Our British counterparts have been in a bit of a pickle over the past few days. Their city has been overrun by masked hooligans who have been setting stuff on fire and looting tea, crumpet, wig, and probably other types of shops under the guise of “protests” in what Scotland Yard is calling the worst civil unrest in memory.
Our UK office has been liveblogging the action since last night. So far they’ve been mugged, driven through an angry mob, and almost gotten their equipment smashed by idiots. We’ll update as the day progresses.
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06.55PM: When all this finally peters out, there are people who will never use the word “ransacking” again.
06.51PM: Police have confirmed that bins are on fire in Canning Town in the east of London. Uncomfirmed reports that a bus is ablaze, too, while a gang has kicked in the doors at JD Sports in Nottingham.
06.39PM: A friend of VICE’s Jamie Taete sent us this photograph from Manchester. Doesn’t look too dangerous just yet.
06.25PM: More from our photographer in Manchester, Morgan Frost: “They’re trying to clear Piccadilly Gardens with little success. Big show of force though. All the shops now closed up.”
06.24PM: Hearing rumours from a strong source that the army have been put on standby. Obviously there’s nothing happening that would warrant their deployment just yet, it’s just what we’re hearing.
06.16PM: Important to stress that nothing resembling a riot is occurring in Manchester at the moment. Our photographer says there are “60+ officers in full riot gear in Piccadilly Gardens, more arriving all the time. Maybe 100 kids, mostly 14-20 years old. Nothing kicking off, but it’s tense. Phone battery dying, will be in touch later.”
06.11PM: West Midlands Police have also confirmed that some shops have been broken into in Wolverhampton and two cars have been set on fire in West Brom. We’re trying to get in touch with people there now.
06.07PM: The first reports of trouble today have come through. Our photographer in Manchester is telling us that 100 youths have stormed the Arndale shopping centre, “trashing” a branch of Reiss. Image below from Twitter:
06.02PM: If you missed it, it’s been confirmed that at no point did Mark Duggan shoot a gun at police.
5PM till 6PM on the next page.
05.55PM: A guy is trying to organise a looting spree in Barnet tonight on Facebook. He looks a fucking pillock.
05.49PM: Some guy in a bad hat has done a good thing and set up a live feed from Oxford Circus.
05.46PM: We also went to the Broadwater Farm Estate to interview Mark Duggan’s friends and make sure no one forgets about that. Read that article here.
05.28PM: We’ve put together a short film about the riots that have taken place in our home borough of Hackney so far. You can watch us interview brave Turks and flee charging riot police over at VBS, or in the embedded player below. Kind of weird that something that has led to massive factories burning in Essex and riots all over the country started on our doorstep.
05.25PM: Maybe you saw this already while we were away, but sales of baseball bats have risen by over 5,000% in the last 24 hours on Amazon. Any of you guys air-swinging one in a satisfied kind of way right now?
05.24PM: Sorry for the big gap there. We’ve been moving this to another server as it’s crashing every ten minutes or so. Should be plain sailing now.
04.21PM:
Ha.
04.11PM:
Arrests are being made on Oxford Street now. Reports that members of the public have gotten involved to help police. (Via Pavitar Mann)
04.04PM: Shops are closing on Oxford Street. Lots of teenage girls on Twitter are getting very worried, but it seems to be calm down there at the moment, and there’s yet to be a Molotov tossed in anger so far today.
03.48PM: Loads of you are telling us the Twitter and Facebook profiles of that ugly looter girl are fake. We’re inclined to agree. Sorry, ugly looter girl!
03.20PM: Hoxton Square idyllic at the moment. Couples picnicking while Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose” blares from a homeless man’s hi-fi. Shall we use it to soundtrack the VBS film we’re making about the riots?
Also, Jamie Taete’s just spotted the guy who plays Harry Potter’s fat brother in those wizard films.
Still reports that crowds gathering slightly further north towards Hoxton Market, though. Council workers are putting locks on bottle bins to stop looters raiding them for ammo.
03.14PM: More eyewitness reports of “large gathering” on Hoxton Street. Not sure what their intentions are just yet. A few from VICE en route, so we’ll let you know.
03.05PM: Eyewitness reports from our own sources of trouble brewing in Hoxton. Apparently a man ran into Hoxton Square screaming “They’re coming! Clear the square!” It’s empty now, but photograph of Hoxton Street found on Twitter seems to show gang amassing.
2PM till 3PM on next page.
02.58PM: The girl who was bragging about her loot haul on Twitter earlier can be found here on Facebook.
02.57PM: For those asking about the Sugababes quote earlier, we removed it at the request of Children in Need. It was real.
