Source / Courtesy: CNN
London (CNN) — Britain’s accused rioters are facing the courts in growing numbers, as the streets remain quiet and the police continue their efforts to bring all those responsible for rampaging through London and other cities to justice.
More than 1,900 people have been arrested and about half that number charged, the majority in the capital — and the front pages of British newspapers are filled with the accounts of those hauled up in court, many during special overnight sessions.
The violence first broke out in north London’s Tottenham neighborhood after a protest over the death of a local man, Mark Duggan, who Prime Minister David Cameron said was shot by police, and spread on successive nights across London and other cities.
But after two nights of relative calm, much of the nation’s attention has turned to what happens next for those caught — and what the fallout from the disorder may be for British society.
Categories: Recent Headlines, UK
CNN reports:
Birmingham, England (CNN) — I spent most of yesterday in Winson Green, Birmingham, following the deaths of three young British men in the early hours of the morning. I visited the small mosque where two of the men (brothers aged 32 and 30) had been regular worshippers, and where both their uncle and older brother were in a state of profound shock and grief.
I then attended a gathering hastily convened by the local member of parliament — taking place in a room above a local supermarket – followed by a much larger public meeting with the police later in the day. About 150 people crammed into the community hall for the police meeting, with twice as many gathered outside.
Feelings were understandably running very high, with the grief and anger of the community expressed in equal measure. There were voices calling for retaliation, but these were increasingly drowned out by other voices (both old and younger) urging restraint.
It helped that the police were able to announce that they’d launched a murder inquiry after the death of the three young men (with very large resources deployed to catching the perpetrator), as earlier media reports of a hit-and-run accident had caused outrage.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/11/uk.riots.bishop.watson/index.html?hpt=op_t1