Topic

So, the UK riots have spread to Bristol.

..Looks like I'm not going out today.

Posted 13 years ago by Ragsk Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Can't say I'm too surprised, (having lived through the St Pauls and the Hartcliffe riots). 

    Stay safe, where ever you are @Ragsk.
    Posted 13 years ago by Ama Gafr Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks, I will do. Luckily I don't live near the city centre, but I feel so sorry for those who do.
    Things seem to have quietened down now, but they'll probably pick up again this evening.. even rioters need to sleep I guess!
    Posted 13 years ago by Ragsk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Be safe, Ragsk and all other UK Glitchen!
    Posted 13 years ago by Lilypad Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hope you don't mind but want to put a message out for Milly21.  I put one in updates but it moves so fast.  Milly lives in North London not far from where it all started, so MIlly, please let us know you are OK!

    Stay safe Ragsk!
    Posted 13 years ago by ♥joby♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Most of Bristol is now closed boarded up just incase. @Ama I too have lived through the St Pauls and Hartcliffe riots, I remember watching them both not very nice to live through :(
    Posted 13 years ago by Miss Persian Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Eek, I hope this all gets settled soon. It's gotten quite out of hand!
    Posted 13 years ago by Lung Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It has! Just looking at the pictures of the fires in London, and wondering who could even do something like that, it's appalling! It's just worrying that it's spreading all through the country to other cities too - people are just jumping at the opportunity for mindless violence.

    There's now extra security down in the centre of Bristol - so hoping nothing will happen this evening, and judging from London, I have to say we got off lightly. Only a few fires, and one place looted.

    @Jobynana - hope your friend Milly is okay!
    Posted 13 years ago by Ragsk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks Ragsk, not heard from her yet, but she is a big Glitch fan so hopefully she will come on line and let us know she is OK;-)
    Posted 13 years ago by ♥joby♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +11 (hugs) and good thoughts for all the UK Glitchen! Hope you stay safe and well. 
    Posted 13 years ago by Lelu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Watching the new this evening it is like a virus spreading up the country. Wolverhampton, Birmingham  West Brom and now Salford Greater Manchester all have burning building. :'( :'(
    Posted 13 years ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It is going to get worse before it gets any better :(, thank goodness I have not got to work tonight, I live and work in the next area to be hit in Bristol from what we are being warned...
    Posted 13 years ago by Miss Persian Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How are the police staff holding up? It must be very difficult to be in law enforcement during high-stress events like this, working extra duty under extreme conditions (and what of their own loved ones?). Don't know if anyone has family or friends in service. 
    Posted 13 years ago by Lelu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Lelu
     I know someone in the police service extremely well. I can vouch that they will be exhausted by now. Any rest days will be cancelled and they will be ORDERED into work whether they like it or not. You don't have time to think or eat on jobs like this. You can not just pop off to use the bathroom or go for a snack.
    I just need to point out behind those uniforms and shields every single one of those Police officers and Fire fighters [men and women] have wives/husbands and loved ones at home watching the news now feeling sick to the stomach with worry :'(
    Posted 13 years ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There is a lady on fb who cant turn the tv on for fear her children will see what is happening as her husband is a police officer, so she is relying on twitter updates.Misha a man I work with his son was on holiday and he has been called back and holiday cut short
    Posted 13 years ago by Miss Persian Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Also while this is going on, any on-going crime investigation is on hold. Unless it is CID related any crime like your car being stolen or common assults mugging etc. There is no one there to fill in the paper work. Obviously that's only in the areas under attack or close by.
    Posted 13 years ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Stay safe, UK Glitchens. I live in a relatively small city in the US, and luckily, I've never had to deal with rioters. Good luck. =/
    Posted 13 years ago by Tonya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • has anyone heard anything from milly?
    Posted 13 years ago by Marcm Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh shit. They are around the fkin corner from me. Looks like I aint sleeping
    Posted 13 years ago by Marcm Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, marcm. Be safe. It breaks my heart to see the anger and destruction. 
    Posted 13 years ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • im not 100% sure tbh  theres a difference of rioters and bullshitting on fb
    Posted 13 years ago by Marcm Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have family living in the Bristol area though I have never been there. I hope all are safe and well and that this dreadful situation is soon under control.
    Posted 13 years ago by Leithwyn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My thoughts and prayers are with you UK Glitchens. 
    Posted 13 years ago by Riverwalker Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My family are in the UK but fortunately on the Isle of Wight, far from the riots. 
    You're all in my thoughts. 
    Posted 13 years ago by Zira Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My sister in law is a police officer in a smallish town in the Northwest of England.  

