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This lesson is about the very serious events that took place during the summer of 2011. It aims to help you understand what happened, talk about your worries and put forward your ideas about how riots of this kind might be prevented from happening again in the future.

RIOTS IN ENGLAND, AUGUST 2011

The 2011 London riots began on Saturday August 6 after a peaceful march in protest of the police shooting of Mark Duggan built up into disturbances and looting in many areas of London. By the night of Tuesday August 9, they had spread to other cities including Birmingham and Manchester.

Who were the rioters?

Mostly young men and women of all racial backgrounds, many dressed in hooded sweatshirts, who came out on the streets of mainly poor areas and took part in running skirmishes with the police.

What happened in the riots?

The rioters set fire to cars and buildings…

smashed shop windows and vehicles….

and looted goods from shops.

How did the police react?

The sheer number of incidents seemed to overwhelm the Metropolitan police and West Midlands police forces at times. They were accused by the Home secretary and the Prime Minister of being ‘too few, too slow, too timid.’

By the evening of 9 August there were 16,000 officers on the streets of London.

Who were the victims?

A carpet store in Tottenham was set on fire…Families living in 29 flats above the store had to flee for their lives …

They are now homeless, and dependent on their families and the community for support.

In Croydon a 144 year old business…

was set ablaze …

and completely destroyed.

The work of 3 generations up in smoke!

Asyraf Haziq, a student from Malaysia, was the victim of a violent attack during the riots. He was then robbed by people who at first seemed to be helping him, an incident that was captured on video and posted on YouTube. The video has since been viewed millions of times and has become a symbol of the lawlessness of the riots.

Video

A website called ‘Let’s do something nice for Asyraf Haziq’ raised £22,000. Asyraf has said that he will give half the money away to help others hurt in the riots.

68 year old Richard Bowes was attacked while he tried to stamp out a fire. He later died from his head injuries.

A 22 year old man has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.

The terrible toll…..

Five people died and at least 16 other people were injured as a direct result of violence during the riots.

Damage to property is estimated at £200 million.

Who were the Heroes?

Tariq Jahan appealed for peace after his son, Haroon, along with Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir, was mown down by a car while guarding shops from looters during the riots in Birmingham.

He said: ‘Today, we stand here to call to all the youth to remain calm, for our communities to stay united.’

Later he said: ‘I have lost my son - if you want to lose yours step forward, otherwise calm down and go home.’

Pauline Pearce, a jazz singer and community worker, became an internet sensation when video of her berating youths near her home in Hackney was posted online during the 2011 London riots.

PCs Fash Mohammadi and Alex Law both needed hospital treatment after facing at least 100 youths hurling bricks, bottles and other missiles in Tottenham High Road.

Although PC Law had suffered a serious injury to his foot and PC Mohammadi had a burst eardrum, they both went straight back on duty as soon as they could.

A three year old police dog called Obi, whose skull was fractured when thugs threw bricks, bottles and petrol bombs at him and his handler PC Phil Wells during the riots continued to patrol the streets for two hours, despite blood dripping from his head.

The London Fire Brigade received 2,220 calls - about 15 times the usual amount - on Monday 8 August, and attended 1,500 incidents.

The Mayor of London said ‘I congratulate them on their management, on their organisation, on the dynamism of the men and women ……There are many heroes in the story of what has happened in the last few days, but London Fire Brigade is out there, at or near the top.’

Messages of peace and love…..

What message would you have posted?

The clean up begins …..

Members of the community came out to lend a hand.

Make Tea Not War!

A huge number of pictures of people drinking tea were uploaded on the Facebook page ‘Operation Cup Of Tea’, a campaign created for people who chose to make a statement about staying at home instead of joining in the riots.

Paying for it …..

Hiding their shame!

Leaving the courthouse disguised by newspapers,

hoods, T shirts and shades

What do you think?What kind of punishment would stop the first time thief looting again?

Do you think looters should have the same punishment whether they stole babies’ nappies or a plasma TV?

How would you punish the people who caused damage to property?

Do you think punishment prevents people from committing crimes in the future ?

Prime Minister, David Cameron, who had come back early from his holiday, told the House of Commons of his ideas about what should happen next:

• To think about whether people should be stopped from using social media (Twitter and Blackberry messaging) when it is known that they are planning violence and disorder

• To look at whether wider powers of curfew and dispersal orders were needed

• To give the police more power to order people to remove facemasks when they are suspected of committing crime

• To give the courts tougher sentencing powers

• To give councils more power to turn the rioters out of their council homes

• To start anti-gang programmes.

What do you think of his ideas…?

Whilst they agreed there could be no EXCUSES for the riots, people started to think about the underlying REASONS for the trouble. Among these …..

Opportunism.

Young people joined in thinking they wouldn’t get caught.

Spending Cuts

Youth services and facilities are being cut, and there is less for young people to do.

Lack of Respect

Some young people don’t know how to show care and respect for others. They know their rights but don’t understand their responsibilities.

Greed

Nowadays we tend to judge people by what they have, rather than what they have achieved.

Parenting

Some young people grow up without clear boundaries and role models.

Policing

Do the police always treat all people equally?

Left on the Outside

Many young people in our cities are unable to get apprenticeships or jobs.They feel no sense of belonging.

Gangs

Would the riots have happened without them?

How can we help young people to use their talents and energies in better ways?

Sick Society?

David Cameron says that parts of our great country are sick …..

If that is true, how can we go about healing them?

Glossary• Social media – internet technology

which enables people to interact with each other

• curfew – a law which requires people to be off the streets by a certain time

• sentence – a punishment given by a judge in court.

Activities to complete this lesson include:

Rate this lesson here.

Click on the image above to view and/or download learning

activities.

• Voting using the Ballot Box• Drama to develop empathy• Ways of resisting peer pressure• Cautionary Tales.

If you would like to see more FREE lessons and resources from Go Givers visit our website at www.gogivers.org