Violence Erupts for Fourth Night in Britain
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Youths smashed their way into stores and torched cars in central England on Tuesday, police said, as Britain's worst riots for decades entered a fourth night.
A gang of about 200 hurled missiles at police in riot gear, set vehicles alight and smashed shops in the town of West Bromwich, near Birmingham, Britain's second-biggest city, according to police and a BBC report.
Television pictures showed a gang lined up behind a barricade in a stand-off with scores of police in front of vans.
Violence also erupted in the nearby city of Wolverhampton, where youths broke into shops.
Meanwhile in Salford in Manchester, northwest England, a 20-strong gang targeted police cars with bricks before being dispersed, police said.
Rioters have repeatedly targeted police and 111 officers have been injured during three nights of rioting in London, where the violence started on Saturday before spreading to other parts of the country.
"In Wolverhampton, some stores have been broken into. In West Bromwich, there is currently some disorder and two cars have been set on fire," said a statement from West Midlands Police.
"Police officers are at both scenes dealing with the incidents."
A police spokeswoman refused to say how many people were involved in the disturbances.
West Midlands Police have already arrested more than 130 people after rioting late Monday in Birmingham, which saw shops smashed up and looted in the city center and a police station set on fire.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said officers came under attack at around 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) at a Salford shopping center.
"There were a number of bricks thrown at police vehicles," said the spokesman. "There were twenty youths which have been dispersed by around a dozen officers."
The violence began on Saturday in the ethnically-mixed north London district of Tottenham, following a protest against the shooting of 29-year-old man two days earlier.
An inquest into the man's death opened on Tuesday, and heard that he died of a single gunshot wound to the chest after the taxi he was traveling in was stopped by police investigating gun crime in the black community.
Copycat riots broke out in other flashpoint areas on Sunday, and by Monday night they had spread across the city, from the wealthy districts of Notting Hill and Clapham, to inner-city Peckham and Hackney, and suburban Croydon and Ealing.
09 August 2011, 22:54
21
So Britain calls it "riots". I guess they are better spin doctors with western mainstream media and public opinion than their Arab counterparts. Riots sound like a bad thing being committed by thugs and criminals. So now the Government and police are the good guys and the people behind these "riots" are the bad guys. Mass arrests and repression are now completely legal and justified. Clearly more subtle and arguably more effective than having your tanks roll into cities as Assad is doing in Syria.
But make no mistake, what is happening in Britain will continue and is no less significant than events in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Syria. Because the spark that has triggered all this is not political or religious. It's purely socio-economical. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and the middle class is being wiped out. High unemployment/under-employement rates, austerity measures, corporate greed, corruption....
09 August 2011, 23:02
01
.... It's all flavors of the same thing whether it’s happening in the Arab world and in the West.
So let’s call all these things by their true name: “revolution”. This where the current class warefare – which has peaked with the so-called credit crisis (or more accurately soap opera) – has led us to. Sooner or later, the masses will revolt!
I believe the “riots” in Britain continue will not only continue but they will inspire similar “riots” in other Western countries. My guess is watch for similar events to unfold in PIIGS nations particularly Greece and Italy, and perhaps even in the U.S.
10 August 2011, 01:16
00
So Britain calls it "riots". I guess they are better spin doctors with western mainstream media and public opinion than their Arab counterparts. Riots sound like a bad thing being committed by thugs and criminals. So now the Government and police are the good guys and the people behind these "riots" are the bad guys. Mass arrests and repression are now completely legal and justified. Clearly more subtle and arguably more effective than having your tanks roll into cities as Assad is doing in Syria.
But make no mistake, what is happening in Britain will continue and is no less significant than events in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Syria. Because the spark that has triggered all this is not political or religious. It's purely socio-economical. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and the middle class is being wiped out. High unemployment/under-employement rates, austerity measures, corporate greed, corruption....
