The London riots, what do you remember 10 years on?

[54321nought]

I was teaching in London then. Mostly I remember the drip drip drip drip as days and weeks and months later, students were arrested and charged, and some never returned to school. The crime rate went down, it was the safest it had ever been locally for a long time. I also remember the smell of smoke that lasted weeks

Me too. Got belly barged by a police horse in riot gear.

@thecatsthecats

That the BBC reported the London riots, even though the riots spread to Birmingham the day afterwards, and then the BBC began reporting the Manchester riots... Ignoring Birmingham almost entirely.

(To the extent that my husband, who worked in Phones4U at the time was moved five times between branches, and that my colleagues from the suburbs had no idea how dangerous it was for me to commute to and from the centre.)

Agree with this. We are in Birmingham, my husband works in the centre of Birmingham as well yet the focus was very much on London and other areas.

I remember the US press just sensationalising it a bit sort of London is burning, just like any item National press. I did wonder at the time if it would affect American tourism to the UK.

I did remember saying it will kick off on the ramp in Birmingham soon, DH and I hadn’t lived there for a few years. It did and my friends DS was trapped in the Mac Donald’s right in it, he was only about 13.

I also remember the riots in 1981 in London, there were riots in other cities and our coach drove through some of the messed up streets a few days afterwards on a school trip.

I have also been in a riot, the anti criminal justice bill demonstration which turned in to a riot in the mid 90’s.The coach I was in had a petrol bomb thrown at it and I was stood on a window ledge close to the gates at Downing Street when they were almost pushed down. It is on you tube and I distinctly remember the guy with a cape on the top of the gates. I was chased by a police horse in Hyde park that day and I remember a woman with a baby in a buggy running next to me. I was a peaceful protester that did nothing wrong but in those crowds when it kicks off, its survival.

The issue with all gatherings of any sort of whatever cause is people not aligned to the cause will find a way in and cause problems with long term and sometimes fatal consequences.

I remember being caught up in peckham high street, with two 6 month old babies in the back of my car and having bricks and all manor of missiles being thrown at me.
I had to drag my babies out of their car seats and put them in the foot well of the front passenger seat just to protect them from flying glass and objects.
By the time I got through it and got home my car was a wreck and ended up being written off by my insurance.

I can understand how some people feel aggrieved with the Met police but any sympathy people might have had was lost forever when people stole a bag of rice and a family furniture business in Croydon was burned down. Idiots looking for a bit of fun hijacked what could have been an important conversation about policing.

BBC London did a whole commemorative programme about the riots, this week and they reframed it as "an uprising". I couldn't listen.

I remember sitting in my flat where I lived alone, with a baseball bat, while they looted Boots downstairs. And endless sirens!

@Themirrorisaliar

I remember being caught up in peckham high street, with two 6 month old babies in the back of my car and having bricks and all manor of missiles being thrown at me. I had to drag my babies out of their car seats and put them in the foot well of the front passenger seat just to protect them from flying glass and objects. By the time I got through it and got home my car was a wreck and ended up being written off by my insurance.

My god, that must have been absolutely terrifying.

@Idroppedthescrewinthetuna

I live in Birmingham. We had riots here too. I didn't think it was as bad as the media made out. DD was at her dads and my friend and I decided to jump on a bus into city centre to see what the fuss was about. We got on bus, got into the city centre when the bus driver of a little bus stopped at traffic lights. We then saw 20-30 people stop what they were doing and pointed to the bus. They started running towards us. Both my friend and I started screaming at the driver to drive. He went through a red light and drove as fast as the bus would go. The lovely driver told us he would not drop us off at any stop and would drop us as close to home as his bus would physically go. I got dropped off at the end of my road and my friend dropped at her house. Whenever I see the driver I always give him a bid smile and tell my children about the day Mummy was really naughty and how that driver may have saved me lots of injuries. They always say 'hello mr best bus driver' Will I ever be that stupid again? Nope! That night could have been so much worse!

Yes, I had some friendly bus driver diversions too.

But this is what I mean - my husband spent half the days sweeping up broken glass, and then was sent home at lunch. The council evacuated all staff from mid afternoon.

Yet there was so little on the news about what was happening in Birmingham that my bosses thought I was trying to skive. I had to travel back to my husband picking me up from the station or bus, and then we had to weave our way around police tackling gangs and confiscating 12" knives to get home.

Where incidentally, the front door was broken open and we heard gangs running around the corridors thumping on doors and were kept awake all night by helicopters.

