This is a slightly surreal experience. I’m sitting in my living room in my quiet corner of south-west England, with the cat asleep on my lap, watching live TV pictures from London, about 100 miles or a two-hour drive away. The pictures, mostly helicopter shots, are of gangs of youths swarming around burning buildings. Most of the buildings are shops from which the gangs have already looted everything of value. Above many of the shops are apartments, the occupants of which have hopefully long since fled.
In some areas police riot squads move in to drive the mobs away, and firefighters arrive to try and tackle the fires. In other places the police are nowhere to be seen, and the buildings are left to burn. Imagine the LA riots intercut with scenes from the London Blitz. If it’s not live on TV in the US yet, I imagine it soon will be. In the meantime the BBC’s website is a good a place as any for updates.
The first outbreaks of violence, on Saturday night, were peripherally connected to the shooting of a man by police last week, but more about that another time. Things have escalated by an order of magnitude tonight, with violence breaking out in various parts of the capital. Saturday’s riots, and Sunday’s copy-cat violence, were mere scuffles compared to what I, and probably millions of other TV viewers, are watching unfold right now. There are also reports of violence in Birmingham, England’s second city. And it’s only just getting dark here. People’s homes and businesses are being destroyed, and I’m very afraid that someone will be dead by the morning.
I’d planned to write a post about how the hand-wringing liberals and self-appointed ‘community leaders’ have spent the last two days making excuses for the rioters – the usual crap about boredom, lack of opportunity, ‘heavy handed’ policing and so on. But it’s not worth bothering with those idiots just now, and with several parts of the capital in flames the news channels seem to have wisely decided to stop letting those individuals run their stupid mouths.
The Prime Minister is on his way back from holiday. Another politician has just been on the BBC urging parents to phone their children and “tell them to come home”, but something tells me that the rioters are some way past listening to their mothers (I’m assuming that in many cases there’s no father to answer to).
An Irish guy with a colourful turn of phrase was just speaking to the BBC on the phone. He was holed up in his pub with, among others, a 90-year-old woman who’d popped in for a cup of tea, and was desperately worried about his young children. He said he hopes the rioters “rot in hell”. I think most of Britain will agree with him.
I’ll update later if there are significant developments.
Update: Midnight London time.
There are continuing reports of sporadic outbreaks of violence and looting in various parts of London, mobs wielding baseball bats, and more fires. Sounds like the police are basically playing a city-wide game of whack-a-mole. A chap who’s just watched his furniture shop burn down says it’s started raining, which might not do much to put out the fires, but might be a good thing in terms of keeping people off the streets. It’s going to be a long night.
A couple of commenters have asked about the racial aspects of the violence. There’s no doubt that many of the rioters, probably the majority, are black – as was the man whose death sparked the initial trouble. However, many of the rioters I’ve seen on TV are white, and no doubt other groups are involved. And many of those who have lost their homes and businesses are black, asian or from other ethnic groups (I’ve heard one report of Turkish or Kurdish shop owners arming themselves with sticks to chase away gangs of thugs); these riots are taking place in working-class areas with a varied ethnic mix, and the fires that are consuming homes and businesses don’t discriminate.
There’s no getting away from the fact that black gang culture is a major factor here, and it’s also the case that many in the black community who wouldn’t necessarily condone the violence are reflexively anti-police and uncooperative, which isn’t helping matters. But it’s still only a minority of that community, and plenty of opportunist thugs of every race and colour have been happy to join in.
Mr. McNally –
I read some reports on The Gaurdian and got the notion that many or most of the rioters were black or muslim? The Gaurdian was very careful not to say it, but I can read between the lines. Am I correct? Not correct?
We have had some race riots here in the States of late, but the press is very careful not to label them as such. Large gangs of exclusively blacks, up to hundreds of individuals, have on several occasions been attacking exclusively whites in public places. So far there has been no in-depth discussion of motive and in some cases there is no mention of race whatsoever. That is the feel I got the from the press reports coming out of the UK also.
Please keep reporting on what is going on there.
I’m far from an expert on London, but I don’t believe these are areas with heavily “Asian” populations. However, the incident blamed for starting it involved a police unit that specializes in “gun crime in the African and Caribbean communities”, so take that for what it’s worth. I think it’s more to do with low-class mentality than any ethnic group.
(Wait… how can there be gun crime in Britain?! They outlawed guns!)
I am tuned to the news and I have seen no instances of rioting by any races. I think you are trying to manipulate people. Cite your sources iif you want anybody to believe you.
“I am tuned to the news and I have seen no instances of rioting by any races.”
So the firebombs just threw themselves?!
The stores weren’t looted?
This is all just a curious conspiracy to drive tourism away from London?
