Riots in England in August 2011

Tottenham has a large number of members of national minorities, and racially motivated conflicts often occur there ^[5] . Some locals say that the reason for the unrest was also dissatisfaction with the difficult economic situation in the north of the British capital, in particular, the high level of unemployment and the reduction of utilities ^{[6] [7]} . According to historian Dina Huseynova and journalist Konstantin Eggert , the roots of the August events lie in the social and economic reforms of the 1960s – 80s of the last century. ^[eight]

Duggan Incident

The immediate cause of the unrest was the incident that occurred on Thursday , August 4 at 18.15 min. by local time. During an attempt by the police to arrest a local resident, 29-year-old Mark Duggan, who was suspected of selling drugs, carrying weapons and membership in organized criminal groups, the latter was shot dead. During the shootout, one of the policemen was also injured. Shooting was open in the daytime in front of many eyewitnesses ^[9] . The Independent Police Complaints Commission, in a communiqué dated August 9, expressed doubt that M. Duggan was the first to fire on the police ^[10] . Relatives and friends of Duggan came out to protest, which then turned into riots and looting.

On January 8, 2014, a jury of the Royal Court of Justice , after reviewing the materials of the investigation into Duggan’s death, decided by 8 votes to 2 that Duggan was rightfully shot, although he admitted that Daggan wasn’t holding a weapon at the time of shooting ^[11] .

On Saturday , August 6, a crowd of about 300 people gathered at the Tottenham police station, demanding to “restore justice”, conducting an objective investigation into the circumstances of Duggan’s death.

Initially, the protest was peaceful, but in the late afternoon the protesters began throwing incendiary bottles in the direction of the police station, set fire to two police cars and a bus; some nearby shops were also crushed and looted.

According to preliminary data, the mob’s aggression was provoked by the police themselves, who, trying to separate the 16-year-old girl with a bottle of champagne from the crowd, hit her several times with a truncheon ^[9] .

The situation was normalized by Sunday morning, August 7th . After Saturday's events, Scotland Yard intensified patrolling several districts of London at once ^[12] .

Despite this, the unrest continued: on the night of August 8, in the Enfield area, located next to Tottenham , a crowd of teenagers threw stones and looted several shops and burned cars. In Brixton the policemen were stoned. In White City , the BBC's wagon is damaged. On the High Road burned double-decker bus. Several patrol police cars burned. 26 policemen injured. The unrest in Enfield was organized through social networks. Crowds scurrying around the streets screamed “Justice! Justice! " ^[13] .

On Monday, August 8, riots broke out in the city again - this time in the Hackney area. Young people trash shops and restaurants, burning garbage cans. Also reported on the burning of cars in southern London ( Peckham , Lewish ). ^[14]

On the night of Tuesday, August 9, according to British media reports, the riots spread to Birmingham , Liverpool , Manchester and Bristol . In Liverpool, several cars were broken and set on fire, shop windows were broken and several shops were looted. In Croyden, a huge furniture store building was set on fire. The fire spread to nearby houses. Klepchem looted a large department store. According to eyewitnesses and police officers, children of 10–12 years old are involved in looting, who carry boxes of alcohol, clothing and equipment from shops ^[15] .

The unit to combat the spontaneous mass unrest initial turmoil in Tottenem were suppressed.

According to the London police, "the police will remain on the streets of Tottenham for the speedy restoration of order and tranquility."

1,700 police officers were sent to the streets of the city ^[9] . However, as unrest spread to other areas of London, police forces began to be enough to suppress and localize the unrest; according to the leader of the trade union organization of the police of the city, John Tully, "today in London there are simply not enough police officers to take control of all potentially dangerous areas." ^[16] According to Sky News , on August 9, places for detainees ended in London, which forced the police to take prisoners out of the city ^[17] .

A large-scale investigation of all the circumstances of the pogroms, which received the code name "Operation Withern", is underway. Policemen analyze camera records, questioning eyewitnesses. ^[18]

On August 9, British Prime Minister David Cameron , Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg , Interior Minister Theresa May and London Mayor Boris Johnson ^[19] interrupted their vacations due to the current situation.

According to police, on August 9, more than 450 people were arrested, 69 of whom were charged ^[9] .

August 9 was recorded the first death caused by the unrest. According to an official statement from Scotland Yard , a man died in hospital, who received a gunshot wound in a car in the Croydon district in south London ^[9] .

On August 10, the cities of Gloucester and Salford joined the riots ^[20] .

On the morning of August 11, 888 participants of the riots were detained ^[21] .

Several dozens of residents of the cities where the riots occurred on August 9 began a campaign “Riot Clean Up” , aimed at cleaning the streets from the consequences of looting. To coordinate their actions, they used Twitter's microblogging service, distributing with it messages containing the #riotcleanup and #riotwombles key tags . With the same purpose, a special website riotcleanup.co.uk/ was created. Several celebrities took part in the action, in particular, actor Simon Pegg ^[9] .

The mayor of London, who was on vacation, could lose his post because of the unrest. A 20% reduction in police funding has led to a reduction in police personnel. The leadership of the state interrupted their leave and returned to their homeland. On August 11, an emergency session of the parliament was held on unrest in the country ^[22] . About 160 thousand residents of the United Kingdom signed a petition to deprive pogrom-mongers and marauders of social privileges. In the fall, it will be considered by the Parliament of Great Britain.

Four Football League Cup matches involving teams Bristol City , Charlton Athletic , Crystal Palace and West Ham United were postponed to a later date ^{[23] [24] [25] [26]} . The matches between the football teams of England and the Netherlands were canceled, and the match with the participation of teams from Nigeria and Ghana , which was supposed to be held in Watford, was postponed to October ^{[24] [27] [28]} . Also canceled cricket match with the participation of teams of England and India ^[29] and promotions of the company Visit Britain ^[30] .

The match of the first round of the Premier League between Tottenham Hotspur and Everton was also postponed to a later date ^[31] .

Iran and Libya criticized the British government for suppressing unrest. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad strongly condemned the behavior of the British police towards peaceful demonstrators. He also urged the UK government to listen to the demands of desperate citizens. A member of the government of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi also criticized the British government. Libyan Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said that British Prime Minister David Cameron had lost his legitimacy and should resign ^[32] .

Tehran students came out with a demonstration of solidarity “with the oppressed people of Great Britain” and expressed their outrage at “the police defeating a peaceful legitimate protest” ^[33] .

In the 30-year-old documents traditionally declassified in the UK on the penultimate day of 2011, telling about the work of the government, there is evidence of the authorities' reaction to the pogroms of 1981 that occurred in a number of British cities: “Following the riots in Liverpool, where some of violent clashes of local residents with the police, a government official was sent instructing to conduct an official investigation of the incident. However, even before it was sent, the authorities of the country, without understanding the details, gave an official assessment of the unrest. The main culprits of the pogroms, they called the colored population, whose representatives themselves confessed their hatred of law enforcement officers, ”writes“ Lenta. Ru ” ^[34] . (Dr. Gary Young, in his article ^[35] on the August Riots, mentioned explanations by historian David Starkey, who claimed that the main reason for the riots was that “whites became black.”)

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