England is Burning - Looting, vandalism & violence spreading like wildfire

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Looting, vandalism and violence have rocked Britain for the third day spreading beyond Tottenham and Enfield to reach Brixton, according to media reports. The gathering of around 200 protesters demanding answers over the death of Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police on Thursday, turned to a full-scale mayhem around 12 hours later which jolted the British shaky establishment once again. London burned while Prime Minister David Cameron was having fun with his family in a luxurious villa in Tuscany, Italy and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg was quietly recovering at home from his getaway in sunny France.

But the person whose economic policies may have been playing a role in triggering these riots, George Osbourne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer remained enjoying himself at a hotel somewhere in Beverly Hills. Police said they have arrested more than 160 people across London so far. They also said that dozens of people have been injured, among then at least 35 police officers, of whom 8 had been accepted to hospital for further treatment. “Officers responding to sporadic disorder in a number of boroughs made more than 100 arrests throughout last night and early this morning”, Scotland Yard said on Monday, after 61 people were arrested on Saturday night.

A building set ablaze in Tottenham

“Officers are shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them”, a police spokesman said. Police deployed extra officers in flashpoint areas on Sunday night, but there was still widespread looting, with young men seen walking out of ransacked stores laden with electrical goods. A shop assistant originally from Africa was quoted by a Russian newspaper in Moscow as saying: “I can imagine this kind of thing happening in Somalia but to see it in London was strange”. Meanwhile, the riots are happening only a few miles from the Olympic park that will welcome millions of visitors in less than a year. Britain and the capital city of London will host International Olympics games in 2012. The riots also come at a time of deteriorating situation for Britons as the pain from economic stagnation is exacerbated by deep public spending cuts and tax increases aimed at eliminating a budget deficit that peaked at more than 10 percent of GDP.

British politicians swiftly blamed petty criminals for the violence, but neighborhood residents said anger at high unemployment and cuts in public services, coupled with resentment of the police, played a significant role. “Tottenham is a deprived area. Unemployment is very, very high they are frustrated”, said Uzodinma Wigwe, 49, who was made redundant from his job as a cleaner recently.

Overview:

• Prime Minister David Cameron recalls Parliament on Thursday as Government tries to quell uprising 
• ‘Unprecedented’ 16,000 police on duty in London over the next 24 hours as all leave is cancelled 
• England game against Netherlands at Wembley tomorrow called OFF 
• 400% surge in 999 calls on night of violence with 20,800 dialling the emergency services as fire brigade have one of their busiest nights in history 
• Cost of clean-up expected to run into ‘tens of millions’ 
• Metropolitan Police use armoured vehicles to push back 150 rioters in Lavender Hill, Clapham 
• Three arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of police officer 
• More than 450 people arrested in total and 69 people have been charged 
• Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in Birmingham is ransacked by rioters 
• All police cells in London are now full as 44 police officers were injured 
• Man horribly wounded after being shot in Croydon 
• Serious violence overnight in Hackney, Peckham and Ealing and unrest in Deptford, Camden, Kensington, Lewisham, Bethnal Green and Woolwich 
• Copycat riots reported in Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Liverpool and Leeds

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