Riots Spread Across the United Kingdom

[Flyboy Fox]

Shit! I really hope it doesn't spread to Weston-Super-Mare since that's where a friend of mine lives, and it's not too far from Bristol.

[Demofax]

Not really... It's breast cancer surgery and this hospital is the only one that does this exact procedure that she needs. Our local hospital does mastectomies but will remove ALL her lymph nodes, whereas the Royal Marsen in Chelsea does a nuclear dye biopsy which lets them only remove the infected ones. I really hope my mum can get into London tomorrow.

[Kevin]

I live in Weston-super-Mare too, when I'm in England, and that's where my mum is. But I highly doubt it will spread there.

Not really... It's breast cancer surgery and this hospital is the only one that does this exact procedure that she needs. Our local hospital does mastectomies but will remove ALL her lymph nodes, whereas the Royal Marsen in Chelsea does a nuclear dye biopsy which lets them only remove the infected ones. I really hope my mum can get into London tomorrow.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Kevin

[Spooky Mulder]

This is all so horrible. I'm kind of at a loss for words, which is rare for me. These monsters have no morals and certainly no legitimate cause which they support. It couldn't be any clearer that this behavior has nothing to do with any sort of incident that may, or may not, have occurred. This is a group of thugs who want to feel powerful and they make themselves feel powerful by rebelling against society. They are anarchists, plain and simple and it is disgusting and disturbing to see a seemingly civilized society being overrun by these savages.

Good luck to everyone, especially Flyboy; I hope everything works out in the end for your mom.

[Detective Shadzter]

Sky News is reporting that armoured vehicles have been deployed onto the streets of Ealing

[Spin]

Man, this is getting insane. Had no idea it would spread this much. It just sounds like people rioting for the sake of rioting at this point... hard to sympathize with that.

[theadvisor1234]

I don't know what's worse, that a peaceful protest was turned bad by greedy people, or that so many foolish, foolish citizens are joining it.

[Neon]

Just read about a furniture business that was founded in 1867, was burned to ashes, the old man who ran it said his life is destroyed.

Absolutely disgusting...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/08/08/london-riots-croydon-s-140-year-old-reeves-furniture-store-destroyed-in-blaze-115875-23330405/

[Dark Qiviut]

The actions by all these rioters disgust me! Arson, looting, and fear from people who don't want to be a part of it. This is nothing but thuggery. It's now nothing more than a bunch of thugs and gangs out there to make peoples' lives a living hell. This is absolutely unacceptable, and these human travesties responsible must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

[Old dead account]

This turned violent over just a few crazy bastards? It's the Sheep/dick-rider effect, one starts and they all follow. Stay safe British citizens/visitors.

[S0NIC-Keyblade 007]

I may not live in the UK but I simply can't imagine all the horror caused by these rioting that people have to go to. Everyone who is suffering from these riots are in my prayers. I hope these rioters are brought to justice soon. I don't know the full story of Mark Duggon but I would like to say that having a protest for him being shot by the police is fine and I hope everything is alright with his family. However, this protest being taken advantage of by criminal activity and being broken into all this chaos and destruction affecting innocent people and businesses is absolutely unacceptable. My heart goes out to every SSMB member in the UK, I hope you are all safe from harm and that this mess gets cleared up soon.

[Conando]

This draws disturbing parallels to the L.A. riots in the 90's. It's disgusting to think that criminals use protests as an excuse to loot and ruin the lives of innocent people. My heart goes out to the people of London and the cops that have to deal with this mess.

[-Mark-]

Right, just an update;

Heard police helicopters around my area last night, not much later saw YouTube footage of a bunch of local shops being looted. Heard back from my store manager this morning, miraculously they seem to have left the place alone.

In a few hours I'll probably head down there to see just what the hell's actually happened and separate last nights' rumours from the truth. I'll just wait until things pick up a bit though, this early in the morning the streets will still be a bit quiet, so it could be risky.

EDIT: Oddly the stuff local to me isn't showing up on the Google riot map. Oh well. D:

Edited August 9, 2011 by -Mark-

[Glenn]

My thanks to everybody who kept this topic updated throughout the night on the developing situation, especially for those who needed precise information, such as Flyboy. I'm sure everybody here on SSMB will be thinking of your mother today, and hopefully the situation wasn't extreme enough to shut a hospital.

