Uncompromising Cameron vows that rioters 'will pay'

REUTERS - Prime Minister David Cameron, grappling with what could prove a defining crisis of his premiership, told parliament on Thursday rioters behind Britain’s worst violence in decades would be tracked down and punished.

“The fightback has well and truly begun,” he said in a statement to an emergency session of parliament, telling rioters: “You will pay for what you have done.”

Cameron is under pressure to soften austerity plans, toughen policing and do more for inner-city communities, even as economic malaise grips a nation whose social and perhaps racial tensions have exploded in four nights of bewildering mayhem. 

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.

The British leader said he would keep a higher police presence of 16,000 officers on London streets through the weekend and would consider calling in troops for secondary roles in future unrest to free up frontline police.

Among other measures, he said he would give police powers to demand the removal of face masks or other coverings if their wearers were suspected of crime, and pledged to crack down on criminal “street gangs” to “help mend our broken society”.

He also promised compensation for people whose homes or businesses were damaged by rioters, even if they were uninsured.

Cameron had ordered a rare recall of parliament from its summer recess to debate the unrest which flared first in north London after police shot dead an Afro-Caribbean man.

Britain’s finance minister, George Osborne, will also address parliament amid concern the rioting could damage confidence in the economy and in London, one of the world’s biggest financial centres and venue for next year’s Olympics.

With the public seething over the looting of anything from sweets to televisions, Cameron has dismissed the rioters as no more than opportunistic criminals and denied the unrest was linked to planned spending cuts, mostly not yet implemented.

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But community leaders say inequality, cuts to public services and youth unemployment also fed into the violence in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other multi-ethnic cities.

“Blacks, Asians, whites, we all live in the same community. Why do we have to kill one another?” said Tariq Jahan, whose son was one of three Muslim men run over by a car and killed while apparently protecting property in Birmingham.

“Step forward if you want to lose your sons, otherwise calm down and go home, please,” he said.

Many Britons are appalled at the scenes on their streets, from the televised mugging of an injured teenager to a photograph of a Polish woman leaping from a burning building.

Moral high ground

But occupying the moral high ground is tricky in a country where some lawmakers and senior policemen have succumbed to material greed with expenses and bribery scandals, expecting to get away with it and top bankers have taken jaw-dropping bonuses even as the taxpayer has had to bail out financial institutions.

As the clear-up proceeds, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government must find quick fixes to avoid further unrest while also addressing longer-term problems in what Cameron has called "broken Britain".

“There are pockets of our society that are not just broken but frankly sick,” Cameron said on Wednesday. He had waited two days before returning from holiday to deal with the crisis.

So far Cameron has authorised police to use baton rounds and water cannon where necessary. One in three people want police to use live bullets on rioters, according to a YouGov opinion poll published in The Sun tabloid newspaper.

A surge in police numbers — and heavy rain in many places — helped calm streets on Wednesday night, but the previous episodes of often unchecked disorder have embarrassed the authorities and exhausted emergency services.

Businessmen and residents had come together to protect their areas. Police in some areas complained vigilantes were only complicating their task and asked people to stay at home.

Police have arrested more than 1,000 people across England, filling cells and forcing courts to work through the night to process hundreds of cases. Among those charged were a teaching assistant, a charity worker and an 11-year-old boy.

The local council in Lewisham, south London, sent out a text message to residents reading: “Do you know where your children are?” — although in some cases parents had joined the looting alongside their offspring.

ON FRANCE 24 OBSERVERS On The Observers Observer in London: riots "weren't completely unexpected"

The opposition Labour party, eager for the government to soften its approach to tackling a record budget deficit, said cuts to police budgets had contributed to the violence.

“The scale of government cuts is making it harder for the police to do their jobs and keep us safe,” said Yvette Cooper, Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman.

Long-term tensions between police and youth, a dearth of opportunities for children from disadvantaged areas and visible inequalities where the wealthy often live in elegant houses just yards away from run-down city estates have been highlighted.

But Cameron’s view of the rioters as thrill-seeking thugs who are indicative of a breakdown in Britain’s social fabric and morals has struck a chord with many people.

Tensions have grown in Britain for some time, with the economy struggling to clamber out of an 18-month recession, one in five young people out of work and high inflation squeezing incomes and hitting the poor hardest.