02.44PM: London mayor Boris Johnson coming under heavy attack in Clapham Junction right now. Furious crowd shouting references to Stephen Lawrence, closed community centres. “We want Ken Livingstone.” “What about Mark Duggan?” “You’re racist, you need to resign.”
02.41PM:
Lots of emails and talk on Twitter saying they can see smoke billowing into the air above Stratford.
02.20PM: Reports that shops in Brixton are closing, too. This isn’t the place for speculation, but if we had to guess – “HAD” “TO” “GUESS” – we’d say the police are shutting everything down so they can deal with shit forcefully this evening.
02.16PM:
BBM broadcasts apparently going around in Leicester, Sheffield and Manchester.
02.13PM: Reports of shops shutting on Shoreditch High Street and in Soho. Man’s gonna bust up Nickelodeon:
Midday till 2PM on next page.
01.48PM: Lots of panic on Twitter about London Fields, but as far as we’re aware it’s just hype at the moment. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear any different.
01.44PM:
I know this looks like a Little Britain parody of a girl rioter, but apparently this account was 100% real. She’s deleted it now. Look at her ugly face!
01.23PM: Apparently, some rioters are on their way to Hackney Town Hall, but we’re not sure how much there is left to ruin around there. The council didn’t slack this morning, and had tidied away most of the rubble from yesterday’s street battles before we showed-up. The only people left clearing up were JD Sports.
The two photos below are from the Carhartt warehouse that was looted yesterday. Jamie Taete was almost as dismayed by the looters’ decision to leave behind a photo he took as he was by Carhartt staff’s irony-bypass (surely it’s obvz that the image is a piss-take?).
1.18PM: Police have called workers at the Westfield Shopping Centre to warn them that they’re gearing up for violence there later on. Officers are currently setting up barricades.
1.14PM: The man shot in Croydon last night has died, according to Guardian journalist Vikram Dodd.
1.10PM: Police will be using plastic bullets (baton rounds) tonight if necessary.
1.06PM: Best to avoid Mare Street again today – we’ve heard through our own sources that a young mob’s on its way to Hackney Town Hall. Apparently staff have been evacuated. Proper confirmation on that when we get it.
01.00PM: The FA have announced that the game England were scheduled to play against Holland at Wembley tomorrow night is off.
12.45PM: As usual, it’s fallen to the Iranian regime to provide the voice of reason in the chaos. Their Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has advised the Met to stop being so nasty to the looters and to discuss their demands in order to calm the aimless rioting that’s torn through London since Sunday night.
12.30PM: A Tumblr’s been set up asking for your pictures to help police catch looters. Surely only a matter of time now until a black and white image of Audrey Hepburn scarpering down Mare Street clutching six pairs of Reebok Ultralites emerges.
12.08PM: Our leader has spoken. Here’s a brief summary of what came out of his mouth:
– There will be 16,000 police on the streets tonight, as opposed to 6,000 last night.
– “If you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishments.”
– Parliament will be recalled for a day on Thursday.
– Nice tan.
12.02PM: “Not heard of any rioting in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland,” says Mr D in the comments below. “Shouldn’t it be renamed The English Riots?” Well, perhaps, but last night we limited ourselves to London and looked what happened there.
10AM till midday on next page.
11.54AM:
Which just goes to prove the old maxim: If you run a fancy-dress shop, don’t try to help people who need it, because they will come and burn your livelihood down.
11.16AM: So it turns out that the Sony DADC in Enfield which burned down contained most of Britain’s decent record stocks. XL Records, Domino Records, Angular Records and many more may have lost their entire stock. We called Joe Daniel from Angular Records for a quote. He said: “Cunts.” Seconded.
10.56AM: Still waiting to hear from the Prime Minister. Apparently he’s going to announce that parliament will be recalled on Thursday, back early from its summer recess.
10.19AM: Fire crews still putting out blazes in Ealing, Enfield, Croydon, Woolwich and Woodford Green. If the police have been woefully overstretched the last couple of nights, will it be fire crews who struggle to cope with demand this evening? A chilling thought.
10.15AM: A couple more things before David Cameron’s rallying speech at 10.30AM: find news of clean-up operations here, and you may have noticed that we’ve changed the name of the liveblog to take into account what happened in Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool last night.
10.00AM: Suffice to say London’s waking up with a bit of a sore head this morning. We’re back now, and we’ll be bringing you reports from the clean-up scenes in a short while. For now, let us know what’s going on where you are, and we’ll begin with this picture we took in Mare Street yesterday of that guy who used to be in The Darkness.
Yesterday’s liveblog begins on the next page.
MONDAY, THE 8TH OF AUGUST
03.37AM: OK, we’ve been mugged, threatened and unable to get a beer for the last ten hours, so it’s time for us to go to bed. We’ve been cutting a film we made today and will have a lot more to report tomorrow.
