Broom Brigade Cleans Up London: More UK Riots on Tuesday Night?

London Cleans Up, Riots Spread Across Britain

Police have been unable to stop the rioting that started in Tottenham and spread not only to other parts of London but to other cities in England. The public is angry at the police for not stopping the riots, and the riots themselves were sparked by police action in the first place.

It's clear that some are using the riots as an opportunity for looting, and police are using Facebook and Twitter to track down instigators. Police are also considering the use of plastic bullets, which they have never used outside of Northern Ireland. England is bracing for more rioting as night falls on August 9.

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Budget cuts ahead of the 2012 Olympics have left the Met a bit short of resources: there were more cops on the streets for the Royal Wedding than during the past few nights of rioting.

The Broom Brigade

Many London residents hit the streets with brooms to clean up the scenes of rioting. This is an echo of the cleanup effort following Vancouver's recent hockey riot. Twitter and Facebook users are switching their profile pics to the "Love London" logo, which has been knocking around the Internet for a few years now.

Mark Duggan Inquest Underway

Meanwhile, the inquest into Mark Duggan's death is underway, and it has emerged that Duggan never fired a shot. The bullet lodged in the police radio was fired by an officer. The Met apologized to Duggan's family (he was a father of four) and made noises about "lessons learned", but Duggan's death wasn't an isolated incident: it was the latest in a series of police actions that left a huge chunk of London society feeling preyed upon.

That said, do you think the guys throwing bricks through the window of Argos even know who Mark Duggan is?

Also, a note to would-be rioters: if you think the police won't be able to track your online purchase of a baseball bat, then you're an idiot. (That last item found via Gawker)

Videos

Riot clean up in Clapham Junction

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sourced by NowPublic Staff