrant-das-Augenlicht.html

 

[AndyFromMonday]

examples of protesting accomplishing something?

ummm...look up MLKs biography....thats one...and they were WAY more oppressed than these guys (because they were actually oppressed instead of bullshit excuses like the rich keeping them down.)

or...womens rights movement....

Egypt was fairly peaceful in its protest.

The African American rights movement did have its fair share of violence culminating in the Selma to Montgomery marches. I don't know if the marchers incited violence but what's painfully clear is that the police attacked them, apparently unprovoked. They protested peacefully and were attacked and beaten without mercy by the very people who were supposed to protect their right to protest. The movement also lasted upwards to 70 years which is awfully long.

The women's rights movement is a unique case. It started in the 18th century and it has yet to reach its goal. Whereas the Western world has more or less implemented the ideals of the movement there are still quite a large number of countries who haven't.

The Egyptian's protested? Maybe at first but nothing changed until the protesters turned to violence. The riots, which are still ongoing by the way, were responsible for Mubarak's resignation. Peaceful protesting did jack shit.

But smashing up small businesses and burning down building won't make the rest of the public or the government want to listen to you.

Most countries "behind the Iron Curtain" say otherwise. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring

Riots don't just pop up without a reason.

 

[Jegsimmons]

examples of protesting accomplishing something?

ummm...look up MLKs biography....thats one...and they were WAY more oppressed than these guys (because they were actually oppressed instead of bullshit excuses like the rich keeping them down.)

or...womens rights movement....

Egypt was fairly peaceful in its protest.

The African American rights movement did have its fair share of violence culminating in the Selma to Montgomery marches. I don't know if the marchers incited violence but what's painfully clear is that the police attacked them, apparently unprovoked. They protested peacefully and were attacked and beaten without mercy by the very people who were supposed to protect their right to protest. The movement also lasted upwards to 70 years which is awfully long.

The women's rights movement is a unique case. It started in the 18th century and it has yet to reach its goal. Whereas the Western world has more or less implemented the ideals of the movement there are still quite a large number of countries who haven't.

The Egyptian's protested? Maybe at first but nothing changed until the protesters turned to violence. The riots, which are still ongoing by the way, were responsible for Mubarak's resignation. Peaceful protesting did jack shit.

But smashing up small businesses and burning down building won't make the rest of the public or the government want to listen to you.

Most countries "behind the Iron Curtain" say otherwise. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring

Riots don't just pop up without a reason.

doesnt mean that the peaceful protesting accomplished something, and yes i know about the violence in selma and montgomery because i live in Alabama, and let me say this, the violence from the black panthers did not help their case at all.
the peaceful protest made the biggest impact.

and yes, people riot for no good reason if any at all.

 

[PunkRex]

Yeah, thats a great idea.

It's not bad enough that riots are breaking out in other cities now, lets have more people start more groups to go against them.

Nothing bad could possibly happen.

Lets see, a group of rioters come across a group of people wanting them to stop. We know talking won't work so whats going to happen next?

Yep, you guessed it ..... BIGGER BLOODY FIGHTS.

If these folks rioting don't give a toss about the police what the hell do a group of civi's think they are going to do?

Batter the living day lights out of them.

Have you seen the resistance stories going round. A group of Turkish resturant owners defended their streets for 3 days straight, a group of around 100 Asian men chased a mob of looters around their neighborhood for hours and of course Millwall felt they had to get involved, as they always do, marching from Elton towards Brixton chasing off any rioters (althoguh chances are many of them were doing as a laugh).

I dont want to see anyone get hurt and I definatly dont blame the police for having to hold back (seriously the way police men and women are treated in this country is bloody bad) but people are people and their not going to stand by and let a bunch of angry/greedy idiots take whats rightfully theirs. People are going to get hurt either way, thats what happens during riots, this is just what people do when faced with a threat.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

doesnt mean that the peaceful protesting accomplished something, and yes i know about the violence in selma and montgomery because i live in Alabama, and let me say this, the violence from the black panthers did not help their case at all.
the peaceful protest made the biggest impact.

I'm not saying the peaceful protests did not have an impact but what happened in Montgomery and Selma generated a lot of sympathy for African Americans world wide. That sympathy was a deciding factor.

and yes, people riot for no good reason if any at all.

