Having never lived through anything like this that I can remember, yesterday was one of the most heart pounding experiences I have ever been through. My first day back from SSV started very relaxed as I slept for a good while, recovering from the lack of sleep from the past 10 days. I woke up to an empty house and got on with my normal routine through the day.
My sister then called when she was on her way home from north London almost ordering me, saying I'm not allowed to go to the gym or to town for the next few days. I didn't argue and turned on the news to see what was happening and sat in disbelief as I saw pictures of youths trashing shops and standing off with police. I then got a call from my dad asking me to pick him up from work, which is near enough to these riot areas. Driving to him wasn't a problem but getting back was when the trouble started.
As I drove down the main road, London Road, I began to see crowds of youths in black clothing with balaclavas and scarves covering their faces. All of a sudden the car in front of me braked. One youth decided to walk into the middle of the road and walked up to the car door, trying to force it open. Luckily the car in front had it's doors locked and drove away. He then came towards our car but I just put my foot down. Another car behind was not so lucky and for some inexplicable reason the door was unlocked. This youth managed to open the door but the car swerved and drove off again. While looking in the mirror to see what else was happening, I saw another youth walk out of a music shop after stealing a guitar and he smashed it into another car. My heart was pounding and I was literally shaking like a leaf, just glad to be out of there.
Once we were home we turned on the news and saw things progressively get worse, with several fires starting and buildings being engulfed, wondering where the fire crews were and why could the army not get involved?
One question that has been running through my mind is why? Why do these people feel the need to come out in gangs and trash and loot? They only give themselves a bad name, increasing the stereotype we associate with many of these youths who are jobless. One video going around has shown the blase attitude of some of these rioters and just adds to the disgust. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14458424
How can there be so many people out there with no moral code or conscious, telling them this is wrong?
The news is on in the background as I write this and just saw a story about Sikhs in Southall. With the rioting spreading all over the country and damage done yesterday and today, the pictures showed hundreds of Sikhs standing outside their local Gurudwara, standing guard, patrolling the streets, defending their local community regardless of race or religion and today I have seen many stories about people from different towns and cities that have been hit getting together and setting up a clean up operation. I have a huge amount of respect for these people and am glad there are people who are not running scared or hiding.
Are there more people around where we live who would be ready to go out and challenge youths in this way? Or are we merely sitting, waiting for the police to enforce more order?
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