My Country Is Going To Hell!

[maly]

And my city is burning! How did it all lead to this?

My heart feels very heavy.

Mal.

[ldatsea]

it is sad that people will use whatever excuse in order to get free stuff or just cause mayhem Humans are stupid beings.... I am sorry for you and your city but it takes decent people standing up to the mindless masses... the people involved are almost certainly all young people that have no clue as is always the case.

[sarah_ab]

I read about this last night on the news... or was it saturday night... but i am very sorry for all those who have been unintentionally caught up and affected byt he rioting...

the worst part is. the first ones to start the violence went to the protest with the intent of starting violence, no matter what happened.....

[maly]

Croydon is burning! Law and order is breaking down

Mal.

[DailyDi]

Very sad indeed, had to log onto BBC news to get real coverage of it other than a few seconds in the states.

[babymarie123]

me can't believe this is happening - i'm near da bromley area and discovered it on the news!!!! This is really harsh, i hope something can be done about this Soon!!! I must admit that all this is rather scareying me. Can't believe its happening!!!

[freswith]

My cousin in Croydon is reporting cars on fire and shops being looted in the street outside her flat. She is terrified.

[LilFozzyJ5]

its not big and its not clever, they need to round these arseholes up and deal with them.

Bring in the military to help the police (Without rifles of course).

[jbz2079]

Very scary I agree, and I in no way condone what's going on, but I think it's time our Government stopped and had a good think about what's actually going on.

There is a lot of very unhappy people all with pent up anger about how the Goverment is screwing them into the ground to amed a situation created by the city, bankers and the Government themselves.

It could get very ugly.

[redneck diaper boy]

I am curious. Do law enforcement officals, in the UK, carry firearms? Somewhere I heard that they only carry clubs.

As for the violence, it is comming to the US. The US credit rating just got dropped so some social programs will have to do with less. When this happens, there will me anarchy here.

[Zander]

These are not political protests etc. purely criminal acts: arsonists, vandals and thieves. Some people were/are living in some of those buildings which were set ablaze. Hundreds of cars have been burnt out and hundreds of shops have been totally trashed and looted. Peoples homes are also being broken into and people have been mugged. News reporters and camera crews have been attacked and beaten. Some of the descriptions of "it's like a warzone" seem reasonably accurate.

Map of the London Riots

(this reporter has some real balls. His colleagues were being attacked in other areas and he goes out in the thick of it filming and talking to looters.)

In pictures: London riots: Third night of unrest

In pictures: Riot in Tottenham, north London

London riots: terrified woman jumps from burning building

LIVE Coverage: From the BBC

Sony Distribution Centre set ablaze (this is a huge site - 700 people [used to] work here (NB: The caption in the pic is wrong. Its not Sainsbury's, its Sony):

Do law enforcement officals, in the UK, carry firearms? Somewhere I heard that they only carry clubs.

No, UK police do not routinely carry firearms - IIRC only about 1 in 5 are even authorised to carry them (in the UK they are called "Authorised Firearms Officers") and they require very special circumstances to be allowed to deploy. Batons and CS-gas/pepper-spray and speed-cuffs are standard issue. Riot cops have a shield, helmet, baton and "fire-proofed" clothes.

[Zander]

Apparently you can only put two images in each post. Which is, frankly, crap. Here are links to some others:

http://news.bbcimg.c...012622313-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...y_burnt_car.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012621868-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012621698-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012621487-1.jpg

http://news.bbcimg.c...012621499-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012621538-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012621424-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...0842_de27-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012621242-1.jpg

http://news.bbcimg.c...0824_de40-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012620621-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...012620932-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...slilymartin.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...0777_de23-1.jpg

http://news.bbcimg.c...012620653-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...0753_de27-1.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...shamleeleeg.jpg http://news.bbcimg.c...651_ico46-1.jpg

[sarah_ab]

Typical british police do not carry firearms, they have special squads that do carry firearms and are used in certain instances, but if you got pulled over for speeding say, typically no the police would not have a gun on them....

[babymarie123]

Things are happening near me now with looters in da shops, Honestly why us? Just hope things are going to calm down! i dont like being scared.

[belinda_sue_fox]

Typical british police do not carry firearms, they have special squads that do carry firearms and are used in certain instances, but if you got pulled over for speeding say, typically no the police would not have a gun on them....

Yes we have special squads of officers who has a stiff upper lip.

Also, as always onions help in this matter. They carry raw onions and when there is a riot they half peel them and throw them into the crowd to disperse them.

