Rioting!

Rioting!*

Vincent Wood

of Vincent J Wood's blog

August 18th, 2011

I have just come back from three weeks in England, most of which spent in London. I watched events unfold and how the media covered it all from the initial understanding of the Police shooting a man who may or may not have had a gun through to the more rabid hang ‘em and flog ‘em chorus that is still playing out.

What is really striking though is the complete and total divide within the ordinary working people. I spoke to quite a few people over the period and while a riot could be happening in Hackney - or more accurately, a part of Hackney - the clientele of a pub in nearby Stratford were shouting at the TV in an echo of the tabloid commentary. Working people are divided. They are not mixing with each other let alone sharing their anger.

When stepping even slightly outside of working class London, the gulf widens further. I spoke to people living on the more affluent suburbs - decent, Liberal types - who obviously inhabit a different country.

Was all of this any different from the riots of the early eighties? That’s an interesting discussion. I remember those riots too. I remember white working class pub goers ‘tooling up’ in case black rioters came into the area. There was division then too. The us and them, encouraged and fostered by Thatcherism, manifested itself in these divisions within the working class - the white pub goers, soon to depart the East End for the sanctuary of Basildon and Billericky, to aspire to become Middle Class, leaving ‘others’ behind.

All of this is a manifestation of the success of Thatcher and her successors to debunk the idea of Society and have us compete against each other - a competition that has to have winners and losers, us and them, whites and blacks and not cooperation, solidarity and shared understandings. Alas, it also underlines the failure of the left to move beyond sectarianism and navel gazing and work in a broad project to defend Society and offer a vision for the 21st century. Its an open goal. Shoot!

* Url:http://www.irishleftreview.org/2011/08/18/rioting

Social Unrest and Government Policy

Social Unrest and Government Policy*

Michael Burke

of Socialist Economic Bulletin

August 17th, 2011

There’s a very good piece on LabourList titled ‘Who Didn’t Predict a Riot?’ It lists many of the bodies or leading individuals who warned that deep cuts to public spending would lead to social unrest and violence. The short piece is worth reading in full, but here is a (far from exhaustive) list of those who did predict riots and civil disturbances because of the policies of the Tory-led government:

Derek Barnett, president of the Police Superintendents’ Association

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police

Karen Ward, senior economist at HSBC

The Governor of the Bank of England

The Archbishop of Canterbury

Nick Clegg, and not least,

Youth workers in some of the affected areas

The latter prediction was made in response to the closure of most of the youth clubs in Haringey, but all the warnings were made in an assessment of the impact of the cuts.

The disturbances were therefore not only a predictable cause of the government’s policies, they were predicted by a broad array of specialists and commentators, many of whom are not particularly hostile to the government (and one is a leading member of it). Based on historical experience, not least the effects of Thatcher’s cuts in the early 1980s, it was inevitable that riots and other disturbances would follow as a consequence of government policy. The list is a bit long and comprehensive for the Tories to dismiss them all as excusing rioting - although doubtless that won’t stop them.

Analysis from the Guardian has shown that, while rioting and looting include many layers of society and has many motivations, the striking fact is that of those currently charged with offences, 41% live in the most deprived 10% of areas in England. This too is predictable. As bodies such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies have pointed out, the poorest have been hardest hit by the cuts. Therefore, just as it is inevitable that deep cuts to public spending will lead to social unrest, those most harmed by the cuts, or at least some living in those communities will be at the forefront of that unrest. Latest analysis from the TUC shows that in some of the riot-affected areas there are 20 jobskeekers for every job vacancy.

Of course, even in the most deprived areas, the majority of people do not riot, still fewer engage in looting or approve of it. But opinion polls also show that while most think the police responded well to the riots (despite widespread media criticism of them) most also believe that David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson did not respond well to the riots.

Strikingly, while a majority of between 8% and 10% believe that government policies on welfare, education and law and order will make matters worse, double that level, 20% believe that government economic policies will have the same effect. A net 23% also oppose the cuts to police budgets.

Although opinion polls only ever represent a snapshot, and views expressed are often contradictory, this set of opinions reflects a fundamental truth. Government policies are not only impoverishing the majority, they have predictably led to violent social unrest. The continuation of these policies will only exacerbate those trends.

Tory policies are making the overwhelming majority worse off while also making their neighbourhoods and town centres less safe.

* Url:http://www.irishleftreview.org/2011/08/17/social-unrest-government-policy/

Britain Blames Social Media For Class Riots, Looks to Censorship

Britain Blames Social Media For Class Riots, Looks to Censorship*

Jason Mick

August 12, 2011

British police tried to beat down rioters as class riots swept the island nation.

(Source: Pravista Today)

Britain is back to playing the censorship game in the wake of riots, looking to censor Facebook, Twitter, and BlackBerry communications to prevent future dissent.

(Source: Virgin Films)

BlackBerry's blog was hacked after Research in Motion

pledged to turn rioters over to British police.

Facebook, Twitter, and BlackBerries are likely the first to be censored

Last week the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old man by members of the Metropolitan Police Service in Tottenham, North London, enraged the nation's working class. People in several British cities took to the streets engaging in looting, arson, burglary, robbery and "general disorder." Five civilians were killed, 186 police officers were injured, and over 1,200 people have been imprisoned for their role in the riots. Property damages are estimated at £100M ($161M USD)

I. Censor Social Media and Mobile Devices?

In the wake of the riots the situation remains tense. Britain has the lowest social mobility of any developed country and there's a growing wealth gap between the rich and poor. The lack of opportunity and equality is creating a growing public animus that threatens more violence.

To try to cut that off, the nation's political elite are considering a sweeping campaign of censorship of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

In a Thursday speech to Parliament, embattled British Prime Minister David Cameron remarked, "Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organized via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence, we need to stop them."

He said that the government and police are going "to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

PM Cameron, a Conservative (though more of a centrist by American political standards), is courting the opposition Labour Party on the matter. And it appears to be working. Ivan Lewis, the Labour Party's shadow secretary of culture in the House of Commons, comments, "Free speech is central to our democracy, but so is public safety and security. We support the government's decision to undertake a review of whether measures are necessary to prevent the abuse of social media by those who organize and participate in criminal activities."

The Prime Minister has called for meetings with heads of top social network site Facebook and top microblogging platform Twitter -- both of which he said were used to spread word of the riots and encourage them. He's also contacted Canada's Research In Motion, Ltd. (TSE:RIM) as he claims that the company's BlackBerry smart phones were used to send messages spreading the riots.

II. Services Pledge to Cooperate, Met With Public Outrage

Facebook and Twitter both have agreed to the meeting, though they say they object to censoring or banning their services in the UK. Facebook, however, vowed to remove posts or user pages directly inciting rioting.

RIM has also expressed willingness to cooperate, promising to help London police in locating those who incited the riot or participated. This outraged some members of the English public and the official BlackBerry blog was hacked by a group calling itself TeaMp0isoN.

