Tension with police and austerity behind UK riots, activists say

Opposition politicians and community groups in riot-hit areas of Britain have accused the government of turning a blind eye to the cause of the unrest. Prime Minister David Cameron has branded it "criminality pure and simple" but London MP Diane Abbott told RFI that there was already tension with the police, while analysts and community activists point to government cutbacks.

Reuters/Dylan Martinez

"It’s partly opportunism, but there are underlying problems,” says Diane Abbott, Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP for the centre-left Labour Party. “The relationship between the community and the police is better than it has been but there is still tension between young people of all colours and the police.”

And cutbacks in law enforcement have aggravated the situation, argues Carolina Bracken, a criminal justice research fellow at the London-based Institute for the Study of Civil Society (Civitas).

According to Civitas, the number of police officers in London decreased by 1,098 to 15,820 in the 12 months to March 2011. During the same period the number of police volunteers increased by 2,916.

"I don't think that this was inevitable at all," says Carolina Bracken. "It's clear that one incident started it, and that fuelled the rest. People saw an opportunity to engage to opportunistic behaviour, because they thought there was very little chance of being caught.

Google Map

"I think that explains why this violence, arson and looting and so on has spread across the country as well. Obviously, with all eyes focussed on London and police being heavily dispatched across London . . . the people [in other cities] are thinking their streets are less protected and are seeing their chance."

Many residents in the areas affected by the rioting say that social exclusion is as much to blame as cutbacks in police officers.

Anti-racism activist, Milena Buyum, lives in Tottenham in London, one of the areas worst-affected by the riots.

"The situation in Tottenham has been brewing up for a long time," she says. "The government's austerity plans have affected the area quite dramatically in terms of unemployment, poverty, reductions in benefits and so on."

Calling the violence "an expression of despair", Buyum insists." It's very frightening and it's reminiscent of a fabric of society desintegrating before our eyes. The response should defintiely look at the root causes and why this is happening and that is not being done sufficently at the moment."