Wait… are you talking about the race riots in the US?
Well, there was the Iowa State Fair’s “Get Whitey” Day. A strictly unofficial event, but it happened.
Then there was the Wisconsin State Fair’s little melee in which people of pallor were singled out for assault. And a similar event in Milwaukee on the 4th of July.
Walter Russel Mead had a column about this today (hope the link makes it through):
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/08/07/american-tinderbox/
He covers most of the events I’ve heard about, but not all. Even discounting the least-well-sourced, there’s something disturbing happening in the US.
Check local news sources in Milwaukee for last Thursday night’s state fair incident. There’s also a great essay on that story at American Thinker today.
The network guys only show us what they want us to see.
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/08/05/witnesses-racist-attacks-against-whites-at-wisconsin-state-fair/
http://theothermccain.com/2011/07/06/milwaukee-celebrated-4th-of-july-with-fireworks-looting-racial-mob-violence/
I was asking a question, not trying to convince anyone, but there are a couple of links to get you started.
http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/beat-whitey-night-a-smashing-success-at-iowa-state-fair/
How many links do you want?
What is so tragic about this report is that British civilization for centuries has been characterized by respect for law and order. Indeed, it is the cradle of law for our culture. To see scenes in England today like we saw in Paris in 2005 are deeply sad and disturbing. There is only one remedy for a want of law and order, more law and order. Let’s hope the British react accordingly.
Sorry, Christian, but England has seen many riots in its history. Usually, though, the police/army was tough enough to control the mobs before they got out of hand.
I hope our friends in England all come out safe and sound but the scene sounds pretty disturbing, just begging serious violence.
So much going on of late and so much seems inter-connected somehow… definitely one of those days that the world seems to be spinning out of control.
The areas that are rioting are mainly Black and mixed race. In Britain Asian riots are rare and more likely in the midlands than London. Many of the shops that are burning are Asian owned. Blacks in Britain tend to be very anti Asian. I grew up in South London.I know no one of my old friends and family who have not moved to the outer suburbs or home counties or abroad. London is no longer an English city.
When a European newspaper refers to Asian gangs odds are its muslim to which they refer
London is no longer an English city. That breaks my heart.
The modern concept of personal liberty, of the free citizen, was born and grew to young adulthood in England, and matured in the United States under the tutelage of men who were essentially English. Western civilization owes the English a debt much greater than its proportion to the west.
Seeing the English surrender, one by one, their hard won rights and freedoms, cede their homeland to foreigners, breaks my heart. England has become the most totalitarian states in the west. All I can say is shame. Shame on the current generation. Shame. Shame.
England still exists,it is the eternal countryside,the shires and cathedral cities.
England won’t last much longer unless the savages are forced to obey the laws either with logical argument or overwhelming violence by the police. England as a nation has become too soft to survive against tough savages.
They are black, they began when the London police shot and killed a black man who shot a Cop. All the pictures I have seen are of blacks burning or looting stores
” He said he hopes the rioters “rot in hell”.”
The rioters may be pawns. They need to find out who is organizing it.
The rioters may be pawns.
Yes, those poor rioters are too dumb to think for themselves! We can’t blame them for their own actions! We must save them from themselves!
/sarcasm off
Someone once mentioned something about the soft bigotry of low expectations…
Too bad for England that people are not allowed to defend themselves. So, the stores burn. A man’s entire life work goes up in flames. This is all prevented by shopowners with shotguns. Of course, even if the guns were allowed, they would still be put into gaol. It is cheaper to let your store burn than to hire a barrister to defend you in a capital case.
Yes, in the individual sense, but your first sentence is more telling of the true cost of those fires. Too bad for England….those store fires are England going up in flames.
Why in the hell don’t the police shoot the rioters? Set a curfew and declare all looters will be shot on sight.
For years the mindset of the British police have been to treat the criminal with kids gloves and punish the law-abiding. You can’t defend yourself. You can’t defend your property. You can’t put chicken wire in your windows because a burglar might get cut on the wire as he breaks in (the details may be off on that one, but the gist is accurate).
Much like the Katrina relief volunteers being sent to a diversity seminar before deploying, I suspect the police daily briefings start with a litany of the “complaints” the “oppressed” have about life in Britain.
Here is a reading from one of Thomas Sowell’s books but it is right on point regarding Britain’s Left Intelligentsia and property crimes. Specifically, burglary here but is there much difference in burning people’s property. The question will be, what if anything, will be done when the murders start.
They’ve started. Telegraph has reports of a man shot in Croydon, and another thrown through a shop window (he was reportedly a looter, though, and I have no sympathy for him). There are reports of people in the streets with machetes and axes.
But, hey, the Brits at least kept guns out of the hands of the law-abiding.