Please continue to send your pictures and updates to us on Twitter, @viceuk.
If you’re interested in helping clean this poor city up tomorrow morning, check out #riotcleanup. I’d check the news first though. Good night, let’s hope everyone wakes up feeling sensible.
02.54AM: The West Londoner have re-posted reports that the fire services in Croydon are running out of water, as well as word of fresh clashes in Hackney.
02.50AM: Update from Mitchell Currie in Leicester. “Large police presence in Leicester, they were streaming cars into city centre, sirens going, not as many as when we had the EDL march but a damn lot. Seems they’re also on high alert.”
02.36AM: Man who caught 20 men starting fire at the Sony distribution centre in Enfield talking on BBC News now. Was punched by one, and warned friends working at centre to evacuate building. Name’s Tommy Thompson. Fire continues to rage. It’s gigantic.
02.34AM: Reports of trouble in Finsbury Park seem unfounded. Apparently rioters tried to set fire to a petrol station, but police got there in time to stop them. Those brave Turkish fellas are out patrolling the streets.
02.27AM: Fair point raised on Twitter by Ian Berriman, who asks: “Time to get rid of the word “London” at the top of the page yet?” London seems to be quietening down now, as trouble spreads out towards the suburbs and other English cities – with Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool confirmed.
02.24AM:
Video sent in of trouble brewing in Romford by Sam Walker.
02.11AM: Riot police out in the city centre of Nottingham, but no disturbances reported there yet.
02.09AM: Jesus, huge fire at Sony depot at Waltham Abbey in Essex. Apparently that’s what that huge ball of fire was at 01.51AM.
02.08AM Looks like there’s definitely something going on in Bristol (link).
02.01AM: More photos from Birmingham coming through from photographer Chris Cove. Apparently the guy is an ITV cameraman and the woman in the purple an ITV reporter.
1AM till 2AM on next page.
01.51AM: A big ball of fire in Enfield. I have no idea what this might be.
01.49AM:
More footage from earlier today on Mare Street.
01.44AM: Had enough spectacular misery yet? No? This video is pretty much a human nadir.
01.33AM: Update from Henry on Camden: “We drove from Dalston Kingsland up to Camden, and just as we got to Camden Station, we ran into a huge group of maybe 200 youths all armed with baseball bats, knives, crowbars, anything they could get their hands on. They charged towards us, so we tried to reverse, but even though I was leaning out of the window shouting at the cars behind, they were too slow. In the end I just told my mate to floor it, and thankfully the mob scattered.
“We parked up on a side street, and there were gangs of armed kids everywhere. Either Boots or an O2 store was being looted when the police finally arrived. They pushed them back, and tried to stop and search a couple, but they had the dogs out by that point, so everyone had run off. It was too dangerous for us to get our cameras out. Hairy.”
01.24AM:
Video that Sky News are reporting as being shot in Liverpool, but apparently was actually recorded in Woolwich.
01.19AM: Report from our photographer Henry Langston, who’s had to get out of Camden because it is “Fucking feral mate, so dangerous. 200 armed kids ran towards the car so we had to drive through them.”
Midnight till 1AM on next page.
00.50AM:
Pictures reporting to show Liverpool rioting are currently making the rounds on Twitter.
00:35AM:
Current situation in Clapham. Via.
00.27AM: Some people on Twitter are saying that riots have begun in Liverpool. Looking for confirmation. If you have any information, please leave a comment below.
00.22AM: Someone on the BBC saying that people in Clapham saying that they have set a party shop on fire and have stolen the masks. This just gets scarier.
00.15AM: Reports on Sky News now of people’s homes being broken into in Ealing in quiet, residential streets.
Midnight: Vice’s Hugo Donkin, Henry Langston and Alex Miller have been driving around East London meeting the locals. The Turks seem to have the right idea. They’re all stood outside their shops, arms folded, and they say they’ll be there all night.
We spoke to a bunch of them holding snapped pool cues; they explained that earlier a bunch of the gangs charged up the Kingsland Road. The Turks chased them off with fists and cues. The younger guys are triumphant, but angry. The older men are worried though: “London is playing a dangerous game,” one said.
11.40PM:
Writers Bench have sent us this video of a stand-off earlier at St. John’s Church in Hackney.
11.37PM: A man on the BBC says Ealing Shopping Centre is on fire.
11.32PM: Confirmation of those reports of looting in Romford which seem like decades ago now. “Yea romford lootin happenin,” says essex girl in the comments down there. “Both jds been don, bank, mcd’s and pizza hut plus 3 buses and one alight.” [sic, gic]
11.30PM: Police have confirmed that a man was shot in Croydon, but apparently he’s still alive.