    She tells me that over half their staff has been sent down to London or Manchester to bring up the numbers in those cities.  All leave, holidays and days off have been cancelled.  
    This means that they are now severely understaffed to look after their own town and local troublemakers and criminals are of course taking advantage of that.  Shops and businesses are easy targets for those intent on damage and using the current situation as cover.
    Posted 13 years ago by Wrendolin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hi all, I live close to Tottenham and Enfield. 

    The people who are doing this are opportunistic, cowardly, anti social thugs. they have no political agenda and half of them wouldn't be able to spell that. It is total mindlessness and stupidity.

    A point to mention is that in Enfield and Tottenham, where these incidents have taken place, are bristling with CCTV cameras, on the retail parks that have been attacked there are also scores of cameras. The police helicopters are equipped with high resolution camera that can read a bus ticket.

    They are going to be found, they are going to be arrested, and it is my hope that names and addresses are released for the benefit of those people who have lost their homes and their jobs as a result of the actions of these morons.

    The carpet shop set alight on Saturday had 26 flats above it, many of them occupied by single parent families. 

    Last night in Enfield there were local residents out on the streets determined that this mindless minority were not going to get a chance at looting and destroying their local community. This was also witnessed in other parts of London too in various communities.

    Come the aftermath I know people will say its about poverty and lack of opportunity, this may be the case - I don't know but it does not excuse the violence and looting and arson that is being carried out. Looking at the TV pictures I see that these poor people are wearing designer clothes and trainers, and carrying Blackberries and iPhones. I can't afford those!!

    Sorry if this has become a rant, but as I said the majority of law abiding citizens are disgusted by this. 
    Posted 13 years ago by Max Output Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Max O

    ETA nooo +1000
    Posted 13 years ago by ♥joby♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • As an ex-Londoner now living in Vancouver, the riots are especially interesting to me.

    We had a riot over here earlier this year. Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup in the final game of the final (the hockey equivalent of losing the World Cup final on penalties). The city had arranged large outdoor screens downtown so that tens of thousands of people could come downtown and watch the game together. The second the final whistle blew, cars started getting overturned and set alight. These core rioters weren't there to watch a hockey game, they were there planning to riot under the cover of the sheer volume of people & probably would have, regardless of the final score.

    Several things of note:
     - the sizable number of young people, previously law-abiding, who got swept up in it, joining in cos it just seemed a fun thing to do at the time
     - the amount of opportunistic looting... nobody was breaking the windows of the $1 pizza places but the department stores and electronic stores got cleaned-out
     - the number of idiots who posted photos of themselves looting onto facebook
     - the groundswell of public hatred for the rioters... blogging, naming & shaming them [actually I'm still quite angry about this... two wrongs do not make a right & these people, criminal or not, will have difficulty getting a trustworthy job for the rest of their lives because all an employer has to do is google their name and *bam*. I'd rather the details were just passed to the authorities for the courts to deal with... I thought we'd risen above vigilantism]

    I think most of that was pretty well covered by the international media. But what the foreign media didn't pick up as well was what happened the following day. Many Vancouverites were so disgusted at this happening in 'their' city that over a thousand people came into town the following morning with gloves, brooms and garbage bags and cleaned the whole city up!

    I'm glad there seems to be a bit of that going on in the UK, but in general I don't see as much 'we love our city' going on. Maybe it's because the UK riots seem to be more "shitting in your own bed" whereas a lot of the Vancouver rioters seemed to have come from out of town. ('Actual Vancouverites' seem to have this chip on their shoulder about how all trouble in the city is caused by suburban teenagers... not 100% true of course but some truth in their elitism)
    Posted 13 years ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • well, hellllllllllo there, fellow ex-Londoner-now-living-in-Vancouver.