The group comments:

Dear Rim;

You Will _NOT_ assist the UK Police because if u do innocent members of the public who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and owned a blackberry will get charged for no reason at all, the Police are looking to arrest as many people as possible to save themselves from embarrassment.... if you do assist the police by giving them chat logs, gps locations, customer information & access to peoples BlackBerry Messengers you will regret it, we have access to your database which includes your employees information; e.g - Addresses, Names, Phone Numbers etc. - now if u assist the police, we _WILL_ make this information public and pass it onto rioters.... do you really want a bunch of angry youths on your employees doorsteps? Think about it.... and don't think that the police will protect your employees, the police can't protect themselves let alone protect others..... if you make the wrong choice your database will be made public, save yourself the embarrassment and make the right choice. don't be a puppet..

p.s - we do not condone in innocent people being attacked in these riots nor do we condone in small businesses being looted, but we are all for the rioters that are engaging in attacks on the police and government.... and before anyone says "the blackberry employees are innocent" no they are not! They are the ones that would be assisting the police

Curt Hopkins of ReadWriteWeb also objected to the planned censorship, writing, "Banning those convicted of crimes from accessing social networks (the idea being that they used such access to organize criminal activities) is no different than banning the same criminals from accessing goose quills and ink pots. It will have zero effect on crime, aside from criminalizing social media itself."

III. My Take (EDITORIAL)

Our basic take on the issue is that government-sponsored digital censorship attempts are inevitable, but futile.

It's hard to consider this developing story without thinking of the late English author and philosopher George Orwell. In his seminal work 1984 he paints a grim dystopian picture of an England in which impoverished working class is kept in line via constant government monitoring. Likewise Alan Moore's graphic novel masterpiece V is for Vendetta depicted a totalitarian British government. Note that in each case, though, for all the censorship, people did still rise up against oppression (though perhaps not so successfully in 1984's account).

England today is perhaps closer to that vision of "Big Brother" than any other nation around the world. There are cameras on the street corners. And there's a growing lack of opportunity for the nation's youth -- in short, it's hard to break out of poverty, and it's hard to step out of line.

Violent protests are obviously the domain of the desperate and, in their chaotic nature; they often fail to right whatever perceived wrong caused them in the first place. On the other hand, the American Revolution began with both peaceful and violent protests, so not all violent protests work out badly.

It's appealing to try to stomp out violence via censorship, but the question becomes how far the censorship must go to stop the violent. For example, it's hard to distinguish between a protest page against the English government supporting violence and one supporting a peaceful protest. And humans are clever creatures -- those who actually do want to engage in violent protest can simply engage in code-speak that no amount of censorship can full destroy.

Another compelling question is whether the UK government is truly interested in stomping out violence or whether its primarily interested in saving face and staying in power. After all, public unrest is bad for politicians’ health in the polls. At the end of the day many politicians are first focused on doing whatever it takes to stay in power, or to keep their party in power -- even if what it takes is censorship and public oppression.

But Britain is not alone in restricting free speech online and off. In America the U.S. Supreme Court has vacillated on numerous free speech issues, such as dissent about the government, anonymous literature, obscenity, and speech in schools.

In America protesters at political events are afforded special "free speech zones", but can be arrested if they peacefully demonstrate outside the zone.

In Branderburg v. Ohio the Supreme Court ruled that speech that incited "imminent lawless action" was punishable. Hence the U.S. has the legal means to practice much of the same brand of censorship that the UK has, though, thus far they haven't been tested to a great extent. In short, even free speech in the U.S. isn't so free.

The internet's wonders of anonymity and instant mass-communication likely will push the issue of free speech. It already played a key role in overthrowing several governments in the Middle East, despite those governments' best efforts at censorship.

The message for better or worse seems clear -- politicians can and will try internet censorship, but it's a doomed effort. If politicians fail to give opportunity and equity to their people, the disfranchised will rise up. When such digital dissidents are in the minority, they will inevitably be villainized and put down -- but when they become the majority, they will eventually rise up, no matter what censorship barriers are put in place.

*Url:http://www.dailytech.com/Britain+Blames+Social+Media+For+Class+Riots+Looks+to+Censorship/article22435.htm

What lays behind Cameron's public promotion of Bill Bratton as head of London's police?

What lays behind Cameron's public promotion of Bill Bratton

as head of London's police?*

Monday, 15 August 2011

David Cameron is at the head of a campaign to bring former US police chief Bill Bratton over from the USA to head London's Metropolitan Police. Bratton is being pushed forward in the MSM as the man who cleaned up New York and LA when he was chief of police in those cities. One only has to read Vikram Dodd’s interview with Bratton in today’s Guardian to understand he is the type so favored by the MSM and political elites, and I might add the public relations industry. When he told Dodd, "I'm not coming in with the only bag of tricks in town," he revealed more about himself than he intended.

A political policeman to the core, before talking to Dodd he had clearly taken the measure of the Guardian, as trendy liberal watchwords slip from his tongue and are sprinkled throughout the interview. It is as if Bratton had been sitting on the knee of former Met Commissioner Ian Blair throughout his period in office, (Surely not, as the Tory Mayor of London sacked him.)

“I'm an advocate of gay and human rights.”

“I believe the role of the police is critical to the protection and advocacy of human rights."

“He would challenge existing police culture to make the service more open for minority groups.”

“No glass ceiling for anyone", including gay people and transvestites.” (That will get the heads spinning in Cameron’s local Tory club.)

According to US critics, Bratton is the type of policeman who has built his career going around the world to conferences and networking furiously. In this he is a mirror image of the UK’s political elite. This is the last thing the Met needs. We have recently witnessed enough of this with the phone hacking scandal which has shown where this type of corrupt networking leads. That Dodd failed to ask Bratton how well he knows Rupert Murdoch; and whether he ever enjoyed his families hospitality, was an omission to far. He also failed to put it to Bratton how come his tenure in New York only lasted 18 months, hardly long enough to redecorate his new New York office, let alone clean up the cities mean streets.

So what lays behind Cameron's public promotion of Bratton? Could it be yet another attempt by the Coalition to take us back to a 19th century type society. Until the late 1960s, Metropolitan Police Commissioners were political appointments made by the PM. Members of the establishment, mainly ex military, who gained what experience they had of policing in the colonies. Like most public appointments in those days, an ability to network amongst the ‘good and great’ and being of the ‘right type’ was the main criteria needed to be appointed to this position.

In the post WW2 period as blatant class prejudice faded slightly, people recognized this had been disastrous, as senior detectives at the Yard had been able to tip their hats in a servile way to the commissioner, whilst building criminal networks within the Met. Robert Mark was appointed to be the first commissioner to have come up through the ranks, because it was thought this would be the only way the Mets filthy stables could be adequately cleaned, and so it proved. After Mark left office in 1977, it became an unwritten rule that the commissioner must have served in all ranks of the police service, from constable upwards. For example Hugh Orde, Bratton’s main challenger for the post of commissioner, joined the Met in 1977, served as a constable until 1981, when he was promoted a sergeant in Brixton and subsequently rose through the ranks until he became chief Constable of the PSNI and later the head ACPO.

There is absolutely no doubt this was a democratization to far for the upper middle class Tory political elite whose representative on earth today is David Cameron. If he gets his way and is allowed to appoint Bratton, he will have set a precedent; and the current system of a commissioner having served in the ranks will end. The Met will return to the dark days of having an establishment titular head and beneath that, a group of often corrupt officers who lead waring factions.

