Riots, Riots and more Riots!
In the last few days in London here in the UK, we have seen numerous riots involving what appears to be young people both white and ethnic. They have set buildings, cars and even a bus on fire, and have smashed dozens of shop windows and looted the contents. Although the police have been doing their best to calm the situation it still continues. Many hundreds of people have been arrested and even a case of attempted murder is being dealt with.
Yesterday the riots spread across London and into other cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool Nottingham and Bristol. The Prime Minister is apparently considering bringing the army in to assist the police to keep control.
The riots started in Tottenham after a man was stopped and searched and nothing was found. He was taking part in a peaceful march and demonstration about an incident when Mark Duggan was fatally shot by the police last Thursday.
The question that we must all ask ourselves is why these people in Tottenham reacted in the way they did. Sadly people do get injured even fatally when they are involved in some confrontation with the police. After all the police are trying to do their job and it is not their desire that people should get hurt, but to resolve problems peacefully.
It appears that many of the people in Tottenham are not happy with the way they are generally treated by the police. This area has a lot of problems and has a high level of ethnic people but why do some of these people feel that they are being badly treated by the police?
Well I’m sure we all have our opinion as to why they feel this way. Is it actually true? Do the police stop and search more people with an ethnic background that those who are white? Perhaps it is because the levels of poverty in these areas are worse than in other places. Is it something to do with poverty? Is it a reflection on the unemployed?
Well of course we can speculate as much as we want. We can listen to the opinions of people from all sector and areas. We can even form our own opinions … but as so often happens, the real reason does not come out until much later.
It is important that we do not mix up all the other riots with what happened in Tottenham. That was where it all started and where the problem lies. The other riots probably started for other reasons but happened because there was an excuse to riot!
Now we all know that the police will step in if something has happened. We might not see this happening in our cities or towns, possible because we have no reason to attract the attention of the police. If the police are stopping and searching individuals then there has to be a reason! If I was stopped and searched because of something that had happened I’d be pleased to know that the police were doing their job. If it happened repeatedly then perhaps I would feel differently.
It is a bit like terrorists, they carry out their atrocities because of what they believe. I think that the truth is that a majority of people just want a peaceful life. These terrorists and rioters have a problem that they can’t seem to resolve. Maybe the authorities should talk to their representative to establish what the real issues are. Once they have been identified then they can be resolved. After all if the police kept picking on us for some reason, perhaps because we are white, we would start asking why they kept doing this! If we are suspected of carrying out specific crimes then we should expect nothing less!
Are these poor and ethnic populations being targeted because they are involved in crimes? Is it a fact that these people are more likely to carry out criminal offences than those who are better off? Is it right that people should riot, set homes on fire, damage property of other residents, and steal from stores they have smashed their way into?
Of course not!
The vast majority of us are appalled at these riots, but what alternative do these people have?
