10 July New riots in Brixton are accompanied by a wave of disturbances the length and breadth of Britain. Southall, Battersea, Dalston, Streatham and Walthamstow in London, Handsworth in Birmingham, Chapeltown in Leeds, Highfields in Leicester, Ellesmere Port, Luton, Leicester, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, Newcastle, Derby, Southampton, Nottingham, High Wycombe, Bedford, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Reading, Chester, Aldershot - all these and other towns and cities report 'riots' of varying degrees over the next few days.
nowt happened here,i remember a mob of about 500 all marching down spital hill into the wicker,then turning round and marching back up again..that was it.
when i lived in toxteth (liverpool) in '88 there was still that "post-riot" atmosphere!
a member of one of my bands took part; he said you could sense it was going to happen that night for the whole day beforehand, 'cos of the tension in the air.
another friend said her uncle went out to get a packet of cigs in the middle of the toxteth riots and was never seen again!
although there's a romantic idea that it was all youth fighting heavy-handed policing (which did exist), it was also just a load of muggers and druggies having a field day.
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Originally posted by EyeSpy Why were people rioting?
unemployment,bad housing condition,thatcher.... but if i remember rightly old bill raided a drugs factory in bristol which kicked it off and it spread around the country,then it died down and our boys in blue put their size 9's right innit by raiding a house and an old dear died of an heart attack......the following riot lead to the death of pc blakelock.i may be wrong but it was 25 years ago.
If I recall correctly, there were two , relatively minor incidents in Sheffield [1981] which the local press linked to wider rioting. There was indeed trouble around Spital Hill and the Wicker involving a mob of around 500 [referred to previously by Kirky], and I believe that they smashed several shop windows, and threw stones and bottles at a nearby Police Station [Pitsmoor? Burngreave?]. I witnessed the build-up to the second incident, where increasing numbers of youths gathered around the bannisters of the Castle Market, looking balefully at people below. Later the police were called, and I remember hearing that a policewoman had been injured in fighting.
This is hardly on par with the appalling Toxteth riots, in which not only petrol bombs and rocks but acid bombs were used against Police and Firemen. I recall watching the scenes on television, thinking that the Army would have to be employed [which it very nearly was]. The riots in Liverpool are wrongly labelled 'black riots'. Just as many whites are believed to have participated in the civil unrest. The lethal cocktail of variables; terrible levels of unemployment and poverty especially amongst the ethnic minority communities, dreadful police-community relations, racial tensions etc are said by 'analysts' of the left/liberal persuasion to have 'caused' the riots. I disagree, whilst acknowledging the sheer misery of early 80s Toxteth, only human beings possess the 'agency', the free will to formulate and act upon decisions. In this case, the 'community' turned in on itself, wrecking its own meagre facilities, local shops etc. What an idiotic way to protest about social conditions and inequalities? Toxteth rioters looted from the burning local shops and homes of their fellows. They tried their level best to maim and kill Police Officers. To this day, I dearly wish the state had fulfilled its proper role [the maintenance of defence and law and order] and sent in the Parachute Regiment. Knowing several ex-Paras, I am certain that they would have 'calmed down' the rioters very quickly.