The British armed forces in which working class squadies rarely rise beyond the rank of warrant officer, has always been a victim of such class elitism. If the police, the other armed hammer of the state also go down this road, it will confirm peoples fears that the UK has become the most undemocratic and class prejudiced nation in western Europe.

* Url:http://www.organizedrage.com/2011/08/what-lays-behind-camerons-public.html

British government begins stealing its peoples’ bank deposits ahead of the global financial collapse.

British government begins stealing its peoples’ bank deposits

ahead of the global financial collapse.*

Posted by PCLatest news,

August 8th, 2011

A police officer ordered by the government to rob the people.

It happened before and it is starting again. Government confiscating (stealing) the people’s life savings. Just like in 1929 the British government began its theft of the people’s life savings just before the Great Depression. After an inflationary run-up in prices and asset values, the stock market crashed in 1929, and the economy soon went with the crash. This time the British government is disguising its outright theft by claiming the entire contents of safety deposit banks are owned by criminals and the contents are the proceeds of crimes.

In March of 2011 the British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered British police to execute Operation Rize - raid and seize the entire contents (art, gold ingots, gold dust, jewelery and cash) of nearly 7,000 safety deposit boxes from three vaults in London. The British government simply told Scotland Yard that the safety deposit boxes were used by criminals to store cash, guns and drugs.

The British government instructed the police to arrest anyone who went to the vaults to try and recover the contents of their safety deposit boxes. Those who protested the seizure of the contents of their safety deposit boxes were to be charged with various offenses including pedophilia, money-laundering, drug-dealing and firearms possession.

When word spread about the government raid and theft of the contents of their safety deposit boxes people rushed to the bank vaults. The police arrested 146 and charged 30 (those with the most cash and gold in their safety deposit boxes) with trumped up pedophilia, money-laundering, drug-dealing and firearms charges.

Armed robbery of bank safety deposit boxes by London Police

This isn’t the first time the British government ordered the seizure of its people’s deposits. Back in June 2008, 1 year after the global economic crisis began, police armed with automatic weapons (shown in above image) were ordered by Gordon Brown to seize (to take by force) thousands of deposit boxes, ranging from small book-sized boxes to large walk-in safes in a string of west London raids. Armed robbery is defined as a crime ” involving the use of a weapon in the taking of money or goods in the possession of another, from his or her person or immediate presence“.

The contents of safety deposit boxes were stolen by the British government from Park Lane Safe Depository in Park Street, Hampstead Safe Depository in Finchley Road, and Edgware Safe Depository in High Street, Edgware.

The British government came up with the idea back in 2006. The British government needed new money and the only new and real money was being held by the people in safety deposit boxes. The government can’t tax what is sitting for years in thousands of safety deposit boxes so they decided to confiscate it all.

The confiscation of the people’s money was codenamed Operation Rize.

Operation Rize being code for Ruse. The ruse is the British government labeling all safety deposit box owners as criminals in order to steal the valuable contents of their safety deposit boxes. Every safety deposit box in the largest vaults in London were ordered raided based entirely on the British government’s assertion that a handful of safety deposit box owners were suspected of being corrupt.

Why is this significant for people in the United States? The U.S. government is preparing to do the same in the United States.

The U.S. government has been stealing its people’s money since 2008 and the only real money ($trillions) left in the United States is being kept in its peoples’ safety deposit boxes. The U.S. government has lost its prized AAA rating and the S&P made it known that it could drop it again in November. Yesterday,Guan Jianzhong, chairman of Dagong Global Credit Rating, said the U.S. currency (the worthless Federal Reserve Note) is being “gradually discarded by the world,” and the “process will be irreversible.” Because of the rating downgrade and foreign governments dropping the worthless Federal Reserve Note, the U.S. government is being forced by the Federal Reserve bankers to make preparations to confiscate the people’s valuable financial assets held in safety deposit boxes across the U.S. by using the same false accusation as the British government – all safety deposit box owners are criminals and the contents of those boxes deemed to be criminal proceeds.

Government confiscation (theft) of its peoples gold dates back to the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson was forced by the bankers of the newly formed Federal Reserve to sign the “TWEA” into law, forbidding American individuals and businesses from engaging in trade with “enemy nations.” The world’s functional gold standard, which had overseen tremendous global economic growth in the early years of the twentieth century, was effectively halted by the Federal Reserve bankers and the outbreak of World War I soon followed. With gold no longer being the standard for trade (the worthless counterfeit Federal Reserve Note replaced it) the stage was thus set for the Great Depression and World War II.

Shortly after taking office sixteen years later, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was forced by the Federal Reserve bankers to sign Executive Order 6102 into law, prohibiting the “hoarding” of gold. Under this Federal Reserve order, Americans were prohibited from owning more than $100 worth of gold coins, and all “hoarders” (i.e. people who owned more than $100 worth of gold) were forced, by law, to sell their “excess” gold to the Federal Reserve bankers at the prevailing price of $20.67 per ounce.

Then, once the Federal Reserve bankers had all the gold, FDR revalued the dollar relative to gold so that gold was now worth $35 an ounce. By simple decree, the Federal Reserve bankers had thereby robbed millions of American citizens at a rate of $14.33 per ounce of confiscated gold, which is why most historians agree that the Gold Confiscation of 1933 was the single most draconian economic act in the history of the United States – that is until the Federal Reserve bankers did it again 75 years later.

On November 24, 2008, U.S. Republican Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) wrote, “In bailing out failing companies, they are confiscating money from productive members of the economy and giving it to failing ones. By sustaining companies with obsolete or unsustainable business models, the government prevents their resources from being liquidated and made available to other companies that can put them to better, more productive use. An essential element of a healthy free market, is that both success and failure must be permitted to happen when they are earned. But instead with a bailout, the rewards are reversed – the proceeds from successful entities are given to failing ones. How this is supposed to be good for our economy is beyond me…. It won’t work. It can’t work… It is obvious to most Americans that we need to reject corporate cronyism, and allow the natural regulations and incentives of the free market to pick the winners and losers in our economy, not the whims of bureaucrats and politicians.”

* Url:http://presscore.ca/2011/?p=3598

Unusual Police Activity Before London Riot

Unusual Police Activity Before London Riot*

LogansRon

13 Aug 2011

Live TV coverage on Sky News states that local residents report unusual Police activity taking place before and after Officers shot dead Mark Duggan in Tottenham, London – an incident which subsequently led to a protest and riots. The local Member of Parliament says that the authorities have serious questions to answer regarding these matters.

* Url:http://info-wars.org/2011/08/13/unusual-police-activity-before-london-riot/

Angry and defiant meeting in Tottenham

Angry and defiant meeting in Tottenham*

by Sam Bogg

Thu 11 Aug 2011

African-Caribbean, white and asian people came together at the Socialist Workers Party public meeting 'From riot to revolution' in Tottenham last night (Wednesday).

Some 78 people came to discuss how to politically respond to the shooting of Mark Duggan and the subsequent riots. The meeting was angry and defiant.

Prime minister David Cameron has threatened to crackdown on people charged in connection to the riots, and evict these families from council housing. One of the most important discussions was on the start of a defence campaign.

