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riots in brixton

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Riots in Brixton

At around 9:45 the train to Brixton I was on got stopped in Stockwell and we were told to get out. Friends coming back fromBrixton told me that a riot had started. They said it started after the march against police violence and that rioters were on the rampage, breaking into shops and and tipping rubbish bins. My friends in Brixton say that there's lots of police and lots of youth roaming about....
I went back home, nothing on the radio, nothing on TV nothing on the Internet. What's going on?

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Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Did it Spread To Clapham?

21.07.2001 09:50

10am The Burger King in Clapham is boarded up, No sign & police everywhere.
Did it just close overnight or has it been targeted?

Geno

Uprising

21.07.2001 10:23

Want to start a riot in Brixton? Or Cinncinati? I know, shoot an unarmed rastaman, dead! That should do the trick! This protest got a two-second slot on London Tonight...the "news" was preoccupied with the privatisation of the Tube, over our dead bodies.

Ploy

Ignorance

21.07.2001 21:53

An unarmed rastafarian? Get your facts straight.......I would assume that you would be the kind of person to form your own opinions and conclusions rather than be swayed by a media hell bent on causing trouble.

If you take the time to read the newspapers you will see that every now and again they refer to the truth, that being that an 'armed' man was shot by armed Police. The fact that the 'gun' turned out to be a lighter is immaterial. How would you have felt if that had been pressed to your neck. Would you expect the Police to back away or immediately assume that the weapon must in fact be a lighter. Do you know how to prove a weapon? I doubt it.

I really think you are missing the point. People like you whip up a frenzy by complaining about Police tactics and then when the riots break out, who do you immediately blame when they get out of hand and innocent people get hurt?

Horse's Mouth
mail e-mail: popeye@hotmail

Brixton friday 20th July

22.07.2001 20:24

I arrived in Brixton on friday at 9:30pm when the riot was in full swing. One shop had already been attacked and a large groups of black youth ran over and kicked in the doors of Morleys department store. There were no police about in the centre of Brixton at this time so the mobs had a free run attacking shops. Eventually riot vans arrived at the south end of Brixton high street and prevented the mobs from going any further south. Traffic was then diverted away from the high street. They then batton charged the crowd north and sporadic fighting continued up a side street. I had a walk around Brixton and then after an hour came back to the high street where gangs were gathering around the top just past the railway bridge. But the situation appeared to be under control.

Derek

UK Indymedia