Well, OK, so London Bridge itself isn’t actually falling down, but the rest of the city, along with various others in the United Kingdom, are alight with burning buildings and cars, as the citizens of the country riot. How did this all start? On Aug. 4, London police shot Mark Duggan – an alleged crack dealer – during an operation to arrest the man. The police force justified this shooting by releasing a statement claiming that he opened fire, resulting in their retaliatory shots. However, later tests showed that the weapon Duggan was carrying, however illegal, was not fired. This resulted in a group of protesters led by Duggan’s family going over to the police department and demanding an explanation. And that. Is where things started going downhill…
Image courtesy of the Boston Globe
It started out as a peaceful, albeit angry, march to the police station led by Duggan’s parents, who demanded an explanation from the police service as to why Duggan was shot without actually having opened fire. According to eyewitness accounts, a decidedly more hostile group of protesters arrived at the scene as the sun set, and started lighting cop cars and torched the building seen above. From there, things just escalated as the rioting and looting spread out throughout London, and then as far as cities such as Liverpool and Manchester. For a closer look, check out this map from the Telegraph. Things got to the point where there were streets without a single shop left untouched – rioters burned and looted tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars worth of goods. This led to many members of parliament cutting their respective vacations short and returning to the UK to implore citizens to stop the rioting. Ultimately, it was the presence of 16,000 police officers on the street, along with the authorization of the use of rubber bullets and water cannons, which led to the slowing of the rioting.
Image courtesy of the Boston Globe
Now, the big question is, “Why did these riots happen?” Some people say it’s because of racial tension – England has been a popular country for immigration, but the English have not taken to immigrants as kindly as Canada or the United States. This has led to distinct racial divides and socioeconomic disparity (poverty, the English perception that “immigrants are taking our jobs,” and allegations of police being more violent when dealing with immigrants), causing a belief that the reason that many of the rioters are ethnic is because they are finally speaking out against this apparent injustice. However, there are more than a fair share of white rioters, too. And I think that the reason being is a fundamentally flawed society. As I mentioned above, there is a distinct economic disparity, accentuated by budget cuts to social programs passed by the government in an effort to reduce the English deficit. The “lower-class” people see the famous and the prosperous of the UK spend lavishly on anything they want *cough* royal wedding *cough* and they wonder, “Why can’t I have that freedom?” This, I think, fosters a sense of entitlement, which breeds greed. What happens when greed and anger mix with opportunity? Rioting and looting. However, despite the less than favourable conditions that the people of the UK are enduring, I see absolutely no reason as to why citizens would take to looting and destroying their own city. Guess it’s at least an interesting prelude to the London Olympics next year…