    *high-fives Snazzlefrazz
    Posted 13 years ago by Wrendolin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wrendolin, my uncle (we are from the NW) had the same problem, he was going to get sent to london but he didnt get the call in time, so he went to manchester instead
    Posted 13 years ago by Marcm Subscriber! | Permalink
  • *high-fives Wrendolin back*

    We probably know each other in real-life, or from another forum somewhere LOL

    Will be fun to put faces to a couple of names if/when we have a Vancouver launch party.
    Posted 13 years ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just saw this. Some of you indie lovers may be interested:
    cognitvedissonancerecords.c...
    Posted 13 years ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wow, there is more rioters. Check this video - chzb.gr/mRHPTG
    Posted 13 years ago by Milolin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just watched some of the videos that Milolin"s (funny) link led to, of actual news stories. I'm amazed at the people just standing around watching the vandals. Regular people, adults, walking past while a kid sets fire to a store display after the glass is broken. It took several minutes for the fire to start, and get going. People walked past, looked at it, and walked on as if it was an everyday occurance. And no one can speak up, ask why he's doing it? Suggest maybe he shouldn't? The boy didn't look at all threatening, he was very calm, just wanted a show. It just blows my mind, how in several vids, people were just ignoring it all, or just standing around watching. It makes me think of the Watts riots, those people are going to have to live with the ugly damage in the weeks, months, and maybe years to come. They're trashing their own home.
    Posted 13 years ago by Phoebe Springback Subscriber! | Permalink
  • People are afraid to speak up to kids these days. Because kids don't need to respect strangers or older people, so as a stranger you're very likely to get some swearwords your way if you're lucky, and if you're not, you get stuff thrown at you. Knowing other peole on the street will be more likely to ignore it instead of helping you is not motivating either. It's a downward spiral.
    Being rude, impolite is now considered assertive. Many parents applaud it when a kid speaks up for himself or doesn't listen to random strangers.
    I feel so sorry for all those hardworking people losing their store. Also setting fires to cars: the owner might have worked very hard to get it, and might be totally dependend on it for work.
    It's just brainless demolition, because it seems fun. It's generation Y that doesn't think about consequences, purely hedonistic ideas. Sure, set the carpet store on fire. I doubt they even have noticed there are homes above it, and that setting the store on fire means setting those on fire too. It means that people could die, that you are trying to kill people. But hey, they have firealarms so they get out in time, and stuff can be replaced so no harm done, right?
    So what if a single parent family is put on the street? So what if they lose all their toys, pictures, stuff, work? Oh wait, they don't think that far ahead.

    I know I'm not the most courageous person in the world when it comes to adressing someone doing something bad, but I try, I got to set an example and step out of this fear controlled society. Break the spiral.
    Ok my rant done too now, I go and stick my head in the sand for a while because I am getting to sad at this. The lady at the day-care told me she was very worried about the world and news when she had a little baby, it just makes you worry more about the world.
    Not following the news is good for your health, stick to your own little world and fix the problems there first before mingling in other troubles.
    A better world starts at your own behaviour. (Translated a bit from dutch). So I try to make my world directly around me a better world, got to start somewhere eh?

    +lots Max Output, I hope the good citizens will stay strong!
    Posted 13 years ago by Miriamele Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, the riots *is* the world directly around me right now, and I *am* trying to make it a bit better! :)

    I'm pleased to report the cleanup efforts in my part of the world were very well attended, by a really diverse crowd - lots of kids, students, 'grown-ups'; people from middle-class areas, people from council estates, people without homes; so many pitched in that our lovely city is cleaner than it's been in a long time, and most of us had little to do.

    Fixing the communities around here will be harder, and there seems to be less will to do so; I hope to be proven wrong. I'm profoundly grateful that there were few injuries, in our area, and that I and my friends have not lost our livelihoods in the process.
    Posted 13 years ago by Katchen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ Katchen: The positive side to this is that you probably feel more connected to those people who helped cleanup. It brought another group closer together as you discover shared values. Build further on that. Look at what is working, what is good. :)
    And ofcourse, for some people the riots are right in their world. I am glad YOU are not ignoring it! (Not that I ignore it, I just can't do very much and it just makes me sad and worry while I don't want to burden my baby with stuff like that just yet, he should have careless fun.)

    Glad to hear you and your friends are ok!
    Posted 13 years ago by Miriamele Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ Miriamele: I'm sorry; I hope that didn't read as if I was being critical - I wasn't :)

    What really surprised me, was that I'm pretty convinced there was some small overlap between them that rioted and them that cleared up; people are complex and contradictory - there is always hope!

    We're all largely ok; thanks for the well wishes :)
    Posted 13 years ago by Katchen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Katchen, I didn't read it that way, I was more a bit "duh"-ed about myself for not thinking of people who are in the middle of it.
    Posted 13 years ago by Miriamele Subscriber! | Permalink