That's complete and utter bullshit and it shows how little you understand about what sparks a riot.

 

[Kryzantine]

I really cannot see the logic in burning down your own city because a criminal was shot.

This reminds me of the intense rioting back in 2008, I think, in Greece.

Actually, if you look at the two incidents together, this is basically the same exact thing, just not as violent as the 2008 riots.

It's not that the guy was a criminal, it's that he was a youth, at 19 years old, and that people believe he was executed by the police. Although I'm willing to wager the majority of rioters now don't care about that specifically, but that's really the same thing that happened in Athens. A bunch of people see that a kid gets shot by cops, that sets them off on protests, some people start getting violent because they're just fed up with their lives or they've got pent up anger, then a lot of people who initially didn't care too much for the incident start taking their anger out, because once the violence is started, there are far less consequences. Rioting is meant to be illogical. It is supposed to be chaos. There isn't going to be a specific point of contention, the only message that is sent is that the youth want a better life and they want it immediately, something which they rarely actually get. Usually, a riot ends when it ends and people have satiated their anger - unless, of course, this is Greece, in which case rioting has been turned into an art form.

GO BACK TO SLEEP FUCKWHIT HE WAS A 29 YEAR OLD GUN WAVING GANG MEMBER!!!!!

don't defend these people
they. are. scum

Why should I go back to sleep? I live in NYC, I just woke up a few hours ago. It's around noon here. I realize I was mistaken about the man's age, yet 29 is still considered a youth to me, especially if he is on his way to becoming a career criminal. The reports of his death were quite suspicious at first, which makes my point still stand. The fact of the matter is, people were angry at that time and that's all that was needed to light the spark. Once the fire's lit, who cares about the fuel that was used?

And as for defending the rioters, my post was very impersonal and merely aimed to explain the rationale behind such rioting. If you think I am defending the actions of rioters, then you are sadly mistaken. I do, however, refuse to call them scum - are they still not human beings? These are people who have been screwed over one way or another, and we should expect them to revert to crime, because they can't get ahead by playing society's rules. They feel that there is a problem with their society, that they have been left behind, and that their rioting is a means of expressing their issues. Of course I don't like it one bit, and I was against the French riots when this one youth got killed a few years back, but if people feel that peaceful protest is not going to work, then they will revert to violence and there is little that can be done about it. And let's face it, peaceful protest isn't going to work in England. That government just won't listen.

 

[Jegsimmons]

doesnt mean that the peaceful protesting accomplished something, and yes i know about the violence in selma and montgomery because i live in Alabama, and let me say this, the violence from the black panthers did not help their case at all.
the peaceful protest made the biggest impact.

I'm not saying the peaceful protests did not have an impact but what happened in Montgomery and Selma generated a lot of sympathy for African Americans world wide. That sympathy was a deciding factor.

which wouldnt have happened if the protesters were violent.

so really i providing valid examples of peaceful protesting makeing a difference.

so...+1 to me and peaceful protest.

 

[Extravagance]

The riots started for a relativly understandable reason. Now it's just opportunistic looters out to grap a TV while the coppers are somewhere else. I live in Kent, and it's now spread down here by people from London who've noticed that all the police from the surrounding area have gone up to London. So they come down by train or car and start burning things.
Half the time it's local buisness, not big chain stores. This isn't some communist uprising against an oppressive capitalist regime, it's a load of complete bastards out to grab what they can while they're the least likely to get caught. Watch the video of a tourist who's been attacked being helped up by a group of guys who then rob him. There's rioting for a cause, and there's rioting just because you can and nobody is around to stop you, and this is a case of the later. This is not a civil uprising. This is not a one sided argument because I have internet access; Rioters are using blackberry messanger, facebook and Twitter to organise looting sessions. I may have some free time, but I work 6 days a week to pay the rent and bills, and only just. But I'm not rioting on the streets.

 

[MrJKapowey]

Please provide an example of ANYTHING being changed or influenced by a peaceful demonstration.

I changed my policies in Tropico to prevent a rebellion. Does that count?

No? How about these: Selma, Montgomery, Washington, Montgomery (again) and Birmingham

OT: Good luck to all those people clearing up. Guess what I'd be doing tomorrow if High Wycombe erupted tonight?