Europe

Europe

UK police arrest over 200 as London riots continue

08 August 2011 19:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. British Home Secretary Theresa May says the number of people arrested in rioting in London has reached 215, APA reports quoting Associated Press.

May says 27 people have been charged so far in the unrest and looting that has stretched over three days. Police said 35 police officers were injured.

The unrest was sparked by a police shooting, but some blamed unemployment, insensitive policing and opportunistic looting for the worst violence the city has seen in years.

Police and politicians insisted the disorder was the work of a criminal minority and not a sign of social tensions or security lapses ahead of the 2012 Games. Residents surveyed shattered streets and police vowed a wave of arrests Monday after riots and looting erupted in an impoverished London neighborhood and hopscotched across the city that hosts next summer’s Olympic Games.

The unrest was sparked by a police shooting, but some blamed unemployment, insensitive policing and opportunistic looting for the worst violence the city has seen in years. Police and politicians insisted the disorder was the work of a criminal minority and not a sign of social tensions or security lapses ahead of the 2012 Games.

In the hardest-hit area, Tottenham, many residents agreed that the looting was the work of greedy youths, aided by instant communication through SMS texts and instant messaging.

"It’s nothing to do with the man who was shot, is it?" said 37-year-old Marcia Simmons, who has lived in the diverse and gritty north London neighborhood all her life. "A lot of youths ... heard there was a protest and joined in. Others used it as an opportunity to kit themselves out, didn’t they, with shoes and T-shirts and everything."

Scattered violence continued Monday, with a skirmish breaking out between police and groups of youths in the Hackney area of east London. Several youths attacked shops and windows, and police in riot gear were pelted wth pieces of wood and other objects.

Tottenham’s main shopping street remained cordoned off, with steam still rising from burnt-out buildings two days after violence broke out amid community anger over a fatal police shooting. Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four, was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday in Tottenham.

A peaceful demonstration outside the Tottenham police station turned ugly as several hundred people threw bottles filled with gasoline at police lines and confronted officers with baseball bats and bars. Two police cars and a double-decker bus were set alight, stores were looted and several buildings along Tottenham’s main street â€” five miles (eight kilometers) from the site of the 2012 Olympics â€” were reduced to smoldering shells.

"I saw cars on fire, and the neighbors came out saying there’s a full blown riot," Simmons said. "We saw the bus set alight, and we saw it blow up. All our homes were full of smoke."

Police condemned the "copycat criminal" violence that started Sunday and hit areas including the leafy suburb of Enfield, a few miles (kilometers) further north; Walthamstow in northeast London, where police said 30 youths vandalized and looted shops; and the busy shopping and tourist district at Oxford Circus, where about 50 people damaged property.

Police said more than 160 people had been arrested and 35 police officers were injured.