600 charged over London mayhem
Source: Agencies |
August 13, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
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POLICE in London said yesterday they have charged almost 600 people with violence, disorder and looting over deadly riots in Britain's capital, as the city's mayor said Londoners wanted to see "significant sentences" handed out to the guilty.
Across the country, more than 1,700 people have been arrested. Courts in London, Birmingham and Manchester stayed open through a second night to deal with hundreds of alleged offenders. Hundreds of stores were looted, buildings set ablaze and several people died amid the mayhem that broke out last Saturday in London and spread over four nights across England.
Victims include three men in Birmingham run down by a car as they defended their neighborhood. Police are questioning three suspects on suspicion of murder.
And detectives opened a murder inquiry after a 68-year-old man found in a London street after confronting rioters died of his injuries late on Thursday. A 22-year-old man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder.
Police, meanwhile, hit back against claims they were too soft in their initial response to the disorder.
Prime Minister David Cameron said officers had been overwhelmed at first, outmaneuvered by mobile gangs of rioters. That changed on Tuesday, when 16,000 officers were out on London's streets - almost three times the number of the night before. Cameron said the extra officers will remain on patrol through the weekend.
Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, acknowledged that police had faced "an unprecedented situation, unique circumstances" - but said it was police themselves, rather than "political interference," that got the situation under control.
Cameron vowed "swift justice" for perpetrators, and courts were struggling to cope with a flood of defendants.
The alleged looters and vandals included an 11-year-old boy, a teenage ballerina, a university English student from a prosperous commuter town and Chelsea Ives, an 18-year-old chosen as a volunteer ambassador for next year's Olympic Games.
Mayor Boris Johnson said it was fitting that "significant sentences" were being handed down. "That is, frankly, what Londoners want to see."
Although the rioters came from all Britain's ethnic communities, the violence stirred fears of heightened racial tensions - especially in Birmingham, where three South Asian men were killed when they were hit by a car, reportedly driven by black youths.
Home Secretary Theresa May said she was banning a march planned for today by the far-right English Defense League in the central town of Telford for fears of violence.
Across the country, more than 1,700 people have been arrested. Courts in London, Birmingham and Manchester stayed open through a second night to deal with hundreds of alleged offenders. Hundreds of stores were looted, buildings set ablaze and several people died amid the mayhem that broke out last Saturday in London and spread over four nights across England.
Victims include three men in Birmingham run down by a car as they defended their neighborhood. Police are questioning three suspects on suspicion of murder.
And detectives opened a murder inquiry after a 68-year-old man found in a London street after confronting rioters died of his injuries late on Thursday. A 22-year-old man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder.
Police, meanwhile, hit back against claims they were too soft in their initial response to the disorder.
Prime Minister David Cameron said officers had been overwhelmed at first, outmaneuvered by mobile gangs of rioters. That changed on Tuesday, when 16,000 officers were out on London's streets - almost three times the number of the night before. Cameron said the extra officers will remain on patrol through the weekend.
Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, acknowledged that police had faced "an unprecedented situation, unique circumstances" - but said it was police themselves, rather than "political interference," that got the situation under control.
Cameron vowed "swift justice" for perpetrators, and courts were struggling to cope with a flood of defendants.
The alleged looters and vandals included an 11-year-old boy, a teenage ballerina, a university English student from a prosperous commuter town and Chelsea Ives, an 18-year-old chosen as a volunteer ambassador for next year's Olympic Games.
Mayor Boris Johnson said it was fitting that "significant sentences" were being handed down. "That is, frankly, what Londoners want to see."
Although the rioters came from all Britain's ethnic communities, the violence stirred fears of heightened racial tensions - especially in Birmingham, where three South Asian men were killed when they were hit by a car, reportedly driven by black youths.
Home Secretary Theresa May said she was banning a march planned for today by the far-right English Defense League in the central town of Telford for fears of violence.
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