Spoke to my father last night about possibly calling a state of emergency and dispatching armed forces. He was dead against the idea, having previously served in Northern Ireland, and summed it up rather neatly... "It's very easy to put soldiers on street corners, but it's almost impossible to take them away again." And he's right: as soon as they left, there'd be a power vacuum and the looters would rush in to fill it, probably claiming some twisted sense of justice against military persecution second time around. For that reason alone, while I would initially agree with the principle of a state of emergency, I think it would do more damage than London (and other areas) could sustain.

Let's keep safe, and keep using the internet for good purposes. I know some people have little faith in government, but the emergency Cobra meeting is this morning, so let's see what they come up with. There's little more we can do, save forming our own counter-riot and getting ourselves killed in the process.

After all, come on... this is Britain. Stiff upper lip and all that.

[PaddyFancy]

I wonder if they've targeted Nostalgia and Comics

[pooshoes]

I'll just leave this here...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14456065

[Stacy]

Oh my I've actually been in there once a few years ago.

This is disgraceful behaviour. Its so unlucky for the police and in turn the rest of England that the person who was shot was black. That's what started this. I wouldn't believe there was unvalid reason for this event to take place. This is not what equality is all about. This person might as well be black, white, green martian alien, echidna. If they were weilding a firearm and threatening to shoot another person, they've basically asked for it. You don't go on a riot to stick up for a minority. Protest all you want but most of England don't go smashing up windows, looting and setting all manner of things on fire that had absolutely nothing to do with this one incident with a black man shot dead by the police for whatever reason.

I think these people who are complaining about the police not being there to protect them, really need to think about a different force to protect them. They really do need the army to protect them and dealt with this opportunists who are just rioting for the kicks. Its sad to think that the army may not help as much as they really should because most of them are in Afghanistan.

[Detective Shadzter]

Just got up nearly an hour ago. Glad to hear the riots didn't spread anywhere further after Bristol.

The Prime Minister David Cameron has made a speech about half hour ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...london-14460554

Would we be able to rename this topic UK Riots, since riots hit Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol last night?

[HUNTER297]

Things are getting really bad in UK. I dont have family there but I hope you guys are all right Oh and I hope everything will go well for your Mum FlyBoy Fox.

Other then that I am speachless what doesnt happen to me often.

[JonoD]

I'm just 5 miles north of Bristol where the riots took place and thankfully the outskirts around Bristol/the suburban areas were all quiet last night. From the looks of things the areas where it's focussed here are the more cultural areas of Bristol (those being St Pauls and Stoke's croft where there were riots earlier this year) and then bled a little bit into the main city centre (Cabot Circus and parts of Broadmead).

I'll be keeping a close eye on all things that are happening... But it's worrying to hear that anything like this can happen to anyone anywhere. My thoughts go out to all those who are affected, and I hope that there will be measures in place soon if not immediately.

[Your Vest Friend]

Dunno if this was posted already, but the England vs Holland friendly has been cancelled, with four more fixtures postponed.

[Stacy]

Yes. Yes it is. The 80's has resurrected, politically.

[Swiss]

I heard something about policemen and a fire brigade having to drag a 71 year-old man from his top floor flat after he was seen hanging out of his window in tears.

Do these rioters even care? This is getting more and more ridiculous by the minute. I'm starting to feel ashamed to live in this country with people like this. Thank god there are also plenty of people who actually care and have compassion.

And Flyboy, please let us know how things go with your mum. All my best wishes go out to you and her.

EDIT: Scotland Yard have reported the first death of these riots. Apparently a 26 year-old man who was shot during the riots has died in hospital. D:

Edited August 9, 2011 by Swiss

[-Mark-]

Just got back from checking my local area;

-Comet

-Maplin

-Clarks

-JD Sports

-Argos

-Carphone Warehouse

-Staples

-Smyths

-ASDA

Some were worse than others. ASDA, for example, was simply doing some minor repairs to the shutters outside and was open for business as usual. Smyths toy store was largely untouched, except for the video game section at the back of the store. Most of the other places had the fronts smashed in and police tape, although I heard from a colleague that they didn't actually manage to get into Argos, and just damaged the front door.

JD Sports was absolutely gutted and ransacked. What little stock they had left was all over the floor amidst toppled displays and such. On the way back, there were loads of empty phone boxes, obviously from phones stolen from Carphone Warehouse. Quite a lot of police and guards around. Even though most places are open for business as usual, you can feel the tension in the air.

It's kind of creepy that they got as close as Comet though, that's only across the bridge from my street. I can see it from my bedroom window for crying out loud, it's only about a five minute walk away.

Edited August 9, 2011 by -Mark-

[Swiss]

JD Sports was absolutely gutted and ransacked. What little stock they had left was all over the floor amidst toppled displays and such.