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A sign put up by Subway staffThat said, greed's not the only thing motivating the groups patrolling the city centre. There's something vaguely political in the cry, "Let's trash the courts!" but otherwise it's just a mass drunkenness, one that no one really seems to be in control of. People act at random and there's no real 'mood' to capture. There was a general feeling, though, that each violent, territorial or symbolic act should be followed by something more spectacular.


Jewellers H. PollockFrom what I can hear and see, there's little communication between the mobs in the centre of Manchester and those tossing petrol bombs and joyriding in JCBs over in Salford. Strangely, there's no in-fighting between area gangs, either. There's a celebratory mood, which is summed up during the heavy looting of a deli where Princess Street meets Whitworth Street. The crowd take glugs from bottles of wine and magnums of champagne before hurling them the way of a retreating riot van.


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PHOTOS: NATALIE MEZIANI & SAMUEL BREEN