 |
| Mark Duggan and his child |
About three days ago violence , looting and maiming of people statred in London with some many shops like primark being affected.
The violence started after the shooting and killing of a black man Mark Duggan.
The trouble flared after members of the community took to the streets last night to demand 'justice', after Mr Duggan's death.
His fiancee, Semone Wilson, has said that she wanted answers, not trouble, while his brother, Shaun Hall, called for the community to remain calm.
Despite his calls for the community to remain calm, violence broke out in Enfield this evening with a group of around 200 youths smashing windows iand attacking vehicles in the town centre.
Mr Duggan was shot by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s CO19 unit on Thursday evening after the minicab he was travelling in was stopped. There was an apparent ‘exchange’ of fire and a bullet was found lodged in a police radio.
Mr Duggan died at the scene and an officer was injured, but left hospital after treatment.
The violence last night started soon after a crowd of about 120 had begun to gather at the High Road, near Tottenham Hotspur’s football ground, from about 5.30pm.
One resident, Laurence Bailey, told the Guardian that the violence started after a 16-year-old girl 'threw something, maybe a stone, at the original riot police line'.
He added that this was met with a furious response, with around 15 riot officers pounding her with shields.
This description of events was
more and video after the jump
corroborated by another local who spoke to BBC News. He said that the girl was 'set upon' by police and that the crowd surged forward in anger.
more and video after the jump
corroborated by another local who spoke to BBC News. He said that the girl was 'set upon' by police and that the crowd surged forward in anger.
The rioters' target was the police station which was being guarded late last night by lines of officers and police vans. As the disorder spread, and the numbers of demonstrators swelled, two police cars being used to block the road were set ablaze by masked youths.
Flames began to billow from a shop and then a double-decker bus was engulfed in flames and quickly reduced to a twisted shell. Witnesses also reported seeing a jewellery shop and a bookmakers being looted.
Teenagers and younger children were seen carrying valuables through the shattered glass front of an electrical shop.
One witness described the looters helping themselves to a trolley loads of luxury goods including plamsa TVs and stereo systems - 'as if had been Christmas shopping'
Windows were smashed at a Barclays Bank and pictures on Twitter appeared t.o show the building being looted. There were also reports that youths had stormed McDonald’s and had started frying their own burgers and chips.
John Blake, who grew up with Mr Duggan on the Broadwater estate, claimed the dead man had been victimised by police in recent weeks.
He said: ‘I know the police were harassing him. The police were following him. If you’re from Broadwater Farm, police are on you every day, you’re not allowed to come off the estate. If you come off the estate they follow you.’
A family friend of Mr Duggan, who gave her name only as Nikki, 53, said the man’s friends and relatives had organised the protest because ‘something has to be done’ and the marchers wanted ‘justice for the family’.
Some of those involved lay in the road to make their point, she said.
‘They’re making their presence known because people are not happy,’ she added. ‘This guy was not violent. Yes, he was involved in things but he was not an aggressive person. He had never hurt anyone.’
As the rioting escalated, trouble-makers on Twitter seemed keen to orchestrate the violence, bringing scores more people into the area. One user calling himself ‘English Frank’ urged attacks on the police, saying: ‘Everyone up and roll to Tottenham f*** the 50 [police]. I hope 1 dead tonight.’
And in a clear incitement to looting, ‘Sonny Twag’ tweeted: ‘Want to roll Tottenham to loot. I do want a free TV. Who wudn’t.’
‘Mrs Lulu’ tweeted: ‘Brehs [men] asking who’s down to roll [go] Tottenham right now, to get justice. – RIP Mark x.’
In an interview with the Guardian, Ms Wilson also made a plea for an explanation from authorities.
She said: 'When we were outside the police station last night we wanted someone to come out. We want some answers. I have not even told my children that he is dead because we cannot give them any answers.'