Barry said, "When I grew up police had stupid hats and shirts, now we see the police increasingly tooled up. What we need is a defence campaign to make sure people arrested are not alone and don't get sent down with political sentences."

Another person stood up and said "All the politicians condemn the crackdown in Syria and Libya, and celebrate when these people rise up, but when we do they say it isn't ok."

Alex, 19, said, "The government and the police are going to be looking for vengeance. They are already talking about water cannons and plastic bullets.

"But if people don't listen, this will happen again."

Many people argued that the riot showed the real violence of Tory cuts.

Katie, 19, said, "People were getting upset about Carpet Right saying that it was a landmark. Yeah, it was a landmark. It survived World War Two and Hitler but could only survive one year of the Tories. What does that say?"

* Url:http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=25696

Riots spread throughout England

Riots spread throughout England

Translated Wednesday 10 August 2011,

by Elaine Scott and reviewed by Bill Scoble

Riots, which sparked up this weekend in several multi-ethnic areas of London, continued on Monday and Tuesday night, forcing British Prime Minister, David Cameron, to cut short his holiday and to return to the capital immediately.

Violence and looting also spread to other English cities such as Birmingham (central England), Liverpool (north-west England) and Bristol in the south-west.

His cabinet announced that David Cameron, who was on holiday in Tuscany, Italy, held an emergency meeting on Tuesday with the emergency services and met with the Interior Minister and the Chief of Police.

Scotland Yard announced the deployment of 1700 extra police officers to confront the worst incidents seen in the English capital for years.

On Tuesday, Scotland Yard also added that 334 people - of which one is 11 years-old – had been arrested since the riots began on Saturday. 69 of them have been charged in relation to the incidents which arose in London and its boroughs. At least 35 police officers have been injured over the weekend.

Buildings were blazing in Croydon, Peckham and Lewisham in the south of London, whilst looters filled the streets of Hackney in the east, Clapham in the south, Camden in the north and Ealing in the west.

At “Ledbury”, a two Michelin star restaurant in Notting Hill, looters and thieves stole mobile phones and made of with cash from the till as well as the restaurant’s crockery.

Hundreds of riot control police intervened to contain rioters in Hackney, several kilometres from Stratford (east London) where the Olympic Games will take place in less than a year.

Elsewhere, West Midlands police confirmed the arrest of 87 youths who, in the centre of Birmingham, smashed shop windows and started looting. It was also indicated that a police station in Birmingham had been set on fire.

In Liverpool, the local police were also confronted by scenes of violence, notably the setting on fire of several cars. “No act of violence will be tolerated on the streets of Liverpool and we have taken fast and firm measures to respond to it”, confirmed a spokesperson for the police, Andy Ward.

In the capital, the Chief of Police, Tim Godwin, made a statement to the press: “There are major incidents in a certain number of London boroughs, many police officers have been deployed, but I am asking parents to contact their children and ask them where they are”.

The first incidents in London were triggered after a protest on Saturday evening calling for “justice” after the death of a 29-year-old man, Mark Duggan, killed in a gunfight with police in Tottenham (north London). Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who went to Tottenham on Monday, condemned a “wave of opportunistic violence” which has “absolutely nothing to do with the death of Mark Duggan”, a father of four. An independent complaints commission has opened an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Mark Duggan’s death. The ballistic results were expected on Tuesday.

* Url:http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/spip.php?article1828

UK police arrests 10 more over Facebook posts inciting riots

UK police arrests 10 more over Facebook posts inciting riots*

By Emil Protalinski

August 11, 2011

Summary: 10 more men have been arrested in connection with messages they posted on Facebook allegedly encouraging people to riot in the UK.

Scotland Yard vowed to track down and arrest protesters who posted “really inflammatory, inaccurate” messages on Facebook, but it didn’t stop at just two people. While two teenagers were arrested this week in connection with messages posted on Facebook allegedly encouraging people to start rioting, 10 more have now joined them, according to the BBC.

Two are from St Leonards-on-Sea. 27-year-old Nathan Sinden, who is alleged to have posted Facebook messages encouraging criminal damage and burglary, has been remanded in custody. Arrested on Wednesday, he appeared before Hastings Magistrates’ Court this morning. An 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill. He has been freed on police bail until August 22.

Two men from Lancashire have been charged after allegedly posting messages encouraging disorder on Facebook. 25-year-old Christopher Schofield and 19-year-old Warren Calvert have been charged with intentionally encouraging or assisting in the commission of an either way offence, believing it would be committed. Schofield was bailed to appear before Burnley Magistrates’ Court on August 15 and Calvert is due at Lancaster Magistrates’ Court on August 25.

Cheshire police say a 24-year-old man from Runcorn, a 22-year-old man from Warrington, and a 16-year-old boy from Macclesfield were also arrested on Wednesday and remanded in custody. The three will appear before magistrates today, accused of inciting public disorder through postings on Facebook and other social networks.

In Guernsey, three men were accused of misusing Facebook. They were charged and bailed for allegedly trying to use the social network to incite a riot, which is an offence under the island’s telecommunications law.

* Url:http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/uk-police-arrests-10-more-over-facebook-posts-inciting-riots/2505

England riots: More accused of web incitement

England riots: More accused of web incitement*

11 August 2011

More people are being accused of using social media to incite disorder, following days of rioting and looting.

On Thursday, an East Sussex man and two Lancashire men were among those charged with using Facebook to encourage or assist in the commission of crimes.

In Guernsey, three men were accused of misusing a social network site.

David Cameron told MPs the government is looking at whether people should be stopped from using social networks if they are known to be planning crime.

Violence, disorder and criminality

In an emergency Commons statement on Thursday, the prime minister said everyone would be struck by the use of social media to organise the recent disorder.

"Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill," he told the House. "When people are using social media for violence we need to stop them.

"So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz has also promised that MPs will examine the use of social networking during their inquiry into the riots.

"We are also going to be looking at social networking and how that played a part in the way in which people suddenly decided to congregate and engage themselves in this kind of criminal activity," he said.

Police have said they are monitoring social networks closely and will track down those responsible for threatening messages.

Latest charges

A boy, 16, and an 18-year-old man will face charges of using social networks to incite violence when they appear in Essex courts later. Steven Jones, 18, of Grays, will appear at Basildon Magistrates' Court and the 16-year-old boy, from South Ockendon, will appear at Southend Youth Court. Both were arrested on Tuesday and are being held in custody.

Nathan Sinden, of St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, was arrested on Wednesday by police investigating reports that Facebook posts had encouraged disorder. He will appear at Hastings Magistrates' Court later charged with "intentionally encouraging/assisting" the commission of burglary and criminal damage".

Lancashire men Christopher Schofield, 25, of Nelson, Lancashire and Warren Calvert, 19, of Heysham, have been charged with intentionally encouraging or assisting in the commission of an offence. Mr Schofield was bailed to appear before Burnley magistrates on Monday. Mr Calvert is due to appear before Lancaster magistrates on 25 August.

Cheshire police say a 24-year-old man from Runcorn, a 22-year-old man from Warrington and a 16-year-old boy from Macclesfield will appear before magistrates on Thursday accused of inciting public disorder through postings on social network sites. The three were arrested on Wednesday and remanded in custody.

