So for the last couple of nights London has been burning and there are lots of people asking why, I doubt there will ever be an answer that is satisfactory but there are a few things worth thinking about.
The catalyst
While there is no excuse for the destruction and lawlessness of the last couple of nights the starting catalyst was the death of Mark Duggan in a police operation and that police operation & its outcome is under investigation at this time and just what happened is not public at this time. What is public is that Mark Duggan according to the Guardian was carrying a converted handgun capable of firing real ammunition.
The article reads: It is understood that ballistics experts have established that the firearm being carried in the minicab was a handgun which at one point had not been capable of firing – a replica, a starting pistol or a collector’s weapon. But the firearm had been converted – as many illegal firearms purchased on the street are – into a lethal weapon capable of carrying live ammunition.
It will be interesting to see how this progresses.
The Protest
As you would expect with the death of an individual the family and community felt the need to do something, so they went on a very peaceful march to the local police station to ask for answers but appeared to have been ignored at the doors, and after a time the protest turned into a riot. It must be said that the family has come out very strongly saying that the riot & violence is not something they wanted or want to see.
The Riot turning into riots.
After the protest turned into a riot the idea spread throughout London, and last night spread to Bristol (who where all ready having issues), Nottingham, Liverpool and Birmingham. The main City’s ate also giving way to small scale disturbances in Rainham, Dartford, Chatham and Gillingham in Kent as people take the opportunity to join in copy the bad behaviour.
Small numbers
If you go away from the main riots you read about small groups running rings around the police, they appear to be much more fluid and better organised than the police using all technology at their disposal to appear and just a quickly melt into the background. Typical gorilla army tactics that are very hard to combat.
The Police
Today all I have heard is where are the police? One very distressing story was told on the radio this morning of a young lady that was woken up at 04:00 by a few people in her room looking for her bag luckily for her once they found it they went away and she was unharmed, there are many stories about shops being looted without the police being anywhere near and people are calling for water cannons, shoot to kill and the army to be deployed on the streets.
The Police are being held up as a failure as they have been unable to hold the streets and they have no control over the mob.
The Police only have control over the masses when we the people decide that the rule of law is more important than mob rule.
While I am sure the Police have made mistakes over the last few nights this situation is not their fault. The Police only form one part of a community and it is never the police that are able to keep people in check they can only ever react to past events and sadly when second’s count the police are only minutes away.
The police had over 20,000 calls last night, what did people expect them to do?
What next?
Well this is the question of the moment, what will happen tonight will the destruction continue as it was or will it become bigger with more areas consumed in the madness? As with all riots this will run its course and come to an end, it is only a matter of time. Quite what is left standing at the need is a different question.
Will we do down the route of repression? Water cannons and the army may help regain control for a short time but we need to be careful of begin too oppressive as this will cause more problems that it may solve.
What laws will be passed? Do we need new laws or do we need to enforce the ones we have? Will we become more oppressed as a result?
Looking at the catalyst it appears that Mark Duggan had an illegal functioning firearm, the laws in the United Kingdom at very tight and only the law abiding will abide by them so banning firearms again will stop such a situation from starting up again.
Looking at the police will people begin to be more realistic as to what the police are capable off and just what is expected of them? Will people call for more police or more rights to protect themselves do we have the cash for more police or is it desirable to live in a state where the police have such numbers that they can overwhelm the people they serve.
How do we rebuild the broken communities and strengthen the communities that exist ensuring that there is a backbone of Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters & friends that will not allow the individuals they love to become part of the mob.
We cannot blame the police for all of this we must look to our communities and the people who are breaking the law and ask why?
• Too many laws?
• The wrong laws?
• Too much dependency?
• Too easy to say it is someone else’s fault?
• No consequences to actions?
• No respect for the police or our leaders?
There are so many questions that need to be looked at; the next few months will be interesting.
