Monday, August 8, 2011

Tottenham riots: police let gangs run riot and loot

Hantu Laut

A peaceful protest developed into one of the ugliest scenes in recent UK history as sections of London went up in flame and rioters clashed with police.

This can happen in Malaysia if Bersih and Pakatan Rakyat were given their ways.


Yeah! Democracy. Yeah!Freedom.

London's burning because the cops were afraid of being accused of police brutality.




Britain’s biggest police force is facing criticism after it let looters run riot in north London for almost 12 hours, in some of the worst scenes of street disturbances seen in recent years.


The Metropolitan Police said it was focused on containing violent disorder in Tottenham on Saturday night, which left dozens of officers injured and saw squad cars, shops and flats burned to the ground.

But its tactics meant gangs of youths were free to break into stores at nearby Tottenham Hale retail park and in Wood Green, with looters forming an orderly queue in broad daylight to steal from a sports shop.

Riot police did not intervene to stop the looting in some areas until 7.30am the following morning, almost 12 hours after the riots began, and last night there were fresh disturbances in Enfield.

Police defended their actions, saying that their priority was to avoid loss of life in the violent clashes that started after a peaceful gathering outside a police station, held to protest a fatal shooting by Met officers on Thursday.

Metropolitan Police Commander Adrian Hanstock said that police took a decision to devote resources to the scene of the riot rather than the looting.

He said: “What you have to recognise here is that this is opportunistic criminality. These individuals who stole, looted and rampaged through businesses, businesses which are struggling in the current climate, took advantage at a time where police were dealing with some serious incidents that posed a threat to life.

“Of course we are going to focus on fires and people potentially in danger.

“You have got a situation where people have been violent and are setting fire to things. Police officers have to remain in position even after the initial violence dies down.

“It is a very delicate balance. Officers have to consider that by staying here [the riot scene] can I prevent someone being seriously injured or should I intervene when someone is committing a theft that we might be able to investigate afterwards.” Read more.

9 comments:

Bumi Boy said...

Serves them right. Najib is wise enough to stop Bersih from rioting.
David Cameron should learn from us, his one-time colony.

Y1 said...

Brooo... This is really getting silly. How can you relate the Tottenham riot with the Bersih march? One is in anger when the other is a peaceful rally call for electoral reform!

This is what the Telegraph reported:
“What actually ignited it is a young female had approached the police standing line and she was set upon by police with their batons.
“The police line actually charged towards her and hit her with their batons. Subsequently it turned out she was only 16 and it absolutely made everyone go up in uproar.
“She just approached the police and said the community demanded answers and justice must prevail and questions needed answering."

If the London police has taken an even stronger hand, all of London's black may start to riot! Now it is contained only in Tottenham.

The fact still is Bersih did not riot. No matter what projection you try to make. Despite the best effort by the PDRM to cause anger. Bersih and the Rakyat did not riot!

Are you trying to say Gandhi should have been stopped from marching? Are you trying to say the Martin Luther King should not have been given the right to march? Are you saying that our independence fathers should not have rallied or protested against the British and should not have gained independence and democracy?

I think we should stop being silly lah.

Regards
Y1

Anonymous said...

Very interesting points. Thanks!

My site:
rachat credit sans hypotheque www.rachatdecredit.net

SM said...

Bro HL,

As usual your spin will only be believed by the uneducated UMNO supporters.
These guys in the UK went out to riot. It was not a peaceful protest that turned into a riot.
BERSIH was entirely different. The peaceful walkers were attacked by UMNO's goons (i.e. PDRM & FRU)!
two entirely different scenerios.

Anyway, the other point is....in the UK, even one death at the hands of the Police is not accepted, unlike in Malaysia when Hundreds (maybe even Thousands over the years) are killed in lock-ups all around the country & no one bats an eyelid!

With your leave HL...

Bro Y1,

Bro HL is not being silly. He's probably one of the few pro-UMNO Bloggers who has any brains...he has to "spin" the stroy to side with UMNO / BN!

gram.kong said...

SM and Y1,

Both of you were wrong, it started as a peaceful protest that turned ugly. Worse still the protest was because of a man who was a criminal who had a running gun battle with the police.You can read http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/police-cars-torched-as-shooting-sparks-protests-in-north-london/story-e6frev00-1226110132349

The same thing could happen here if the government allow the protest to proceed, it can get out of hand.I still strongly believe Bersih is a stooge for Pakatan, particularly Anwar and PKR.

The call for free and fair elections was just an excuse.They wanted to create chaos than demand Najib to resign.That my friend is undemocratic and can be considered as rebellion against the state.

Y1 said...

SM, I am not saying that HL is silly. Sorry HL if it is interpreted as personal. My apologies.

I think Najib should sack his advisers. He could have capitalised on Bersih but as you suggested that it was hijacked by the opposition. If Najib has participated, he would have neutralised the opposition. Wrong political move.

I think in the main Bersih NGOs and central committee are neutral. The call for electoral reform is neutral. Ah well, water under the bridge.

Anonymous said...

Maybe this riot in London is by Bersih 2.5

Ambiga is in London......for a Bersih function.
So London is the rehearsal ground for next Bersih 3.0 since Bersih 2.0 failed to create chaos.

Watch out for londoners folks on next Bersih event!

Anonymous said...

The police are letting the rioters loot because they have been orderd to.

News laws and new ways of cracking down on protests, freedom of speech and so on, are being pushed through the media with mass propaganda campaigns.

These riots are just what the government wanted to push through new dictatorial laws to curb the little freedom we have left.

hatasinchi said...

Peaceful?? Give me a break!! Those march in London begins with "Peaceful intent" then later it went out of control and burn London to the ground...no matter what the intention of the march be it anger or electoral reform if it is not well contained by the security forces it will turn ugly and every one of you will become the victim! Well I guess you uneducated DAP bitches wouldn't understand this simple concept and blaming UMNO is the least your IQ can comprehend!