Well that was an interesting night. Stayed up until 2am nervously until it was obvious that things had quieted down enough to go to bed.
Once dark fell crowds of shady looking 'kids' (I'd say generally aged 15-25) started to congregate up and down my street, where we had just moved into a top floor flat on Saturday. There was a certain buzz in the air and although they pulled their hoods over their heads it seemed that they were waiting for something to happen to kick it all off.
Soon a police presence made itself known and when this group of 15 kids were standing shadily directly below our windows a bus full of cops pulled over to stop & search them. Finding nothing they just carried on their way.
It seemed inevitable that this mob of kids, many of whom were texting on their blackberries and talking on their phones, would ransack one of the many shops on my street as they seemed to be sizing up the three shoe stores, the Sainsbury's (booze), the Boots (drugs), and the Snappy Snaps (cameras).
The shop below our flat is a hair salon which while not particularly good for looting had a great big plate glass window that could look fun/easy to smash and since people were lighting random fires around town we had a bit of an irrational fear that if they broke in they could set our building ablaze.
But none of that happened, at least not in our stretch of the road, because we had a stronger police presence in Fulham than was reported in many other places in London. At one point we had a line of riot police sweep down the street. One alarming thing was to see four police cars/buses speeding down our road with lights and sirens in one direction and less than a minute later to see the same number going back in the other direction at high speed (I don't know if they were the same ones or different).
We could smell smoke in the air and today there are reports that there were fires just up our road at the council flats and that police had faced a hail of missiles up there. Also, right around the corner from us, there was a burned out car at Fulham Broadway. There are also stories of muggings and robberies in the neighbourhood (a Michelin-starred restaurant in Notting Hill got looted and all the diners robbed). On our street things seemed to get eerily quiet at about 2am and that was about it for the night.
Clapham Junction, where I travel through every day, is completely trashed--the department store lay in ruins and the costume shop where I bought my Halloween outfit last year has been burned down.
A friend of ours in Woolwich was in tears all night as it was struck really hard with random fires all over the place. She was worried her block of flats would be burned down.
I've never experienced anything like it. It's real tragedy.
I will say though that the people doing this, at least in my area, have in more in common in terms of socio-economic status rather than race. There were plenty of chavvy white losers shouting at the police and kicking shopfronts on my street. Also there were a number of girls involved as well (I saw one girl cramming a brand new pair of running shoes into a bag). These crowds are just underprivileged kids looking for a good time and maybe some free stuff, there is no lofty political motivation here. They also think they have safety in numbers, that if all of their peers are doing it why not join in.
Anyway, let's hope there is a massive crackdown tonight and that I can go to bed in peace.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
And, London is Burning, London doesnt possess burning.
/Grammar Nazi.
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Fail.