Havent you heard? I'm the king of NY! (news thread)

[Chet]

Woah, the unrest in London went up a notch.

Reports that violence is also breaking out in Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. Civil unrest and the tories seem to go hand in hand. It's the 80's all over again.

[Thermofusion]

Please god, do not let there be another 2008esque panic.

Oops.

Also, BofA closed -20.3%

[milesofsparks]

I just talked to a Londoner--wow, what a mess.  I hope things calm down today. 

recognize anyone?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropolitanpolice/sets/72157627267892973/

[Nick Ink]

I just talked to a Londoner--wow, what a mess.  I hope things calm down today. 

recognize anyone?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropolitanpolice/sets/72157627267892973/

Tonight could be the big one. The riots are spreading not only in London, but also Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds, Bristol etc., plus Cameron and Johnson have flown back in the middle of their holidays and are under pressure to show they can protect their citizens. Cameron says there will be 16,000 police on the streets of London tonight and there's talk of plastic bullets and water canons. Strange days.

[davy]

So, what started the riots? In a nutshell?

[Chet]

So, what started the riots? In a nutshell?

A lad was shot by the police, police tried to cover it up. Turns out a bullet lodged in a police radio that they said was shot by the lad was a police bullet.

[Nick Ink]

So, what started the riots? In a nutshell?

A man calkled Mark Duggan was killed by the police when they tried to arrest him. He had a gun, which it has today been confirmed was not fired. That night, there was a protest in the Tottenham community where he came from, which led to the first riot. Since then, it's spread to other parts of London, such as Hackney, Lewisham, Peckham and last night Croydon. Most of these areas are what you might call deprived. The original protest about Duggan's death seems to have been all but forgotten, however, and there's a sense that it's just wave after wave of copycat activity - young kids from estates, realising that they can quite easily get away with a bit of smashing stuiff up, texting each other and running riot, mainly it appears just for the excitement and transgression of it. The shocking thing is the scale and widespread nature of it, as much as the acts themselves.

[Nick Ink]

Amazon report 5,000% increase in sales of baseball bats over the past 24 hours.

[jess]

My brother is in London and says that the press is underreporting rioting in the nicer areas of town, where things are getting torched. He and his friends had to run from rioters last night apparently, when they were out getting dinner, but they are all ok.

[Thermofusion]

Amazon report 5,000% increase in sales of baseball bats over the past 24 hours.

At long last, baseball fever grips England

[Chet]

This article brilliantly explains some of the social reasons behind the riots

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/camila-batmanghelidjh-caring-costs-ndash-but-so-do-riots-2333991.html

[Nick Ink]

This article brilliantly explains some of the social reasons behind the riots

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/camila-batmanghelidjh-caring-costs-ndash-but-so-do-riots-2333991.html

Second all of this.

[Chet]

kicking off over here in Manchester now.

[Nick Ink]

kicking off over here in Manchester now.

BBC News
1911: Rioters have set fire to a Miss Selfridge shop on Market Street in Manchester city centre.


Are you near the centre, Chet? Safely indoors?

[FreddyKnuckles]

News here shows a lot of small shop owners in tears at their ransacked family shops.

[Chet]

kicking off over here in Manchester now.

BBC News
1911: Rioters have set fire to a Miss Selfridge shop on Market Street in Manchester city centre.


Are you near the centre, Chet? Safely indoors?

I'm out in the leafy suburbs of Chorlton. Although luckily I just quit a job at Primark. My shift would have been right now.

[milesofsparks]

why aren't the military helping out?  the police seem overwhelmed.

[peacocks]

All the videos I've been seeing are eerily calm. The police and the looters just kind of stand and walk around calmly. It seems like there are bunches and bunches of police, more of them than regular people. Maybe I'm only seeing footage of just after, but it looks like this steady slow unfolding rather than a riotous panic of enraged youth.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Msnbc this morning showed people jumping 3 stories from flaming buildings. Also the police running to someone's aid while young men surrounded their now abandoned cars and smashing the windshields.

[peacocks]

Oh jees. I just have some tumblrs, the guardian/npr and a few youtube videos under my belt. Not having tv makes these things seem more detached than they probably are.

[Nick Ink]

why aren't the military helping out?  the police seem overwhelmed.

The police are stretched, but also deliberately restrained so far. They're very reluctant to get into a battle with hundreds of people - there are a lot of onlookers/bystanders out there on the streets as well as those carrying out criminal behaviour. As for the army, I can't imagine such a thing - I've certainly never seen it here before, Norther Ireland aside.

[peacocks]

All the videos I've been seeing are eerily calm. The police and the looters just kind of stand and walk around calmly. It seems like there are bunches and bunches of police, more of them than regular people. Maybe I'm only seeing footage of just after, but it looks like this steady slow unfolding rather than a riotous panic of enraged youth.

ok now that I'm home from work I have delved more into this and I take back the above post.

[peacocks]

I really. REALLY take that back.

[hannah]

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2011/08/09/london-riots-hit-local-labels-too 

[jess]

My brother says that in his neighborhood (Kensington), all of the stores and bars closed early and people left if they could. He couldn't get home last night and had to stay with friends. I think there's a lot of anger and frustration in the expat community at least toward the police and their lack of force in dealing with the riots, since it's a very different way of dealing with it than you would ever see here.