Rather than setting up expensive and time-consuming enquiries, the government would do better looking on here.
This summer’s riots which led to three deaths in Birmingham were motivated by a desire to steal and the belief that police could not prevent the disorder that was breaking out. This is the conclusion reached by a government body set up to investigate the cause of the disturbances which took place in August.
In their interim report into the riots, the Riots Communities and Victims Panel set up by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, said that rioters tended to be poor and many of the children involved had special educational needs.
But they added that apart from the initial riots in Tottenham, prompted by the police shooting of 29-year old Mark Duggan, “evidence from people involved, eye-witnesses and the arrest statistics suggests that in most cases, the primary motivation for rioting was theft”.
It said that the police’s failure to tackle disorder in Tottenham on Sunday 7th August led to rioting throughout the country. “Those who rioted on Sunday were again felt to have been unchallenged and confidence among potential rioters in other parts of the country grew. By Monday, riots had spread nationally.
“Rioters believed they would be able to loot and damage without being challenged by the police. In the hardest-hit areas, they were correct.”
It’s taken almost four months for the Panel to come to these conclusions. They could have just clicked here