The three Guernsey men were charged and bailed for allegedly trying to use Facebook to incite a riot in Guernsey; an offence under the island's telecommunications law.

* Url:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14488055

UK planning draconian powers to shut phone messaging and social networks in times of civil disorder

Cameron's law: PM planning crackdown on rioters*

Police to have power to shut down social networks, remove hoodies and facial coverings, while looters could lose homes and benefits

By Nigel Morris, Oliver Wright, and Adam Sherwin

12, August 2011

Ministers and the security services are planning draconian powers to shut down or disrupt mobile phone messaging services and social networks in times of civil disorder.

Downing Street sources said they were considering the "moral and technical" questions of how to grant new powers blocking all mobile communications to prevent rioters organising through websites such as Twitter and the BlackBerry Messenger service.

David Cameron said "nothing should be off the table" in efforts to prevent a repeat of this week's rioting in London and cities across England. He also spoke out about how "free flow of information... can also be used for ill".

The new powers prompted politicians, social media companies and civil liberties campaigners to warn against a "knee-jerk" response that could infringe the freedom of expression and business of law-abiding web users.

Privately, senior police officers also expressed doubt that the measure would have anything more than a "marginal effect" on preventing disorder and said the real issue was the numbers of officers on the streets. The president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, has also warned in The Independent that "to suggest human rights get in the way of effective policing is simply wrong". But Mr Cameron, promising yesterday to do "whatever it takes" to restore order, outlined a series of new security measures, which included:

* Consider further powers of curfew.

* Investigate using the Army to free up police for "frontline" duties.

* Give individual police officers the power to force people to remove scarves, hoods or masks covering their faces or be arrested.

* Extend "gang injunctions" banning teenagers as well as adults from associating with each other or visiting designated areas. The Government will also consult former New York Police commissioner Bill Bratton on further measures to tackle gang culture.

Mr Cameron confirmed that a parliamentary debate would be held on whether convicted looters should lose their benefits after more than 100,000 people had signed an e-petition calling for it. He also backed several local authorities – among them Nottingham, Salford, Greenwich and Westminster – who have said they will seek to evict social tenants who are convicted of being involved in rioting. And he announced a package of financial help to firms, shops and homeowners hit by the rioting. A £20m fund will be set up to help high streets affected, while a £10m recovery scheme will go to councils to help clean up streets and improve safety.

However, significantly, Downing Street did not explicitly guarantee that all the costs of the policing operation and claims under the Riot Act would be met by the Treasury's contingency fund. It raises the prospect that some of the money could come out of existing Home Office budgets which already face a cut of more than £2bn over the next four years.

Mr Cameron's comments on censoring or shutting down social media sites and mobile networks are likely to prove controversial. "Free flow of information can be used for good, but it can also be used for ill," he said.

"We are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality."

Graham Cluley, a social media expert, said: "Although the Prime Minister's motivation might be sincere, he's not going to be able to stop people from communicating via the likes of Facebook and Twitter. There's plenty of unpleasant, hateful and illegal activity going on via these sites already. If we can't successfully police those effectively, then what chance do we have of stopping people messaging their friends saying that they should all meet outside the local branch of Currys at 10pm?"

A spokesman for the right-wing civil liberties group Big Brother Watch said: "The fact that this is even being considered should send a chill wind through the whole country." Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, which defends freedom of expression on the internet, added: "How do people 'know' when someone is planning to riot? Who makes that judgement? The only realistic answer is the courts must judge. If court procedures are not used, then we will quickly see abuses by private companies and police."

Mr Cameron said: "To the law abiding people who play by the rules, and who are the overwhelming majority in our country, I say: the fightback has begun, we will protect you. If you've had your livelihood and property damaged, we will compensate you.

"And to the lawless minority, the criminals who have taken what they can get, I say this: we will track you down... we will punish you. You will pay for what you have done."

Mr Cameron said discussion about spending cuts was "tiresome". He added: "When there are deep moral failures, we should not hit them with a wall of money." But Ed Miliband called on the Government to reconsider police cuts in the wake of the riots. "The events of the last few days have been a stark reminder to us all that police on our streets make our communities safer and make the public feel safer," said the Labour leader. "Given the absolutely priority the public attaches to a visible and active police presence, does the Prime Minister understand why they would think it is not right that he goes ahead with the cuts to police numbers?"

* Url:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/camerons-law-pm-planning-crackdown-on-rioters-2336308.html

"AN OPEN LETTER TO DAVID CAMERON'S PARENTS"

"AN OPEN LETTER TO DAVID CAMERON'S PARENTS"*

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Dear Mr and Mrs Cameron,

Why did you never take the time to teach your child basic morality?

As a young man, he was in a gang that regularly smashed up private property. We know that you were absent parents who left your child to be brought up by a school rather than taking responsibility for his behaviour yourselves. The fact that he became a delinquent with no sense of respect for the property of others can only reflect that fact that you are terrible, lazy human beings who failed even in teaching your children the difference between right and wrong. I can only assume that his contempt for the small business owners of Oxford is indicative of his wider values.

Even worse, your neglect led him to fall in with a bad crowd.

There’s Michael Gove, whose wet-lipped rage was palpable on Newsnight last night. This is the Michael Gove who confused one of his houses with another of his houses in order to avail himself of £7,000 of the taxpayers’ money to which he was not entitled (or £13,000, depending on which house you think was which).

Or Hazel Blears, who was interviewed in full bristling peahen mode for almost all of last night. She once forgot which house she lived in, and benefited to the tune of £18,000. At the time she said it would take her reputation years to recover. Unfortunately not.

But, of course, this is different. This is just understandable confusion over the rules of how many houses you are meant to have as an MP. This doesn’t show the naked greed of people stealing plasma tellies.

Unless you’re Gerald Kaufman, who broke parliamentary rules to get £8,000 worth of 40-inch, flat screen, Bang and Olufsen TV out of the taxpayer.

Or Ed Vaizey, who got £2,000 in antique furniture ‘delivered to the wrong address’. Which is fortunate, because had that been the address they were intended for, that would have been fraud.

Or Jeremy Hunt, who broke the rules to the tune of almost £20,000 on one property and £2,000 on another. But it’s all right, because he agreed to pay half of the money back. Not the full amount, it would be absurd to expect him to pay back the entire sum that he took and to which he was not entitled. No, we’ll settle for half. And, as in any other field, what might have been considered embezzlement of £22,000 is overlooked. We know, after all, that David Cameron likes to give people second

chances.

Fortunately, we have the Met Police to look after us. We’ll ignore the fact that two of its senior officers have had to resign in the last six weeks amid suspicions of widespread corruption within the force.

We’ll ignore Andy Hayman, who went for champagne dinners with those he was meant to be investigating, and then joined the company on leaving the Met.

Of course, Mr and Mrs Cameron, your son is right. There are parts of society that are not just broken, they are sick. Riddled with disease from top to bottom.

Just let me be clear about this (It’s a good phrase, Mr and Mrs Cameron, and one I looted from every sentence your son utters, just as he looted it from Tony Blair), I am not justifying or minimising in any way what has been done by the looters over the last few nights. What I am doing, however, is expressing shock and dismay that your son and his friends feel themselves in any way to be guardians of morality in this country.

