London Riots pt.2

The riots in London have are fueling riots in other parts of England. The riots in one part of London were a result of the killing of an unarmed black man by the police. Mark Duggan, a 29 year old father of four, was gunned down in North London’s Tottenham Hale section. At the time of the shooting he was in a cab that had been stop to be searched for illegal guns, one was found at the scene. The initial reports say a gun was fired at the police. The Guardian of London says that ballistic reports show that the gunfire came from police. The family of Duggan and the community wanted answers and a peaceful protest was scheduled. The family wanted to meet with police officials to get answers and the police reps refused to meet with them, things turned ugly.

. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?" The TV reporter from Britain's ITV had no response. So the young man pressed his advantage. "Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you.” this was said on live television, the reporters trying to get a scene of why these people were acting like this.  The young man made a point, no media reporting had been done when they tried to be civil, they were ignored, they got the attention now.

The police "do not have any sense of what informs the explosive character of what is happening here," Howe said, pointing his finger at the increasingly controversial practice of stopping and searching youth in working class neighborhoods. "That was the catalyst, and residing in the catalyst is the cause," Howe said. "And the cause was the constant stopping and searching of young blacks."

These riots are very similar to the riots in L.A, after the trail of Rodney King, I should also not that the family did not intend for there sons death to cause the riots nor were they the ones who helped start it.