For Fourth Night in Row, U.K. Set Ablaze by Rioters

NewsNM Swickard: How close are we in the US from these scenes? From The Blaze - LONDON (The Blaze/AP) — Thousands more police officers flooded London streets Tuesday in a bid to end Britain’s worst rioting in a generation as nervous shopkeepers closed early and some residents stood guard to protect their neighborhoods. An eerie calm prevailed in the city, but unrest spread across central and northern England on a fourth night of violence driven by poor, diverse and brazen crowds of young people. Scenes of ransacked stores, torched cars and blackened buildings frightened and outraged Britons just a year before London is to host the summer Olympic Games, and brought demands for a tougher response from law enforcement. London’s Metropolitan Police department put thousands more officers in the streets and said that by Wednesday there would be 16,000 – almost triple the number present Monday. Violence flared in Hackney’s Mare Street area today. John Domokos talks to local residents as police dog units move in. While the rioters have run off with sneakers, bikes, electronics and leather goods, they also have torched stores apparently just for the fun of seeing something burn. They were left virtually unchallenged in several neighborhoods, and when police did arrive they often were able to flee quickly and regroup. Some saw Britain’s economic crisis and deep cuts planned for social benefits as a deeper underlying cause for the outburst of violence. Manchester’s assistant chief constable Garry Shewan said looting and arson had taken place there on an unprecedented scale, but appeared to have little motive. “We want to make it absolutely clear – they have nothing to protest against. There is nothing in a sense of injustice and there has been no spark that has led to this,” he said. Read more