From the first time we took our two on holiday through Manchester Airport to the other week in London at St Pancras Station we've always seen heavily armed police and they've always made me (and my other half) feel wary. There are quite a few reasons behind that and, like F's mum, I once found myself in the middle of a riot.
Riots are the most unpleasant and worrying places to find yourself. When the normal rules of law and order break down for that brief time you're at the mercy of anyone. So understanding what causes them is essential. The 2001 Bradford riots to which F refers are a good example.
Riots normally occur during warm to hot weather. But looking at the 2001 riots, far from them being
Muslim (predominantly Pakistani) youths hell bent on causing destruction and injury.
all the facts point to the riot being initiated "on the nights of 8 and 9 July 2001 when groups of between thirty and a hundred
white youths attacked police and Asian-owned businesses, in the Ravenscliffe and Holmewood areas"
(Bagguley, P. and Hussain, Y. (2008) Riotous Citizens: ethnic conflict in multicultural Britain, Aldershot, Ashgate, page 58.)What's also worth remembering is that in the months preceding the riot the National Front had been attempting to organise marches through the city and, at that time, the National Front was attracting a lot of working-class supporters from those who saw their areas changing significantly.
It's hard to know for certain what the flashpoint was, but it is known that a rumour spread that the NF were gathering at a pub which itself led to a confrontation outside the pub in which an Asian man was stabbed. Interestingly, the most severe sentence handed down was to an Asian - a 48 year-old businessman.
The 1981 Toxteth riots centred on the Black community and appeared to be at least partly a response to the heavy-handed policing tactics of the time. And, once again, it was hot weather.
It's very easy to come up with quick fixes for rioters and severe penalties but there's a very important truism regarding society: society is policed by consent. If those in a society choose to ignore the rules then action will be taken against them to protect the majority of that society. But if the majority of society decides they won't obey the rules the no amount of policing will make a difference and thus Somalia is born.
That's why we need to understand the root causes of riots. Hot weather is certainly one, a sense of grievance is another, powerlessness is a third. There are bound to be more and, in a complex society such as the UK's, there will always be those with grievances - justified or not. Sadly, there are also those with racist agendas, such as the National Front, who will seek to exploit perceived issues or drive wedges between groups based on their skin colour or their religion. And that shows no signs of abating.
