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Monday, 8 August 2011

Riots spread to Birmingham

According to Reuters, Birmingham city centre is now suffering from copycat riots with a number of shops having been attacked and looted. Two live feeds have also reported that the Hippodrome Theatre is "on lockdown", and more recently it has been claimed that the Square Peg pub on Corporation Street has been "smashed up". There are also uncomfirmed reports that public transport into and out of Birmingham city centre has been suspended. ITN reports that police have arrested nine rioters, six of whom were juveniles. Apparently, mobile phone shops had proven to be the main focus of the looters' attentions.

The first video below shows a report on looting in Birmingham, whilst the second shows a Sainsbury's being looted in the centre of the city. The photograph purports to be of a looted Adidas store, although it has been claimed that it may have been taken at one of the other riot scenes. Hopefully, reports that 'youths' are gathering in Wolverhampton will prove to be unfounded. This disorder needs to be dealt with swiftly and decisively to stop the contagion from spreading. Details and video footage of this evenings riots in London can be accessed here.





4 comments:

  1. How long before Toxteth, Bristol: Bradford...?

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  2. Juniper, I fear that thugs and opportunists around the country are gearing themselves up for violence and may be intent upon trashing many of our major urban centres, those you listed included.

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  3. You likely know of the Korean shopkeepers in the L.A. riots protecting their stores and lives. I'm sure Korea has plenty of folks who would love to move to London, and they should get free tickets and a tax cut for coming.

    The Korean lady who has a grocery near me surprised me a while ago. She's in her 60s, I think, and quiet, calm, and hard-working, exactly not the type I would have expected to see bolting out of her store with a club, smashing a fellow so hard his head spurted blood as he lay unconscious on the sidewalk. She wasn't protecting her store at all. She saw a thug dump a drug addicted creature out of her wheelchair and was kicking her over a drug debt. The guy was still unconscious when the police came. Wow. If I'd actually seen anything that I could swear to, I swear I'd say something to somebody. Like here, now.

    Go Korean ladies!

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  4. Good opportunity to smoke out the thugs and put them away for a long time. Let's see what Cameron is made of (*cough*)

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