Curry's on Effra Road - this is literally just around the corner from us. I took these pics with my phone so the quality isn't great but you might be able to make out that the glass front doors are both smashed in and there are piles of loot that I guess wasn't taken - and two of the shop managers standing around apparently totally lost about what to do. Next door is Halfords which didn't look too badly damaged, but the BBC journalist who reported on the looting live in the small hours of this morning said that bikes were being passed one by one out of the front door...
There were piles of stones and bits of broken up brick lying around on the pavement, presumably assembled for throwing at shop windows to break the glass. A low wall at the end of our street seemed to have been slightly dismantled, presumably to get at the bricks for ammunition.
Brixton was full of press. This reporter was being hassled by a drunk guy who the police had a stern word with...
The camera crew at the left were from Portuguese TV. I even saw a couple of Japanese journalists setting up their camera in the middle of Electric Avenue. This shows the view down Brixton Road, totally cordoned off with police tape, everyone standing around just looking though there wasn't much to look at apart from scenes of destruction.
The windows had been boarded up at KFC by the time I got there, around lunchtime. Though I couldn't get onto the high street to really see the extent of the damage, what seemed to be the case is that the banks were completely untouched, but places like KFC or MacDonalds or the gaming shop (you can just make out the smashed windows of the shop with the blue frontage)
or Foot Locker - all these places were targeted for smash and grab. It seems to have been gangs of youths out for whatever they could get. Someone made a half-hearted attempt to get into this jewellery shop
but the real targets seem to have been those places that stock goods that appeal to current youth culture - the mobile phone shops were particularly smashed up apparently. Though someone had also had a go at M&S for good measure.
This was one of the bus stops by the tube station (which was closed today) - totally smashed up.
The high street was closed and buses were diverted and there was pretty much total chaos on the traffic front - but I still managed to walk around the market, some of which was open, and do some shopping (I am on leave this week and needed some supplies as Rosa is coming round for dinner this evening). There was a weird feeling of business as usual, though subdued and with a sense of people not quite knowing what to do with themselves.
It was weird. Coming home from Helen's barbecue last night around 9 pm, we would never have guessed that riots would erupt within a matter of hours. It had been Brixton Splash, a street festival, during the day, which seems to have been fun and chilled and there were still quite a lot of people around, sitting in groups on the lawn in Windrush Square. There seemed to be a rather unnecessary number of police around, but they weren't doing anything - we laughed about how one of them was queuing for a burger from one of the street vendors. Ironically, later it turned out that there weren't enough police on hand.
We came home, watched a movie (The A-Team!) and went to bed - then got woken up at 2.30 in the morning by the noise from a police helicopter directly overhead. The noise was unbearable - reverberating with all the tall buildings of the council estates around us. It went on for about half an hour/40 minutes, maybe longer. I got up and looked out of the window - it literally was straight up from our flats, with a huge beam pointing in the direction of Currys, I now realise. I guess we realised that meant something was going on - but something usually is going on in Brixton.
I just fell back asleep and was none the wiser until K checked the headlines online as he settled down to work at home for the morning, and was greeted by 'Riots erupt in Brixton'.
I feel kind of depressed about the whole thing. It seems to have been organised and there is some talk online about groups of youths bussing in from outside Brixton. But what is it all about? What is the point of it? So far it seems to be utterly senseless, violence and looting for the sake of it. One of the buildings that has been completely gutted by fire in Tottenham was a rather handsome 1930s block, now destroyed - so sad. A lady standing next to me this afternoon as we surveyed the emptiness of Brixton Road said to me, 'It's so unfair - they're smashing up their own back yard, where their parents and grandparents have to work and shop'. It doesn't have the ideology of 30 years ago - but is that how all riots start? With a spark and then you rationalise it later? I just hope that's it, and we're not in for a repeat of what happened last time.
P.S. so touched by all the messages and calls we've had this evening asking us if we're ok - thanks for caring guys!
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