Emeutes à Londres, Salford, Manchester, Birmingham… – 9 août 2011

UK riots: disorder spreads to Manchester and West Midlands

The Guardian,

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Dozens of shops ransacked and Miss Selfridge store set alight as masked gangs in Manchester wage battles with police

Central Manchester and Salford saw serious looting and disorder as gangs waged running battles with police, ransacking dozens of shops. Similar, if less widespread, trouble flared in Birmingham and elsewhere in the West Midlands.

The most serious disorder came in Manchester. Groups of young people consistently evaded police attempts to stop them from the late afternoon onwards, breaking into a series of upmarket shops and setting a branch of the Miss Selfridge clothing chain ablaze. As evening fell, up to 200 youths raided an off-licence and other shops in the main shopping precinct of Salford, a couple of miles to the west.

The violence ebbed in Manchester city centre around midnight and police regained control. One of the few remaining signs of trouble was a gang of masked youths looting a branch of Jessops on the corner of Albert Square, beside Manchester town hall. The gang had posted a lookout and scattered as a police van swept past with blue lights flashing, then went back into the store a moment later. A woman who walked past shouted, « Disgraceful » at the gang.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan of Greater Manchester police said Manchester and Salford had been badly damaged. « These are pure and simple criminals running wild tonight, » Shewan said. « They have nothing to protest against. There has been no spark. This has been senseless on a scale I have never witnessed before in my career. »

By midnight police had made 47 arrests in Manchester and Salford. One suspected looter turned himself in after seeing his picture on Facebook, police said.

Shewan said Manchester and Salford had been shamed by the criminals committing « wanton acts of violence and criminality ».

Earlier in the day Greater Manchester police sent 100 officers – four public order units – to assist in London. While Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, who organised the reinforcements, said such assistance had been planned to ensure other forces could cope with violence in their own areas, it was clear that the city could have used the extra officers. Masked gangs in central Manchester’s New Cathedral Street targeted a series of high-end outlets, among them Louis Vuitton, Selfridges, and Harvey Nichols. Read more…

Manchester riots on scale not seen in 30 years: police

AFP

9 08 2011

LONDON — The rioting and looting that hit Manchester was an act of « senseless violence and senseless criminality » on a scale not witnessed in 30 years, a senior police officer said Tuesday.

The violence, committed by people with « nothing to protest against », has brought « shame on the streets » of the city, Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan of Greater Manchester Police said.

« These are pure and simple criminals running wild tonight, » said Shewan.

« They have nothing to protest against there has been no spark. This has been senseless violence and senseless criminality on a scale I have never witnessed before. » Read more…