Can they really, as 650 people who have shown themselves to be venal pygmies, moral dwarves at every opportunity over the last 20 years, bleat at others about ‘criminality’. Those who decided that when they broke the rules (the rules they themselves set) they, on the whole wouldn’t face the consequences of their actions?

Are they really surprised that this country’s culture is swamped in greed, in the acquisition of material things, in a lust for consumer goods of the most base kind? Really?

Let’s have a think back: cash-for-questions; Bernie Ecclestone; cash-for-access; Mandelson’s mortgage; the Hinduja passports; Blunkett’s alleged insider trading (and, by the way, when someone has had to resign in disgrace twice can we stop having them on television as a commentator, please?); the meetings on the yachts of oligarchs; the drafting of the Digital Economy Act with Lucian Grange; Byers’, Hewitt’s & Hoon’s desperation to prostitute themselves and their positions; the fact that Andrew Lansley (in charge of NHS reforms) has a wife who gives lobbying advice to the very companies hoping to benefit from the NHS reforms. And that list didn’t even take me very long to think of.

Our politicians are for sale and they do not care who knows it.

Oh yes, and then there’s the expenses thing. Widescale abuse of the very systems they designed, almost all of them grasping what they could while they remained MPs, to build their nest egg for the future at the public’s expense. They even now whine on Twitter about having their expenses claims for getting back to Parliament while much of the country is on fire subject to any examination. True public servants.

The last few days have revealed some truths, and some heartening truths. The fact that the riotcleanup crews had organised themselves before David Cameron even made time for a public statement is heartening. The fact that local communities came together to keep their neighbourhoods safe when the police failed is heartening. The fact that there were peace vigils being organised (even as the police tried to dissuade people) is heartening.

There is hope for this country. But we must stop looking upwards for it. The politicians are the ones leading the charge into the gutter.

David Cameron was entirely right when he said: “It is a complete lack of responsibility in parts of our society, people allowed to think that the world owes them something, that their rights outweigh their responsibilities, and that their actions do not have consequences.”

He was more right than he knew.

And I blame the parents.

Yours Sincerely

*Url:http://www.organizedrage.com/2011/08/open-letter-to-david-camerons-parents.html

From London to Birmingham: the sweeping protest

From London to Birmingham: the sweeping protest

The violence that has spread across London has reportedly reached Birmingham. In several parts of the capital, groups of youths clashed with police, with buildings and cars are again ablaze. In the suburbs of Hackney, East London, dozens of jacket-clad youths attacked shops and windows last Monday, attacked and even pelted riot police with fireworks, pieces of wood, oil bombs and other objects. These events follows unrest over the weekend after a man was shot dead by police.

Satire: Cameron to Step Down, Recognize Rioters as Legitimate Government?

Satire: Cameron to Step Down, Recognize Rioters as Legitimate Government?

UK rebels to be given own embassy as humanitarian intervention looms

Paul Joseph Watson

Prison Planet.com

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Given the fine example set in Libya, it follows that the rebels who expressed their grievances against the establishment last night by burning and looting half of London and other cities around the UK should swiftly be given their own embassy and declared the legitimate government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

David Cameron and the Queen need to relinquish power immediately now that their authority to rule has been so clearly and justifiably undermined.

The actions by police to disperse these rebels also amounts to an international war crime and mandates an immediate humanitarian intervention from the NATO powers.

If Cameron and the Queen fail to step down and recognize the rebels as the legitimate government, US warplanes are on standby to enforce a “no fly zone” over Great Britain.

Reports are also circulating that NATO will target the Prime Minister and his entire family for assassination if he refuses to vacate London.

The rebels who are attempting to liberate themselves from a corrupt regime by ransacking JD Sports clothing outlets should be be embraced, commended, and supported by the international community.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/cameron-to-step-down-recognize-rioters-as-legitimate-government-satire.html/print/

Police Were Ordered To Stand Down As London Burned Inadequate response led public to call for martial law

Police Were Ordered To Stand Down As London Burned

Inadequate response led public to call for martial law

Paul Joseph Watson

Infowars.com

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Precisely as we reported yesterday on the back of numerous eyewitness reports, it has now emerged that police were ordered to stand down and let London burn during the first few nights of rioting, an action that quickly led to a frightened public to demand troops on the streets, rubber bullets, water cannons and curfews.

On Tuesday we highlighted the “lackluster police response, with numerous reports from the public that police stood back and allowed looters to pillage both large department stores and private small businesses for hours on end.”

According to eyewitnesses to the initial riots in Tottenham, police were seen “standing back and allowing rioters to cause havoc,” a trend that continued during subsequent nights before Prime Minister David Cameron ordered 10,000 extra police officers to patrol London last night.

This has now been confirmed by sources within Scotland Yard who said police were ordered to “stand and observe” even as brazen acts of violent crime were committed against both people and private property, a directive which prevented them from arresting any of the troublemakers.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

“They had apparently been told to try and contain any violence but not to haul away offenders who would instead be identified through video footage later,” reports the Daily Mail.

The decision to order police to stand down is being explained as a reaction to public outcry following the death of Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper seller who was killed by riot cops during the G20 summit in 2009.

However, as we have exhaustively documented, authorities routinely allow chaos to spiral out of control, even to the extent of hiring their own provocateurs, in order to manipulate the public into demanding greater police state measures that ultimately only serve to oppress legitimate dissent against the state.

The police’s inadequate response quickly led to calls for martial law, curfews and the use of water cannons on streets in England for the first time, a power that Prime Minister David Cameron has now authorized.

Britain’s most widely-read newspaper The Sun ran a poll today which found that two thirds of Brits support the use of rubber bullets to deal with rioters, while 33 per cent supported the use of live bullets.

“Curfews are backed by 82 per cent, using tear gas got 78 per cent support and Tasers 72 per cent,” states the report.

*Url:http://www.infowars.com/police-were-ordered-to-stand-down-as-london-burned/

Want to Cover Up an Extra-Judicial Murder? Start a Riot!

Want to Cover Up an Extra-Judicial Murder? Start a Riot!*

Recent events in England of the past few days have left me feeling that something very rotten and criminal is happening within our establishments, and as new evidence comes to light the bad smell is getting worse...

Philip Brennan

PhilipBrennan.net

10 August 2011

Over the past few days there have been unprecedented rioting in the United Kingdom. Politicians are strutting their stuff, trying to look tough on crime and covering up their gross incompetence, the police are over-stretched and bringing in officers from other regions, leaving those regions under-policed in their turn, and the Main Stream Media are covering everything about these riots but the pertinent facts.

So let us examine the facts as they actually stand and let the cards fall where they may:

On Thursday the 4th of August a suspected drug dealer was shot by armed police in London. We do not even know for sure that he was involved in drug dealing, as he is now dead and cannot be put on trial and convicted through a Jury of his Peers beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, he is innocent until proven otherwise, which is no longer going to happen as you cannot put a dead man on trial under Common Law. Ergo, no trial equals no conviction, which in turn equals innocence under Common Law.

On Saturday the 6th of August there were protests outside a police station in Tottenham which turned violent, leading to some moderate rioting over night.

