Last night, a friend posted on my Facebook page: “Stay safe — I see things are burning in London.”
I had no idea what he was talking about so turned to BBC News. Sure enough, there were visuals of fires raging in the Tottenham area of North London. This morning, I wake to see further visuals of the devastation. The pictures are just awful and heartbreaking.

Apparently it all kicked off as the police didn’t come out to give answers to a grieving family. Then what was a peaceful demonstration morphed into a full scale riot.

Now regardless of the discontent and frustration with the police and others of authority, there is nothing to be gained by looting shops, burning homes, buildings and police cars. So shame on the people who caused such mayhem! Their actions are a complete disgrace.

Yes the police have questions to answer regarding the death of Mark Duggan. But why not wait for the independent police investigation to conclude? Why riot? Why loot?

Now it’s the local people who will suffer more — their possessions stolen and homes burnt out. Plus the devastation to local businesses will now leave them for sometime without a post office, fitness centre, newsagent, and other local shops to purchase food and supplies. Never mind the depreciation in property values.

So really, what were the rioters thinking? Their actions are a complete shame and sensible people would know that it wouldn’t be worth it. Also, it wasn’t going to help them get answers and justice if deserving any faster.

Either way, violence of this kind cannot be tolerated. And what will most likely follow is heavy action by the police which I’m sure is going to cause further tension in the community.
Not good. Not good at all!