Riots in north London

[PlasmaCow]

I would like to point out I now retract my statement of two days ago.

Also, this:
http://photo.wenn.com/index.php?action= ... ersion=int

[Psyclone]

Christ, guys, stay safe. Why can't you just riot like Seattleites and dress up as sea turtles and block traffic?

[empath]

*meditates, prays to whatever entity might be listening and tries to focus positive mojo for a relatively safe and peaceful resolution to this surprisingly sudden upwelling of unrest*



Well, I'm gonna react to a profoundly unsettling and worrying situation that I cannot do anything tangible to help or diffuse the only way my barely-sane brain knows how:

with humour.



Be safe, everyone.

[Deedles]

This is just scary ... Stay safe.

[JustAName]

What she said ^

[tak197]

Stay safe, LRRndon and UK Runners!

As for Graham and Kathleen, I wouldn't be surprised if they left London a day or two after this all started. I mean, as our own street gang, we RUN. It's how we DO.

[epocalypse]

I would like to point out I now retract my statement of two days ago.

Also, this:
http://photo.wenn.com/index.php?action= ... ersion=int

...
Crap.

where's a police box when you need one?

[JackSlack]

You know what's intelligent? This. This is intelligent.

[thatlaurachick]

You know what's intelligent? This. This is the general intelligence of the populace.

FTFY.

[Lyinginbedmon]

I will not give credence to such hooliganism by fearing it.

If anything, it is now even more important that we meet up in LRRndon, to secure greater safety for our foreign visitors, and if this chaos spreads further, for eachother.

[PlasmaCow]

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/0 ... riots.html
Some good pictures of the action and aftermath, the biggest blaze that features in a number of photographs was a commercial building with a large carpet shop on the ground floor, hence the massive blaze.

Also, this is what most british people would be doing given the chance, as the rioters are just idiotic thugs who care not one jot about the bloke that got shot.

And just to demonstrate the level of intelligence of London rioters and looters:

"A woman was arrested yesterday for looting the Currys electrical store that she works in while still wearing her Currys uniform.

[madrak_the_red]

Okay, so I went out shopping today, to get some food, clothes, shelves and so on. It was really, powerfully unpleasant. I went to Purley (which is just down the road from croydon) and half the shops were closed and boarded up. There were very few people about. Everyone seemed tense, and there were police helicopters buzzing about. I have never seen London like this. Fuck you, rioters. Fuck you right in your spoilt entitled society.

Edit: oh yeah, and apparently their looting and rioting in tooting and croydon, according to people I know in tooting and croydon

[Lyinginbedmon]

I don't think they're spoiled, or feeling entitled. I think they're just idiots, who saw the initial riot on TV with some feeble reasons behind it and thought that was their chance to go have "a right scrum".

[madrak_the_red]

I think idiots always feel entitled to something. I think this goes beyond just pure hooliganism.

[Metcarfre]

To wit: If the Arab revolts were "obviously" political in nature, how then are the London riots being so easily dismissed?

[madrak_the_red]

They're rioting over a gangster being shot by the police. There is nothing oppressing people in this country to the extent that rioting is necessary. They aren't rioting over democracy, a raise in taxes, or even a raise in student fees (like they were earlier this year). That is why I can dismiss them so easily.

[Metcarfre]

Aren't they?

[Theremin]

How do you know?

The original protest is completely unconnected to the people who are now rioting in all the major cities. They have no representative, so any assumptions about their motives you make are pure conjecture, and I can dismiss them easily.

[madrak_the_red]

Okay, they haven't come out with any motive other than 'let's break shit'.

[Theremin]

Or even that.

And that's still assuming that everyone involved is doing it for the same reasons.

[madrak_the_red]

Which they aren't, I'd wager.

Oh also, another reason this has got me so annoyed: this is not the british way of doing things, goddammit.

[WBAGNR]

Which they aren't, I'd wager.

Oh also, another reason this has got me so annoyed: this is not the british way of doing things, goddammit.

That's because these people don't identify themselves as British/ English. They just live here.

(This is not an immigration related post, I genuinely doubt most of the people in these riots care about where they live or this country, or anything other than themselves)

[Metcarfre]

Oh sweet, racism.

Now THAT'S proper British.

[WBAGNR]

No, that's not racism.

What I was trying to say was that for many of these youths, asian, black, white, whatever, they don't have the same bonds to their city, community and country as we do, hence why they have no problem smashing it up!

[Theremin]

You mean they're disenfranchised, I think.