jsmith

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14438109

Like the US, the UK has massive unemployment of minority youth. What do we do?

latedaytraveler

JSmith, scary stuff - Tottenham in North London is just 6 miles north of Charing Cross had to check out the location on line.

PatrickLondon

>>Tottenham in North London is just 6 miles north of Charing Cross <<

But in socio-political terms, we are talking hundreds of miles. Don't imagine this is going to happen in Trafalgar Square. Like other countries, we have had disturbances of this kind before, and they tend to stay very localised, if only because if there is any organising principle, it's associated with the territoriality and limited horizons of young men's gangs. They're angry with the local police.

avalon

Looked more like an excuse for looting and typical yob behaviour than any political or enviromental statement

jamikins

Embarrassing and a horrible thing - but agree with PatrickLondon - this isnt anywhere near 99% of tourists would be - you wont notice a difference at all.

xyz123

Little pos's with the hoods over their heads and the works. It has nothing to do with a political protest; it's an excuse to loot and throw rocks and all the other stuff going on. They should be thankful they live in a free society and take advantage of their right to protest but not the rest of this garbage. I don't want to hear excusers about unemployment or lack of this and lack of that.

BTW on the Sunday news on the BBC, there was some talk of some vandalism although not to the degree in other places at Oxford Circus....ouch.

xyz123

Just go to skynews.com and look right at the top of the story looking at these animals kicking in the glass of a store so they can loot. It's sad when it happens anywhere and in the next day I hope we don't hear the usual excuses and how they hate the police which gives them the right to loot steal and maim.

xyz123

Just go to skynews.com and look right at the top of the story looking at these animals kicking in the glass of a store so they can loot. It's sad when it happens anywhere and in the next day I hope we don't hear the usual excuses and how they hate the police which gives them the right to loot steal and maim.

alanRow

The IQ of a mob is inversely proportional to the size of the mob. These folk have just pissed in their own food.

madamtrashheap

This is not the first time there has been unrest in Tottenham due to the police vs estates - the mid 1980s saw riots breakout in the same area (look up Broadwater Estate for the full story) after a woman died of a stroke during a police search of her home (a family member was the target of the search). This event sparked further distrust and resentment of the community against the police and they protested outside the same police station as this Saturday just gone. They were joined by more and more people and eventually riot police were called into combat the "youth element" as they were becoming violent. This escalated in to full blown rioting, petrol bombing, brick throwing and then the knives and guns came out and a police constable was killed by a mob chasing the retreating police (and fire brigade) when he fell. It was all about social intergration of the police, or lack thereof, then, and it is again now. That's what gets people angry. It's just unfortunate that the wanton and aimless majority latch on to an issue that needs addressing just for the sake of mindless destruction.

Whilst things may have started off as a protest of conscience (outside the police station) this time, they soon degenerated into anger. The destruction of property and looting seems to have become a by-product of many demonstrations of late. Remember the anti-war (Irag) protest of 2003 in London? Was huge, but relatively calm with no destruction of property (save a few flower beds). Unlike last year's "student" protests which turned violent with looting all over the centre. And the G20 protests of 2009. The last two are when we started to hear more about the process of "kettling" used to control large groups of protesters.

The fact that this time looting and violence has broken out in Brixton (on a larger scale, Oxford Street was 50 "copycat" tossers trying to get in on the act) shows it's an excuse to run riot (literally) rather than make any statement about the way police act. It's not on the scale or with the same intent as the riots in Brixton in the 1980s, but people will make the link now that things have sparked again in south London. If you know Brixton (I lived there until the start of this year and never had any issues), the Foot Locker and Vodafone shops were vandalised/set fire to and they tried to break in to loot the Curry's 9electrical goods) store up the road.

Often the original protest theme gets hijacked by those intent on causing unrest and rumours spread about why something happened (ie why someone was shot, run over, arrested, etc) until the truth is no longer known and the only reason many are there is to cause destruction and to be seen to rail against the establishment without a clue of why they are angry.

