The London Riots

Since my time doing the Speaker's Corner assignment is devoted to this subject I thought it would be interesting  to write a little bit about this subject as well. My subject 'The London Riots' refers to the events which took place at the beginning of August this year.

Summary:

My subject 'The London Riots' refers to the events which took place at the beginning of August this year. When the police shot a 29 year old male called Mark Duggan in Tottenham on the 4th of August friends, family and people from the neighbourhood organised a peaceful protest march. As the march continued the situation got more grim when police showed up and told the protesters to leave, both sides getting more aggressive as time went by. This eventually evolved into a fight, or riot, against the local police. By using social media, young sympathizers of Duggan began to notify their friends. As more and more people got to know about the police shooting and the unfortunate death of Duggan the riot grew. By this time, the riots spread to other impoverished parts of London and the reasons to riot changed as well. What started as a protest against police violence changed into a desperate cry for attention by a generation of youthful people who feel the government has abandoned them. The death of Duggan seemed to be the trigger for these people to let the authorities know about their situation. Many of the people who took part in the riots are part of a large group of people who have poor education and big unemployment rate. However, as the riots grew even people who did not have anything to do with the cause joined the riot, they just joined for the sake of rioting.

Opinion

I think this is a very obvious signal for a large population of youthful people that their government is not doing enough to aid their situation. Many of these people are the same age as myself but lack any education or reasonable chance to get a job later on. They often come from broken homes, meaning their father or mother abandoned them. Without a school or job to attend to they often hang on the streets and cause all sorts of trouble like robbing or burglary. While they obviously difficult lives I think this riot will only have a negative impact on their situation. The rioting neighbourhoods are closely being watched by authorities to prevent future riots and their unemployment en school drop-out rate remains the same. However, I hope the government interpret this as a signal to take a serious look at these areas and come up with a way to help these people. Otherwise I cannot see how future riots and uprisings can be avoided.


Sources 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14668770
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14657456
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15426720
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14931987
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Mark_Duggan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/08/mark-duggan-profile-tottenham-shooting