[square_duck]

Man this sucks! I do hope people over there who are on this site as well remain safe.

I concur with what Sarah said, this is all a bunch of stuff done by criminals and wanna be anarchists for their own benefit.

this kind of thing happened here many years ago, with the Hollywood / LA riots. It was mostly gang bangers and idiots who just wanted to do whatthey wanted and destroy and steal as much as possible because they are animals and really don't deserve to live in a civilized society.

It could also be terrorists trying to start some kind of social uprising etc. Alqueda and such (how ever it's spelled)

Anyways, stay safe and do what you can to stay out of harms way. personal property and belongings (mostly) can be replaced...*YOU* can't.

Best wishes to everyone over there, and remember keep that traditional British stiff upper lip.

[AutieAB]

Fucking yobs. I mean, seriously. WTF?!

I am curious. Do law enforcement officals, in the UK, carry firearms? Somewhere I heard that they only carry clubs.

Most don't as has been said but the spark that started this whole thing was a police-involved fatal shooting in London. As far as I can tell, it was a case of what would be termed "suicide by cop" in America in that he fired at armed police officers who were trying to arrest him (on a firearms investigation). Officers who, with considerably more training (they were from CO19 - an elite firearms unit, basically SWAT) and more powerful weapons (MP5s vs an unspecified handgun) than their assailant, returned fire with predictable results. Police shootings in the UK are incredibly rare (compared to the United States), are always contentious and there are always protests and large scale independent investigations afterwards but if the way it's being portrayed in the press is correct, their actions seemed to be justified in this case. He was clearly placing the officer's lives in immediate danger.

So it kinda leads to the conclusion that, as sarah_ab said, the hooligans who started all this shit infiltrated the protestors with the intent of rioting for their own reasons. They should be thrown behind bars and left there for a very long time. Their true motivations beyond sheer malice don't seem to really be known. At least, after all my digging through the press coverage today, they aren't saying very much about motive.

[Jen's Baby]

I'm ashamed to share a country with these asshats... :'(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gex_ya4-Oo

[AutieAB]

I'm ashamed to share a country with these asshats... :'(

That's pretty much how I'm feeling. I'm ashamed to share my citizenship with them

[Jen's Baby]

I understand the initial peaceful protest, but this now seems to have exploded into looting for the heck of it :-(

[warpiper]

my sister on here got hurt because of these riots. they shattered her leg and possibly fractured her skull. if you see someone matching the description of asshat who knocks a tiny girl down and breaks her leg, please pick them up and snap them across your knee like a toothpick.

thanks,

-piper

[warpiper]

lilshybaby was hurt. really badly. and I'm not one to ask people to say prayers or anything, i'm not really religious. but i'm going to say a prayer for her, she needs someone looking out for her. and if i'm going to say one, you blokes sure as hell better say one too. so do it. right now. and say a prayer for lilshybaby.

-piper

[square_duck]

lilshybaby was hurt. really badly. and I'm not one to ask people to say prayers or anything, i'm not really religious. but i'm going to say a prayer for her, she needs someone looking out for her. and if i'm going to say one, you blokes sure as hell better say one too. so do it. right now. and say a prayer for lilshybaby.

-piper

[Diapered Jason]

it is sad that people will use whatever excuse in order to get free stuff or just cause mayhem Humans are stupid beings.... I am sorry for you and your city but it takes decent people standing up to the mindless masses... the people involved are almost certainly all young people that have no clue as is always the case.

Hypocrite. Assumption is at the vary core of cluelessness. Perhaps maybe you would like to consider a rogue group of anarchists.

Of course this is a tragedy, but lets not label such a large group of people in the aftermath, or we would be as guilty as those who killed Muslim Americans post 9/11 or more sadly, Sikh taxi drivers, because some group of idiots could not tell the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim.

[Rihanna]

its not big and its not clever, they need to round these arseholes up and deal with them.

Bring in the military to help the police (Without rifles of course).

"You" in the UK are of a different culture. I don't care for your "without rifles" comment. Here in the US, firearms are what keeps us free! A few rifles shown or used would quickly put an end to the situation. (This includes shotguns w/rubber or bean bag ammo.)

I could go into a multi page tirade. Suffice to say that the UK & Canadian laws have been so degraded that the criminals have more "rights/protection" than the victim. A close friend was carjacked in Windsor. The mulatto bitch that did it ripped chunks of hair off my friend. My friend fought back to a point until the bitch got the upper hand and she & the car was gone. Found out later that if she had been successful in fending off the bitch, she could have been prosecuted for assault, even though she was trying to protect her property & life.

!