London riot victims tell of their terror

The Sunday Mail (Qld) ^ | August 14, 2011 | Angus Hohenboken & Lucy Carne

[Oztrich Boy]

WHEN the worst riots in British history descended across the streets of England, it was the family-run shops and small businesses that bore the brunt of the immense destruction.

From grocery stores to optometrists, newsagents, sports stores, technology warehouses, hairdressers, pubs, fashion boutiques and even a funeral home - nothing was safe from the orgy of looting and damage.

Windows were smashed, products looted, buildings torched and in one instance looters even stole the kettle from the staff room of a barbers in Tottenham, North London.

The cost of the riots is still impossible to tally - The Association of British Insurers says they expect the industry to be paying out in excess of £200 million.

But the British Chamber of Commerce said the damage to businesses could be far-reaching and long-lasting.

"The violence that we've seen - it's not only against individuals but it's destroying the very fabric of society, not just for now but for years to come and that's why the government has to get a grip of this," the BCC's director general David Frost said.

[Oztrich Boy]

Some people disagree

"Can you blame them?" asked bike mechanic Julian Sabetian, 29. "They're doing something criminal, but they're also trying to get attention.
"We can carry on ignoring them for as long as we like but it's not going to fix the problem."

Sales assistant Matt Brown, 29, said the looting was a by-product of Britain's unbalanced welfare and housing policies that placed severely poor households beside rich areas. "Living in an area like this you are going to see a lot of people with a lot of money. These kids don't have a lot of money and they want that but there's no means for them to get it.
"So there's only one way to get what they want, and that is by stealing."


Would it really be a tragedy if Micycle was forced out of business and the staff laid off?

[nodumbblonde]

but there's no means for them to get it

Does he mean there's no means for someone to knock on their taxpayer-provided door and hand it to them just because they have a pulse?

Poor little victims! Having to live next to "rich" people who get up every day and sock 14-18 hours into their businesses in order to be successful.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

WHEN the worst riots in British history descended across the streets of England, it was the family-run shops and small businesses that bore the brunt of the immense destruction.

The worthless yobs who never earned an honest day's pay in their entire lives consider people who do earn their pay to be "the rich."

The royal family can truthfully be classified as "the rich," but going after them would be too dangerous.

[robowombat]

‘The worst riots in British history’, not quite. This is presentism and conveniently forgets the turbulent and often violent nature of British public life before the mid Victorian calm descended. Just one example might be cited The Gordon Riots in which ostensible anti-Catholic agitation grew into a general undrclass revolt that featured mobs rampaging out of control burning sacking and often physically demolishing the residences and businesses of disliked members of the upper lasses. Chief Justice Mansfield's magnificent town mansions was literally demolished by the mob. Interestingly the response of the London authorities was deliberately non existent since the the contemptible Lord Mayor and most if the aldermen were Whigs of a sort and wanted to embarrass the King's party by letting a mob run amok in the capitol. Only when the mobs started to attack major government institutions such as Whtehall and demolish the prions did the royal government intervene with crushing force bringing in the regular army and embodying the Militia. As a huge mob closed in on the Bank of England troops from the Brigade of Guards dispersed the mob by volley iring directly into the crowd repeatedly until it dispersed. Something over 200 fatalities occurred during this hellish week during a broiling summer heat wave. One generation forgets what others have endured without some knowledge of the past.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“Poor little victims! Having to live next to “rich” people who get up every day and sock 14-18 hours into their businesses in order to be successful. “

Exactly. There is a reason why sloth, greed, and envy are among the seven deadly sins.

[JimC214]

Maybe they would feel better if instead of living next to a rich person, they would have to live in a slum. Another stupid idea from the left. Were it's everyone else’s fault, never the fault of the person committing the crime.

[Moltke]

Dickens wrote a novel about those - Barnaby Rudge.

[A_Former_Democrat]

And thus the insanity of school busing and “choice” along with placing Sec. 8 housing in nice areas.

[Outlaw Woman]

The royal family can truthfully be classified as "the rich," but going after them would be too dangerous.

That's true and is precisely why the citizens should be armed. Why they've allowed themselves to be 'disarmed' has puzzled me for years. The only deterrant would be to make it "dangerous" to do what these punks did no matter who they did it to. That will only happen if the citizenry is allowed their right to self defense by being armed.

[Publius6961]

Surely, you mean the “capital.”

[Let's Roll]

And now they are floating the idea of renting out foreclosures to get as many meth cookers as possible into suburbia.

Not THEIR suburbia of course.

[Publius6961]

Dickens wrote a novel about those - Barnaby Rudge.
Thank you for the tip.

Barnaby Rudge

[Publius6961]

And now they are floating the idea of renting out foreclosures to get as many meth cookers as possible into suburbia.

That's about as likely to happen as Hussein naming Srah Palin to a Czar position...

Just saying.

[Winniesboy]

‘The worst riots in British history’, not quite. This is presentism and conveniently forgets the turbulent and often violent nature of British public life before the mid Victorian calm descended.

Thanks for your accurate perspective on this. Indeed, even in more recent times, there have been much worse. Several of the race riots of the 1980s were much more violent. The events of the last week were mostly directed at property, rather than people.

[reformedliberal]

Not insanity. They needed to implement envy and foster resentment and that was a way to accomplish the goal. Did you think they cared about fairness and social justice? They simply wanted to ratchet up the anger by rubbing the noses of the poor in the circumstances of the middle class and strike fear into the gut of the middle class by placing them in close proximity to the barbarians.

I hate the left. But they are not stupid. The _are_ evil. They also never back down and never quit, no matter how much they win. Do you also think they are unarmed and afraid? You’d be wrong. They posture about gun control while making sure they are protected.

Your own handle tells me that you know some of the same folks I do. Maybe you just voted for them and never got to hear an unguarded comment?

[reformedliberal]

Spotting a few subsidized neighborhoods between the gated communities essentially surrounds the elite.

This all is coming back to bite them. After all, it is the tax payers who are raped to subsidize the captive leftist prole voters who were hurt the worst in the Brit riots and the US flash robs and beat downs.

Oh, and don’t believe for a minute that this rental of foreclosures is either new or being floated. It has been a major goal since the housing market crashed and I would bet that the process is well along toward completion. It simply legitimizes the squats that ACORN, et al, have been facilitating for several years.

[reformedliberal]

That’s about as likely to happen as Hussein naming Srah Palin to a Czar position...

Just saying.

---

You may be well advised to prepare yourself to be amazed at what they will do or are in process of facilitating. No one will ask the remnant of suburban homeowners for their approval, either.

[TASMANIANRED]

Still haven’t learned their lessons.

[Right Wing Assault]

"Can you blame them?" asked bike mechanic Julian Sabetian, 29.

Hey, Julian. When you get the shop rebuilt and restocked, we're going to come and clean you out again. Nobody to stop us. Have to replace the bikes we stole since people stole them from us. I still got mine, but it has a busted tire so I'm going to throw it out and steal a new one from your shop. After all, you can't blame me for wanting a new one, can you?

[Moltke]

Thank you for the tip.

You're welcome. I've read all of the lesser-known Dickens novels in the past few years - what a great story-teller he was.