Some, including former London mayor Ken Livingstone, suggested that the Tottenham riot was an unleashing of pent-up resentment over the weak economy, high unemployment rates and historically deep budget cuts that are decreasing government funding for poor communities and grass-roots charities. He blamed a sense that young Britons are facing “the bleakest future.”
“This is the first generation since the Great Depression that have doubts about their future,” he told the BBC.
Police in London arrested more than 160 people over the weekend after two nights of rioting that left several neighborhoods seriously damaged. Dozens of officers were injured. (Aug. 8)
But others — including Britain’s coalition government — denounced the spreading riots as an extraordinary rampage of opportunistic criminality after the Tottenham unrest. Unlike the protests by anarchists in December that included vandalism of central London businesses, those participating in riots in the past 48 hours showed no signs of trying to make a political statement.
The unrest left residents and shopkeepers in parts of the city barring their doors or leaving besieged neighborhoods. In Hackney, a neighborhood not far from the new Olympic Park, which has become a showcase for a city trying to turn the Games into an opportunity for urban redevelopment, riots erupted in the late afternoon. A line of police officers with plastic shields cordoned off a commercial artery that had effectively been taken over by masked looters, who broke shop windows and seemed to steal indiscriminately.
“The crimes are being committed, and the police are just standing by,” said Andrew Faris, director of Rhythms of Life International, a homeless shelter near the center of the Hackney riots. “People are scared. There are angry young people doing whatever they want. How can this be happening next door to the Olympic site?”
The unrest in Hackney, which seemed to start the rapid spread of violence Monday, began in the late afternoon, reportedly after police stopped and searched a young man.
Police officials said they were deploying extra officers to the streets, but their restraint — television images showed them watching from a distance as looters made away with merchandise — gave rise to sharp criticism from some quarters. Officials said they had arrested 334 people and charged 69. The ages of those arrested ranged from 11 to 49, although most were in their teens and 20s.
Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh told reporters that the force had deployed “significant resources” on the streets but did not disclose the actual number of officers. Police threatened to arrest those spreading messages inciting violence on Twitter and other social networking sites.
“When we have large numbers of criminals intent on that type of violence, we can only do that — get lots of officers there quickly and try to protect local businesses and local people,” Kavanagh said.
British Home Secretary Theresa May, the cabinet minister in charge of the police, publicly defended the force, saying law enforcement authorities were doing everything they could.
May rejected assertions that the youths had any political motivation. “There is no excuse for violence, there is no excuse for looters, there is no excuse for thuggery on our streets,” she said. “And those responsible will be brought to justice.”
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