(though on the final day, I got home and things had calmed down but I forgot to let my family know and caused a bit of a panic)

@FrangipaniBlue

I remember that it didn't just happen in London....

Exactly this.

I remember my brother and his partner going to bed fully dressed with their valuables and essentials in a bag packed by the bed, in case they had to evacuate overnight as their flat was just around the corner from where several buildings were on fire.

We had injured police dogs bought in to work as well, broken glass and impact injuries from things being thrown at them.

@thecatsthecats

That the BBC reported the London riots, even though the riots spread to Birmingham the day afterwards, and then the BBC began reporting the Manchester riots... Ignoring Birmingham almost entirely.

(To the extent that my husband, who worked in Phones4U at the time was moved five times between branches, and that my colleagues from the suburbs had no idea how dangerous it was for me to commute to and from the centre.)

Everyone has forgotten it was bad in Gloucester too! (Sorry if it’s been mentioned, I’ve not read the whole thread)

Being outside of London I just remember shock. Shock that it happened and couldn’t be controlled and the fact it can happen again. It’s scary how so many people can slip into a mob mentality. Oh and wondering why the hell when ever something happens there’s always a thug who raids J D sports

I was commuting into london for work and remember the police sending a warning out and sending as many people home as possible. We had to call a major event we were running to a halt and all leave the area.

I also remember the national coordination - riots weren’t just in london, they were in other cities too and mostly organised via BlackBerry messaging. Iirc the police had a breakthrough in curtailing the riots when they were able to shut down BBM.

I went into London the next day as I had tickets booked to go to Buckingham Palace with a friend. She had been a forces wife in Belfast and wasn’t afraid. We figured Buckingham Palace would be safe enough, and it was. We went to Oxford Street later but everywhere was shut. We saw some heddlu and said thank you to them for coming down.
Towards the end of the day we got worried and ended up getting an earlier train back.

@Themirrorisaliar

I remember being caught up in peckham high street, with two 6 month old babies in the back of my car and having bricks and all manor of missiles being thrown at me. I had to drag my babies out of their car seats and put them in the foot well of the front passenger seat just to protect them from flying glass and objects. By the time I got through it and got home my car was a wreck and ended up being written off by my insurance.

That is terrifying. An interesting story for your twins now of course but utterly terrifying for you.

I was living in Coventry and we had (small scale) riots here too, it was terrifying because DH was working nights and the area affected was just down the road from us. I heard so many sirens and couldn't sleep, I was scared that they would petrol bomb houses on the escape route. Watching London on the telly I obviously could see that what was happening here was much less widespread, but it made me fear that others watching in my area would be inspired to do more and more and escalate it. Also, not having it reported on was really weird.

what London riots?
I don't remember anything but maybe that's because I don't watch the news🤷‍♀️

I remember various articles in the guardian claiming the riots were a cry if help from a disfranchised youth where all I saw (in Clapham) were a mob of opportunistic thugs thinking they can help themselves to new electrical goods and trainers. I was disgusted by levels of vandalism on display on the streets below my flat. I was equally impressed the next day by folk who ventured out to help clean up the streets.

@DillonPanthersTexas

I remember various articles in the guardian claiming the riots were a cry if help from a disfranchised youth where all I saw (in Clapham) were a mob of opportunistic thugs thinking they can help themselves to new electrical goods and trainers. I was disgusted by levels of vandalism on display on the streets below my flat. I was equally impressed the next day by folk who ventured out to help clean up the streets.

Well put.

It spilled out across the country. A friend realised the shop under her flat was being targeted and dropped a raw jacket potato on his head 😃

I lived in that weird triangle between Brixton, Clapham and Streatham at the time. I remember the burned out shops, the sound of the helicopters.

I remember the cleanup mobs swarming the Northcote Rd.

Also a commuter in London- we'd nor long moved out. Was glad we had.

A special constable at work was very broken - she'd had less than 2 hours sleep for 2 nights running.

The general feeling seemed to be that it needed sorting ASAP. There was little sympathy with the rioters.

later on, remember chatting to a mum at a toddler group who's dh was in the police in London. The overtime had paid for a new bathroom.

Refreshing every news website and being very concerned for my own safety. We're one of the few white families in an overwhelmingly Pakistani/Bangladeshi area, we've not had any trouble in 17 years here but in a riot/mob scenario I would fear being targeted. Fortunately there were no riots where we live, but I know shops got smashed up in the city centre and there was the murder in Winson Green.

(This in Birmingham btw).