Riot (for fairly limited values of riot)

[ffutures]

This morning I told some worried friends that there had been no problems in this part of London, but I spoke too soon - apparently there was a group of a couple of hundred who met up in Bishops Bridge Road, tried to knock people off motorbikes and steal them, then did some window smashing and looting in Queensway, which is a few hundred yards away, but I only heard about it after I'd left home this morning and I've been off-line all day.

There was some noise and police sirens around eleven last night, and my bike alarm went off and when I looked outside someone ran off from the front garden, but I'd assumed it was just the usual drunks etc. and someone thinking he could take a pee in the garden. But my guess now is that it was someone running from the police, who ran off because he thought the alarm would attract attention (it didn't, apart from me looking out of the kitchen window).

Just to make it clear, for anyone who was wondering - this is not politically motivated, it's just a bunch of people who think that they can get away with a bit of quick looting if they go in mob handed and start a few fires etc. while they're doing it. The people involved don't live here. Since they are in it for the money, and there is going to be a BIG police crackdown, it really isn't going to last.

Comments

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

Glad your bike is still there. Hope tonight is the turning point.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

So do I, I really don't need crap like this.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Do you have somewhere else you can park your bike just in case trouble comes to your area tonight?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

No, but it's chained and locked, and I suspect they'll go somewhere else anyway - everywhere they hit last night is now boarded up, and there aren't any more of the sort of shops they hit in the immediate vicinity.

And my guess is that the police will have GCHQ reading a significantly large portion of the text messages posted in the UK over the next few days - the next lot to try this will be in deep shit.

[dandello.livejournal.com]

Not to downplay the seriousness of this - especially so close to you - but I'm reminded of the LA 'race' riots way back when. LA, then Portland... Seattle...? Well the mayor of Seattle (who was black) and the Police Chief (who was Irish-American) stood together at a news conference and declared that it was all hooliganism and Seattle wasn't going to put up with any hooliganism. Period.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I was reading something earlier that the BLackberry people are going to make messanger logs available to the police too, to help track the people who were using Blackberries to orchestrate the riots.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Almost certainly - but I'd imagine they're using intercepts too.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Meep.

Stay safe.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Doing my best.

[mkillingworth.livejournal.com]

Sounds like your bike is well secured. I suspect your visitor was trying to "liberate" it. Stay in and stay safe.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

May have been a theft attempt, no way to tell.

[kd2.livejournal.com]

Marcus,

I feel your view of political motivation is a little narrow.All our actions are a statement of our view of society; all are political, some are Political. Mass replicated copy-cat crimes (whether that be passing off sub-prime mortgages as triple A bonds or serial looting) tend towards the latter. Some reflect our contempt of society, others the contempt we perceive society to have of us.

KD2

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I agree entirely - most of this seems to have been done out of boredom / thrill seeking, not through any sort of economic or social need. You read what people involved have said about it, the predominant attitude seems to have been that they went along with their friends for a bit of "fun"

[kd2.livejournal.com]

I concur that there was not a coherent expression of an underlying political philosophy. However, the readiness of thousands of people to undertake criminal activity at the drop of a hat shows a relationship to society, particularly the commercial and law enforcement elements, that is seriously at odds with the current parliamentary political hegemony.