Latest update: 12/08/2011

- London - riots - UK riots - unrest

Rioting abates after Cameron vows a 'fightback'

Days of rioting and looting across Britain appeared to be easing on Thursday after Prime Minister David Cameron vowed a “fightback” against widespread disorder a day earlier and ordered the deployment of 16,000 police in London.

By Rebecca BOWRING (video)
News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Days of rioting and looting across Britain looked to be cooling on Wednesday after Prime Minister David Cameron’s promised a fightback and flooded city streets with police to try to restore order.

By 9.30 p.m., incidents were limited to isolated skirmishes and standoffs between riot police and groups of youths, after four nights when often unchecked violence had been well under way by nightfall.

The capital — host to the 2012 Olympics — looked set for another uneasy but relatively quiet night, with 16,000 police deployed across the city and local groups protecting areas torn apart by arson, looting and running street battles.

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Other cities in northern and central England such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, which suffered the worst violence on Tuesday night, also appeared calmer.

“We needed a fightback and a fightback is under way,” Cameron said after a meeting on Wednesday of the government’s COBRA committee that deals with national security crises.

“Whatever resources police need, they will get.”

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, making deep cuts to public services to tackle a record budget deficit, has been quick to deny that the unrest was linked to austerity measures, calling the disorder “pure criminality”.

Public anger over the widespread looting of shops appears to have strengthened the government’s argument, with stolen goods ranging from the expensive — televisions and jewellery — to the absurd — sweets and bottles of alcohol.

However, community leaders and rioters themselves said the violence was an expression of the frustration felt by the poorest inhabitants of a country that ranks among the most unequal in the developed world.

IN PICTURES: BIRMINGHAM MOURNS RIOT VICTIMS

Family members are reminded of their loss every time they walk past the spot where Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali, and Abdul Musavir were knocked down and killed by a hit-and-run driver during the Birmingham riots early Wednesday. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

The three men were killed as they protected the petrol station in the Winston Green area where they worked. In this picture, workers can be seen fixing the petrol station shop windows. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

The family of one of the victims lives in a modest house just around the corner from the petrol station. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Pictures of the three men posted on lamppost at an impromptu street memorial. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

A man brings flowers to the memorial. Eye witnesses reported that the hit-and-run driver was black, sparking fears of racial retribution. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Close-up of a message left at the memorial. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

A woman brings flowers to the memorial. Outrage at the killing has been felt across all communities. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

British youths join Friday prayers at a mosque located just 200 metres from where Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali, and Abdul Musavir were killed. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Community and religious leaders took the opportunity to urge them to not seek retribution against the black community. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Listening to the religious leaders' sermon during Friday prayers. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Muslims leaving the mosque (which is still under construction) after Friday prayers. Although the Winston Green neighbourhood is largely Pakistani, there are also several black people who worship at the mosque. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Birmingham police were out in force in Winston Green as authorities feared that Friday prayers could degenerate into violence. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Dozens of worshippers then walked to the impromptu memorial to pray for the dead. In this picture, the father of one of the slain, Tariq Jahan (striped polo shirt, white hair) can be seen joining the mourners. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Tariq Jahan took part in a brief prayer before going home. The night before, he called for calm and urged communities to be united. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Devastated friends and family members joined the prayer. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

Police are still deployed in force in the Winston Green area to prevent further disturbances. © Mehdi Chebil/ FRANCE 24.

“They’ve raised rates, cut child benefit. Everyone just used it as a chance to vent,” one man who took part in unrest in the east London district of Hackney told Reuters.

'Broken society'

After being accused of a sluggish response, Cameron has ordered parliament to reconvene on Thursday, disrupting his own summer holiday and the parliamentary summer recess.

He made no reference to social and economic problems in inner-city areas. The initial trouble flared after an Afro-Caribbean man died from a gunshot wound after an incident involving armed police in London.

"There are pockets of our society that are not just broken but frankly sick," said Cameron, who has made fixing "broken Britain" a cornerstone of his premiership.

IN PICTURES: AFTERMATH OF THE MANCHESTER RIOTS

Courts worked through the night on Wednesday to process riot cases. Among the defendants were an 11-year old boy, a charity worker and a teaching assistant. More than 1,000 arrests had been made, with 805 in London alone.

Vigilantes

In Birmingham, police launched a murder inquiry after three Muslim men died after being run over by a car in the mayhem there. The men had been part of a group of British Asians protecting their area from looters.

The violence has appalled many Britons, who have been transfixed by images of rioters attacking individuals and raiding family-owned stores as well as targeting big business.

ANALYSIS

Britain's burning: what's behind the riots?

It has also prompted soul-searching.

Community leaders said the violence in London, the worst for decades in the multi-ethnic capital of 7.8 million people, was rooted in growing disparities in wealth and opportunity.

“This disturbing phenomenon has to be understood as a conflagration of aggression from a socially and economically excluded underclass,” the liberal Independent newspaper said.

The right-wing Daily Telegraph took a harder line.

“The thugs must be taught to respect the law the hard way. These riots have shamed the nation and the government must be held to account."