MissPrism

From Guardian:
But this is only one side of the story. A woman approached me to speak, explaining – without being prompted – how a peaceful demonstration against last week's fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by police had turned to this.

There were others, too, trying to stop the violence. A young man in his 20s, waving his arms in the air, strode down the street, shouting: "Time to go home! Time to go home!" Another argued with a group, telling them the looting was not helping".

kerouac

While looting is always deplorable, it is certainly not surprising in societies where all of the latest technological gadgets are presented as 'musts' in order to exist in modern social spheres. The companies spend millions convincing consumers that they cannot live without this stuff.

LondonYank

Um, they looted a carpeting and area rug store?

kerouac

From what I saw, they just burned it. It must have smelled horrible.

nona1

On the one hand I do feel sorry for the youths who grow up on these estates, they are pretty much guaranteed to turn into criminal underclass scumbag types, sorry, but that's true. You can look at a toddler and think 'poor little sod hasn't got a hope'. You can't help think that the sort of parents who feel it's a good idea to raise a family there aren't the sort of parents kids really need. Even a decent family has an almost impossible job.

On the other hand, there's no excuse for being a criminal underclass scumbag type.

You are getting free education up till age 18 - make use of it.
There are all sorts of community actions and groups trying to make a difference - make use of them.

People are so passive about their lives. If you have the misfortune to be born there, fight to get out, don't fight each other.

nona1

jsmith - I don't think it's so much that it is minority youths in these areas that have high unemployment - it's that ALL youths in these areas have high employment but due to 'white flight' it's mostly BME families there now.

Again, completely fail to understand why new immigrants move to these areas when they could move in anywhere...why pick a dangerous slum to come and start a new life in? That may sound simplistic but whenever I ask that I'm told 'they go there because they can find work' or 'they go there because they can afford it'. anywhere outside of London is still cheaper, and I thought the main problem with these areas is the lack of work? Can't get my head round it at all. I know lots of immigrants, and they wouldn't have gone to live round there if you'd given them a million pounds. You can't save people from making dumb decisions.

qwovadis

Xenophobia from the ruling class

and the Yard enforcement over the years along

with economic disenfranchisement has bred

Xenophobia and anger among the recipients.

Jobs Jobs Jobs should be the focus and solution there

And elsewhere worldwide .

Dr_DoGood

It's interesting how the story of the original shooting incident is beginning to change;

Innitially we were being told - by The Met. - that Mark Duggan was shot in response to shots fired at police officers who stopped the minicab in which he was a passenger. Indeed the life of one officer was only spared when his radio (worn on his breast in the UK) stopped a bullet fired by Duggan in which it lodged.

Now we're hearing ballistics tests have determined that the bullet recovered from the radio was infact poice issued ammunition shot from a police issue weapon, a weapon which at all times remained in control of the police. In fact it has not been established whether Duggan fird any shots <i>nor was even in possession</i> of a firearm.

I have no wish to give rioters any excuse nor anyway condone their actions. However The Metropolitain Police have an issue - it's been longstanding and they've singularly failed to grasp the nettle: Their first version of any high profile event rarely jives with the actual facts which become known over subsequent days and in the ensuing investigation. Think Jean Charles De Menezes, the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests, The NotW phone Hacking investigation... Many Londoners simply do not trust The Met's first version of events on any issue.

They're going to have to work hard to remedy that perspective - maybe thay could start by declining to make any comments beyond the blandest of blandishments and specifically not rushing to justify their officers' use of deadly force until after the inevitable investigation.

Dr D.

willit

I agree with DrD. It has becoming increasingly difficult to believe anything that comes out of the Met at the moment, so any rumour is likely to be given credence.

willit

The riotiing and looting did seem to be opportunistic after a peaceful protest. I am also wondering how many of those involved were immigrants, and how many were born here.

I tend to agree with "underclass" idea. We have enough people like that around here: No education, no ambition, no interest in working, bringing their kids up the same way.