On Sunday the 7th of August the rioting spreads to other areas of London. Then on Monday the 8th of August and Tuesday the 9th of August rioting spreads to other towns and cities within the United Kingdom.

1. The Death of Mark Duggan

The first piece of evidence to examine is the events surrounding the shooting dead of Mark Duggan by the Metropolitan Police. As is usually the case with these things, the lie is half-way around the world before the truth has even got her boots on. The earliest accounts of his death suggest that he was armed and that he shot at one of the police officers first. Of course, the earliest accounts of this shooting were by the Metropolitan Police themselves, and they don't ever lie about these things, do they?

Remember Jean Charles de Menezes [Wikipedia] and his extra-judicial murder at the hands of the Metropolitan Police? He was shot seven times in the head by the police in what witnesses described as an "execution".

There is a precedence for the Metropolitan Police to lie about events surrounding a suspect's death at their hands, so they are the least reliable witnesses here.

Whether the riots were fomented by the Metropolitan Police or not, it is convenient that the world is distracted by these riots as new evidence comes to light that casts serious doubts on the Met's accounts of Mark Duggan's death. Fortunately, some of us still have our eye on the ball here, and we are aware that what the Metropolitan Police have said about his death so far have been a pack of lies.

"...Police had claimed that Duggan, a passenger in a taxi cab, opened fire on officers as they attempted to stop the vehicle as part of a pre-planned arrest operation. One officer only narrowly escaped death, according to police statements, when the bullet fired by Duggan hit his radio. Other officers returned fire in self-defence and Duggan died instantly. A non-police issue firearm was said to have been recovered from the scene.

On Saturday afternoon, upwards of 200 people gathered at Tottenham police station to demand “justice for Mark Duggan.” The protesters, including Duggan’s fiancé Semone Wilson, complained that they had been given no explanation for the shooting. Police say that after several hours, what they acknowledge had been a peaceful protest suddenly turned violent when gangs of youth began attacking police cars.

But according to the Guardian, yet to be released ballistic tests show that it was a police-issued bullet that was found in the police radio. This would indicate that the police did execute Duggan, as many suspected. Eyewitnesses said they saw police shoot Duggan as he lay face down on the floor..." [Emphasis mine]

Source: WSWS - "Major police clampdown as riots spread across London and other UK cities" - by Julie Hyland, 9th August 2011

Guardian reference: "Doubts emerge over Duggan shooting as London burns"

Not all the evidence is in yet, but so far it looks to me like the death of Mark Duggan was another extra-judicial murder at the hands of the Metropolitan Police, just like the death of Jean Charles de Menezes and others at their hands.

2. The Tottenham Riots

To re-quote from the WSWS article above:

"...On Saturday afternoon, upwards of 200 people gathered at Tottenham police station to demand “justice for Mark Duggan.” The protesters, including Duggan’s fiancé Semone Wilson, complained that they had been given no explanation for the shooting. Police say that after several hours, what they acknowledge had been a peaceful protest suddenly turned violent when gangs of youth began attacking police cars..."

What you had here was a peaceful demonstration by relatives and friends outside of Tottenham Police Station which later turned violent. The question we now have to ask ourselves is "how did this protest turn violent?" Again, suspicions point directly at the Metropolitan Police. From the Sovereign Independent:

“…when they saw some Police-Cars, which for some reason were just parked-up unmanned, like leaving a red rag, a red flag to a bull and they just had a go… I think that… if the Police had been more responsive to us as a community we would have gone and it would not have happened…”

Source: The Sovereign Independent - "Evidence That Hidden Elements May Have Promoted UK Riots (As the public try to defend themselves with sweeping brushes!)" by Ron Logan 10 August 2011.

Now where have we seen that tactic before? Ah yes, the student protests of last year where a police van was (deliberately) left unattended in the path of a group of very angry youths to be smashed up by them on camera, a favoured tactic of the Metropolitan Police to turn an otherwise peaceful demonstration into a riot.

Also, evidence has come to light of several police officers setting upon a 16 year old girl during these protests, which turned the crowd even uglier:

Warning: Extreme Language Used

So again, the Metropolitan Police used their favourite tactics to turn a peaceful protest violent in order to distract public attention away from the legitimate grievances expressed and onto "those yobs on our streets" (sic). The problem is that many of us are aware of these tactics and can see straight through them.

The last time the Metropolitan Police used the above tactic was during the G20 protests in London, which led to the death of Ian Tomlinson [Wikipedia]. They thought that a little tactical police brutality would lead to a riot so that they could shut down the legitimate protest against the G20 meetings and turn it into a riot. Unfortunately, it just led to the death of an innocent man.

The Tottenham riot should have been the end of the matter - a formerly peaceful and legitimate protest turned into a minor riot through the underhand methods of the Metropolitan Police, and then business as usual in the cover-up of another extra-judicial murder by the same. Unfortunately, it did not quite turn out that way, so the Metropolitan Police had to get even more underhand.

3. Order out of Chaos - the other riots.

This next section is not to be taken as hard evidence because of the very nature of what I am about to present to you. I cannot prove any of this, and therefore, this next section is to be taken as mere speculation, but there is a long history of the government working with the Mafia and other gangs in order to get things done of a distinctly criminal nature. We all know that both the US Government and the Mafia were involved in the assassination of President John F Kennedy (with George Bush Senior being implicated in the same), so the precedent is there for such things to happen.

Also, the vast majority of hard drugs are brought into the country by MI5 and MI6, just as the CIA is heavily implicated in the drugs trade in the USA (remember the Iran-Contra Affair of the 1980s? Same thing is happening now in Afghanistan), and directly supplied to the gangs through them.

Therefore, it would be quite reasonable to suspect that the other riots sparked off on the back of the Tottenham riot were deliberately used by the government to bring in a whole raft of new legislation to deal with a problem that they themselves deliberately created. It is the old Helegian Dialectic of Problem-Reaction-solution all over again, or, "Order out of Chaos".

Maybe Parliament will bring out a whole new set of Sus Laws? [Wikipedia] Hints of this have already been made in the Main Stream Media over recent months, and the idea that police will once again be allowed to stop and search people based purely upon race rather than any evidence that they might be in the commission of a crime is very alarming indeed. Also, several new laws are already in proposal that would make it harder to hold the police to account. As of the time of writing I believe that these plans have been shelved, but now would be a convenient time to bury such legislation within a raft of new laws drafted in response to these recent riots and mass-looting. Finally, with the government's own Continuity of Government plans [PDF], laws might be changed to make it easier to bring the military out during times of rioting and other civil disorder. Already we are seeing the military policing along side the police in garrison towns, which breaks constitutional law against the military policing civilians.

So it is quite easy to surmise that even if these riots were not deliberately fomented by gangs on the direct orders of government, they will still be used by the government to push through a whole raft of legislation that is detrimental in the extreme to our civil liberties.

Conclusions

The criminality of the system is evident to all who have eyes to see. The police get away with extra-judicial killings here just as much as any police force found in a banana republic, only, our police are far more adept at covering up their crimes than theirs are. Nevertheless, some cases of police malfeasance does come to light from time to time, and I suspect that this will turn out to be one of those times.

Meanwhile, I have one thing left to say to the Metropolitan Police: We know what you are up to, and you shall not get away with it.