Once, years ago, I had to work late into the evening. A co-worker and I closed up shop and went out to our cars. A conversation was struck up and as I sat in my car my co-worker stood by my car and we chatted before leaving for home. Out of the dark from somewhere a guy appeared and walked towards us. From a distance he began asking ” Hey, you got fify?”, meaning fifty cents. Annoyed, we said no. He persisted ” c’mon I know you got fify. You got a dollah?”. He kept on and kept approaching. He was wearing a hoodie, with the hood over his head and hands in the pockets.
Finally as he was about thirty feet away, I said in the coldest voice I could muster ” Look I told you I dont have ‘fify’, all I have is three fifty seven, thats it.”. It was true, and I was in a cold sweat thinking i might actually have to use it.
He spun on his heel and walked away saying “Ok”. He melted back into the dark.
No matter how crazy or deprived or oppressed the criminal element is, there is a language they understand. How sad.
Yes, at least they kept the guns out of the hands of the law abiding. The multiculturists thought they could let in barbarians and as soon as they saw life in England,as soon as they had legal rights, as soon as they tasted tea and crumpets they would be as civilized as any Englishman. They wouldnt rob or rape or steal. They wouldnt burn London down.
“Why in the hell don’t the police shoot the rioters? Set a curfew and declare all looters will be shot on sight.”
Unfortunately that would require a set of balls. Europe has done everything in it’s power to make sure that they don’t exist on a personal level.
I don’t think the police on the streets are the problem, it is the police management, and the politicians that buy support from the savages that control the police. I don’t see Parliament demanding the army stop the rioting by any means possible.
“There’s no getting away from the fact that black gang culture is a major factor here”
“…plenty of opportunist thugs of every race and colour have been happy to join in.”
Thank you Mr. McNally for the update and the clarification. Too often ‘race’ and ‘culture’ get muddled together. The events in London tonight are the inevitable results of allowing thuggish cultures to immigrate and flourish. Bravo to the multiculturists. Bravo. Surely they look upon this and swell with pride.
“But it’s still only a minority of that community, and plenty of opportunist thugs of every race and colour have been happy to join in.”
Yes, there’s a video of a pack of thugs robbing a man who’s been beaten, and it’s clear the pack is a mix of all sorts of barbarians.
It’s as if London’s lawless all heard a starting gun at once…
Oh, and there’s some internal fighting going on, too. Via the Telegraph:
“Bethnal Green: Gang of vandals broke the windows of an Islamic bank but were chased off by a rival gang Muslim youths who were standing guard outside the East London Mosque. Local shops attacked”
>>>>>Yes, there’s a video of a pack of thugs robbing a man who’s been beaten, and it’s clear the pack is a mix of all sorts of barbarians.
Well, it’s the ideal society of the left-leaning intellectuals: (a) non-racist, (b) violent thugs, I mean working-class revolutionaries, fighting against evil capitalist exploiters, (c) not hung up with outdated morality, such as “robbing is wrong”.
Hobbes already called it a society where all are at war against all, and one where life is nasty, brutish, and short, but of course the left-leaning intellectuals never expect THEMSELVES to live in such a society. They merely want the working class or other unimportant people to do so.
The police could end these riots very quickly: Start shooting rioters on sight.
But:
The police will not protect the good citizens.
The police have disarmed the citizens.
The police arrest citizens who defend themselves.
Britain’s ruling elites have lost all moral right to govern.
Those terrorist ‘teabaggers’, Palin and Bachman supporters are the cause of the problems.
The rioters are the Christian extremist right wingers the media has warned us about.
It’s obvious isn’t it?
well david cameron the prime minister of great britain
said that he will blogg internet activities, twitter, facebook and other tools to stop violence in uk
this event shows a lack odf respect for the democratic values of europe
speech doesnt kill or causes extreme violence
and david cameron is not resolving the problems on his own country that faces similar problems with
greece
economic crisis always bring up in the surface of political systems fascistic methods that do not have any relation to the urban democracy after french revolution
so democracies in europe become gradually fascistic regimes similar to nazism or fascism
and the urban mid classes looses all priviliges that it had for the latest 2 centuries, gaining them from the french revolution
europe could face up economic crisis if russia become a member of eurozone
russia has a very strong economy and it could give loans to the weaker bonds of euro zone like in the mediterranean countries and germany by this way and its taxis payer not to be obliged to give loans with races on the weaker countries
europe by this way will expand its activities on asian markets easier because it will be expanded by lisbon until vladivostock
by this way david cameron will resolve a part of his problems even if british dont like the russians entrance in eurozone
http://www.arelis.gr
it contains erotonomicon and new york olympia
and exhibition of orthodromic retrospection