11.26PM:
Battles starting between police and rioters in Camden.
11.21PM:
Nice haul, idiot. (via Tom Howard.)
11.20PM:
According to EagleRam on Twitter, rioters and looters are using Boris bikes as getaway vehicles.
11.16PM: RE Tiger: yeah, we know it’s a hoax, you can stop tweeting that at us.
11PM: ITV News are reporting that a man has been shot dead in Croydon.
9PM till 10PM on next page.
10.55PM: A pretty great speech.
10.49PM:
According to a guy who writes for The People and The Mirror, people have been leaping from a burning building on Church Street in Croydon.
10.44PM:
What’s that blob shape? It’s a tiger that has escaped/been released from London Zoo and is now wandering around Primrose Hill, according to Twitter.
10.36PM: Report from our photographer in Birmingham: “There’s police EVERYWHERE. I asked a news reporter for a press pass and he got shitty. Got in the middle of some of it, scary as fuck! Not got any good enough photos but I have one very shaky video. Almost got my 7D smashed by some lads though and had to get out because they were following me. Just driving around to see if we can get somewhere safer.”
10.26PM: Reports coming in that the rioting has reached Shacklewell Lane, where both a bus and the local Nando’s are reportedly on fire.
10.22PM: Apparently The Dolphin pub on Mare Street is on fire. The Turkish bar and restaurant owners on Kingsland Road aren’t taking the same chances. They’re all out in the streets with bats.
10.18PM: Anyone hear those guys who own the Croydon furniture shop on Sky News just now? :(
10.12PM:
A woman employed by Currys getting arrested for trying to loot Currys.
10PM: Anyone seen that video Sky News shot in Clapham? Not sure the guy’s got his riot etiquette down. If you walk around whining at a riot crowd like a public school prefect, it’s likely you won’t be leaving with your camera.
8PM till 9PM on next page.
9.44PM: From VICE’s Jamie Taete: “I was walking down Whitechapel High Street when a gang of like, 100 kids came out of nowhere, smashing windows and attacking cars and vans. During the obligatory JD Sports raid, a voice came out of nowhere saying “WE HAVE YOUR IMAGE ON CCTV”, which I think was coming from the camera outside JD Sports. That’s pretty cool.
“The kids started throwing bottles at East London Mosque, but then a load of Muslims came out and chased them all off. There was a guy in a white robe walking down the middle of the street shouting “HOW DARE YOU DO THAT HERE!” followed by cheering when the riot police turned up.”
9.35PM:
Here’s a video we shot of the incident that triggered today’s violence at around 5PM.
9.25PM:
Can anyone confirm?
9.16PM:
Wanna find out what happened in East London today? THE BATTLE OF MARE STREET has in-depth reports and up-close photographs from the riots in Hackney earlier this evening.
9.10PM:
Whole Foods on Stoke Newington Church Street boards up for the night. That ought to do it.
8PM till 9PM on next page.
8.49PM:
Croydon has most definitely been caught up in the riots. Sky News are showing footage of two buildings ablaze.
8.40PM:
Photo from Deptford, uploaded to Twitter with the caption “Man are getting stripped on roadside”.
8.25PM: Just putting together in-depth report from Mare Street battles this afternoon, but cars continue to burn in Hackney and reports are appearing on Twitter of looting in New Cross. A number of National Rail stations in London have been closed due to “civil unrest” – go here for details.
8.05PM: Lots of noise on Twitter about more trouble east of the city, in Romford, Mile End, East Ham, Shenfield, Upminster and Stratford. Will confirm when we know for sure.
7PM till 8PM on next page.
7.57PM: Sky News saying kids are out on the streets for “recreational rioting”. Dismissive of any remaining links to Mark Duggan.
7.40PM:
Aftermath of looting in a branch of Spar on Cambridge Heath Road. The shop owner was pacing up and down, looking like his world had been destroyed. All he managed to say was “I’m gonna be closed for six months now.”
A girl who had previously been saying, “Where am I gonna get my gas and electric topped up now?” asked him for a bottle of Coke. He gave her one. She said: “Make sure it’s cold.”
7.20PM: The rioting in London has stretched on into its third day. Can anyone credibly describe the youths fighting police in the streets and looting shops as protesters any more? Maybe some of the kids on the streets in East and South London are angry at the death of Mark Duggan, but at this stage, the majority of the trouble seems motivated by something more like opportunistic criminal ambition. Let us know if you disagree at the contacts given above. We’ll keep you updated here as news develops and trouble spreads throughout the night, throughout London and beyond, given reports of rioting in Birmingham.
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