* Url:http://www.philipbrennan.net/2011/08/10/want-to-cover-up-an-extra-judicial-murder-start-a-riot/

Lockdown in London, while trouble flares in Nottingham and Manchester

Lockdown in London, while trouble flares in Nottingham and Manchester*

A firebomb was launched at a Nottingham police station,

while shops were ablaze in Manchester

Martin Wainwright, Helen Clifton, James Beal and Jessica Shepherd

guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday 9 August 2011

West Midlands police issued CCTV images of suspects in the Birmingham disorder.

Photograph: West Midlands police/PA

A police station in Nottingham was firebombed late on Tuesday by a group of up to 40 men, police said, while there was looting in Manchester and there were tense scenes in Salford.

Canning Circus police station in Nottingham was attacked by the group but no injuries were reported, Nottinghamshire police said just after 10pm.

The force said a number of men were detained nearby.

There was also trouble in Birmingham and other parts of the West Midlands, but relative calm in London as Scotland Yard attempted to put the capital in lockdown with 16,000 police on the streets, in contrast to 6,000 on Monday.

Scotland Yard ordered its officers to use every available force including the possible deployment of plastic bullets to tackle widespread rioting and looting as the capital was flooded with the biggest police presence in British history.

Sporadic looting was taking place across Manchester city centre; there were also disturbances in Salford and tense scenes there around Shopping City, where a large group of youths had gathered.

In the centre of Manchester, rioters set fire to a Miss Selfridge shop on Market Street. Then around 100 youths looted Foot Asylum in the Arndale Centre after two raiders smashed open the glass entrance with a large stone slab. Once the glass was shattered, youths rushed in and carried out clothing and shoes.

A recently–opened fashion boutique in King Street owned by former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher was been hit by looters.

A Diesel clothing shop and a Bang & Olufsen store were also broken into, with a chorus of cheers going up among the crowd as the front window of the latter was smashed.

Several of the looters shouted out directions for the others to follow, suggesting a degree of co-ordination.

The mob scattered in different directions as police sirens sounded.

Rioters threw stones and other missiles at shop windows, whooping and shouting as they ran from police.

In Piccadilly Gardens an amusement arcade had been plundered. Machines were overturned in Piccadilly Museums with coins strewn across the carpet.

A cafe on Deansgate also had its windows smashed.

Large crowds gathered along the street, while looters helped themselves to bottles of alcohol from a Sainsbury's Local at the corner of Bridge Street.

The thieving continued for several minutes in front of onlookers.

All the looters had grabbed what they wanted and disappeared into side streets before three police vans arrived.

A jewellers was also reportedly attacked before plain-clothed police nearby ran in to arrest two looters from the shop.

Riot police in vans chased large groups of youths wearing ski masks and hoods as they rampaged through the city streets.

Other gangs prowled the streets on mountain bikes, their faces also masked.

On occasions they could be seen talking to drivers of cars on mobile phones, exchanging information, while they drove around the streets in what appeared to be co-ordinated manoeuvres.

Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney of Greater Manchester Police said: "[The force] has been engaged with dealing with outbreaks of minor disorder in Salford and Manchester city centre this afternoon, involving a small number of youths. A handful of shops have been attacked by groups of youths who have congregated and seem intent on committing disorder. As we have said, we will not allow such mindless criminal damage and wanton violence to go unpunished and we will arrest and prosecute anyone found to be involved in looting or acts of criminal damage."

Earlier two cars were set on fire in West Bromwich where shops closed early in the afternoon after rumours of trouble circulated online.

Police in the West Midlands made a total of 36 arrests Tuesday night as fresh disturbances saw looting and vehicles set alight Birmingham, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

But West Midlands Police said the disorder was not as severe as Monday's looting in Birmingham city centre, which led to 142 arrests and saw 13 people taken to hospital.

Shops, including a branch of Marks & Spencer and a hi-fi store, were again targeted in Birmingham tonight, although two groups of youths were largely kept away from the city centre by riot police.

In central Birmingham a fluid mob of up to 300 youths gathered, dispersed and regrouped, attacking shops.

Chased by police, groups tried to get into the Mailbox shopping, office and restaurant centre near the city's rejuvenated canal basin, and the Pallisades shopping complex above New Street station before staff brought shutters down.

Marks and Spencer's had windows damaged and a car was set on fire in Albert Street by a large gang retreating from the Dale End part of the centre. House of Fraser was attacked along with a nearby jewellery shop before a line of riot police with batons drove the crowd away.

West Midlands police appealed to families with teenagers out and about to get in touch with them and persuade them to go back home. Three men had been arrested by 8pm.

Riot police pinned 60 youths in part of Wolverhampton after five hours of sporadic violence which left the town centre empty of residents and visitors, with shops shuttered and pubs shutting early. As in Birmingham, a core of several hundred troublemakers continually gathered, dispersed and then picked new targets.

The atmosphere also remained very tense in Handsworth with groups of Afro-Caribbean youths gathering, while Asian shop-owners and security staff stood outside their heavily-shuttered stores.

* Url:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/riots-salford-wolverhampton-west-bromwich

Politicians are the real looters

Politicians are the real looters*

Tue 9 Aug 2011

The political establishment, or those bits that have returned from holiday, has lined up to condemn the riots.

Some right-wingers, like Tory Toby Young, grabbed the chance to demand the government deploy troops against people on Britain’s streets. BBC newsreaders asked why the army couldn’t be brought in.

Tory home secretary Theresa May denounced the actions as “sheer criminality”.

Very few talked about the reality of ordinary people’s lives and the deep bitterness that lay behind the riots.

Labour leader Ed Miliband called for “firm action from the police”. Some may have hoped that black Labour politicians, such as Diane Abbott and David Lammy, might have defended their young, black constituents.

Curfew

Instead Lammy, MP in Tottenham, said the riots were a “disgrace”. And Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North, said the government should consider imposing a London-wide curfew.

Labour MP Ken Livingstone did talk about the damage that government cuts have done to young people. But then he called for more police—and even the use of water cannon on the streets. They have never been used in mainland Britain.

Politicians have no right to moralise to anyone about how to live their lives. They are up to their necks in corruption and are stealing millions from ordinary people with their savage cuts and attacks on pensions.

John McDonnell MP pointed to the real problems in society. He said, “MPs and their expenses, bankers and their bonuses, tax evading corporations” had created a “society of looters”.

The politicians—and their rich, banker friends—are the real looters.

Media takes sides with the police and rich

The mainstream press and TV have used the riots as an excuse to wheel out every racist idea they’ve ever had about poor people living in cities.

The Sun decried a “Descent into Hell”, while the Mirror called it “Yob Rule”. The Daily Telegraph claimed that “gangs run riot from east to west”.

The press is keen to downplay the political and social responsibility the government and the ruling class have.

The Daily Mail claimed that “to blame the cuts is immoral and cynical. This is criminality pure and simple.” The Sun said that the people on the streets are “a rabble without a cause”. They have used the riots as more fuel to demonise young people.

The mainstream media is joining in with the dangerous chorus for a harsh police crackdown to lock down areas and to jail the “looters”.

As the phone hacking scandal showed, the media can be a great friend to the Tories and the police.

* Url:http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=25684