Police shot a father of three who may or not may be an arms dealer with ties to organized crime and may or may not have opened fire upon the arresting officers. Nothing of that is sure right now.
What is sure is that after that, there was peaceful prostest in front of the precinct, the police did not handle the situation too well, a riot broke out and then it spread.
Met most wanted
http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropolitanpolice/
UK Riots wiki page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_London_riots
Blackbery UK site was defaced and they have threaten that if they help police, that their employee details will be given to rioters!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/09/london-riots-day-four-live-blog
Update on Bristol looting:
Sum total of trouble was some teenagers committing a smash and grab on a jewelers. About 8 involved, 5 have already been arrested.
Is that all that's been damaged in Bristol so far, or? I heard something about Cabot Cirus but it wasn't exactly detailed.
Am I the only one getting some flash backs to the '68ers riots in Germany? I don't foresee any radical RAF-esque terror groups forming out of this, but I do see a lot of parallels. Ohnesorg's death, violent escalation by protestors, previous protests (uni students from the past year or two), etc.
Let's see what's missing from this list... ah yes, of course. Decent work opportunities.As a society we have done all we can to help these people; universal education, universal health care, and a generous welfare state. Yet they're throwing this all back in our faces.
I think what sickens me most is the fact that the rioters seek to absolve themselves from all blame.
They would rather blame the government, immigrants or rich people for their problems, rather than try to do anything to resolve them for themselves. There is no protest in this riot; it's just a bunch of opportunist thugs looking for a fight and a free TV.
As a society we have done all we can to help these people; universal education, universal health care, and a generous welfare state. Yet they're throwing this all back in our faces.