Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four was gunned down by police in the Tottenham neighborhood of North London on Aug. 4. Duggan was in his car at the time of the shooting, according to early reports.
The community, led by Duggan’s family, marched in peaceful protest to the local police station, however, the tide turned when according to an eyewitness account, a 16-year-old girl approached the police and told them that the “community demanded answers,” for Duggan’s shooting.
The line of police “had charged toward her, and started hitting her with the batons” — according to the eyewitness — “and this absolutely made everybody go up in uproar.”
The eyewitness also states that the police were pushing the crowd into the estates of Tottenham, and due to the dangerous situation, the media cannot get inside to get the actual story.
The incident sparked two days of looting, rioting and several arsons, as two police cars, a double-decker bus, and a building were set ablaze.
Thus, the media were relying on the police reports, that are “inaccurate.”
Police are investigating the shooting incident that sparked the calamity.
Tottenham is a poor neighborhood populated by blacks, Muslims and Asians, and the riots are spreading to other similarly disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Reportedly, Idris Elba’s childhood neighborhood of Hackney is experiencing “trouble in the Mare Street area” after a youth was stopped and searched by police.
VIDEO: Tottenham riots
Video: Calm Before the Storm
Several days ago, in Wood Green, North London, a youth center was shut down–and the youths were the last to know.
On YouTube, several youths react to the closings. “When I’m with all my friends and we’ve got hoodies, nobody wants to be around us,” says one youth who is clad in a hoodie with his face concealed. “The youth club was a place where we could all go and have fun.”
Ominously, another student adds, “I know a lot of gangs around Tottenham…they’re building up rapidly. Some of them come from poorer backgrounds so they look for to take things from other people, because they haven’t got them themselves.”
“Everyone knows what’s happening in the streets these days, people are getting stabbed up, people are getting whooped. People are getting their house burgled. Bad stuff is going on right now it’s crazy. When they did that youth club stuff, it was just like a place where everyone could go, keep them off the streets.”
