As I continued speaking to young people in Hackney, the issue of EMA came up again but often this was mixed with frustration over not being able to work: "we cannot afford studying and we do not have work," the same young man continued. Another year-old also lamented the loss of the EMA and the expressed frustration at not being able to find work: "we cannot work and some of our parents are not able to support us. Finding a job is much harder than before.
Both these young men, unable to support themselves financially and without the prospect of further education, were concerned about their futures. He went on to imply that the events in Hackney were in direct response to oppressive policing, government cuts and social exclusion. Politicians have condemned the riots as solely criminal acts but according to the young people I interviewed the Hackney riots were in fact political protests.
When asked who was involved, one young man, 20, was careful to point out the multi-ethnic character of the disturbances and the range of age groups involved.
At the end of the day, whilst there were several hundred, if not thousand, people causing destruction on the streets of Tottenham, we were there to protect many other thousands that were in that area.
Mr Willmott, a police officer of 32 years, retired from the Met in , but for him the memories of are still vivid. Buildings burned down, windows were smashed and glass, bottles and other debris clogged the roads. In his experience "serious disorders don't last long". It was light when we he started his shift and it was light when he and his colleagues finished the following morning as more officers moved in to replace them.
He said walking down Tottenham's High Road on the second day of the riots was like surveying a "war-torn scene". Afterwards he spent hours poring through the tapes he and his colleague had filmed to see if they could identify any of the rioters and looters. Former Croydon Borough Commander Adrian Roberts said he felt helpless many times as he watched events unfolding on the screens in front of him in the police control room.
Five years on, he recalls the moment when he thought the situation had escaped from police control. The next thing I saw was two vehicles driving back running over police officers. That just sent a cold chill through the rest of my body, but then remarkably those officers got up and they only suffered minor injuries. You felt you were leading this and when you saw that, you just thought 'this is out of my hands and I can't do anything to put it right'.
Mr Roberts, who retired as a chief superintendent after 30 years in the Met, praised the bravery of the officers. They were making a very clear statement that they are not going to tolerate this and we want to get back to normality as soon as possible. There came a point when I had to make a decision about life over property in some areas. On top of this, neighbourhood-specific histories of police brutality in places such as Tottenham riots on the Broadwater Fram Estate developed following the collapse and death of a black woman, Cynthia Jarrett, on 5 October and Hackney including the high-profile death of Michael Ferreira in Stoke Newington police station in have led to long-standing grievances and distrust amongst the community which go above and beyond the day-today experience of young people on the street.
All these factors likely play some part in contributing to social unrest, and their combination may well have been responsible for conflagration we observed this week. Fortunately the worst of the violence was largely confined to a single hour period in Hackney, which escaped the level of harm to life and property that affected some other parts of London.
Now the task is to understand and heal. Contrary to some pundits, seeking explanations does not absolve those who engage in violent acts; understanding is rather an essential step toward preventing this sort of thing from happening again.
We need in particular to understand why these events happened here and why they happened now. What caused the Hackney riots? Local residents speak out. Are you affected by the Hackney riots? How riots start, and how they can be stopped: Edward Glaeser external site. The coronavirus outbreak meant that the Hackney Citizen was unable to print a monthly newspaper for three months. We're grateful that we have since been able to resume printing.
This would not have been possible without the generosity of our readers, whose donations kept the paper from disappearing completely at a distressing time for residents. A huge thank you to everyone who gave their time and money to support us through the lockdown, and to those who continue to do so as we slowly recover from the dramatic fall in advertising revenues, on top of the existing challenges threatening the future of local journalism.
A one-off donation or a regular contribution from anyone who can afford it will help our small team keep the newspaper in print and the website running in the coming months and years. Find out how you can donate. The shooting, later controversially found to be lawful by a public inquest and the Independent Police Complaints Commission IPCC , led to protests which escalated into riots and conflict with the police.
Pauline remembers seeing "Tottenham on fire" at a party. She did not expect the riots to reach Hackney, but on the evening of August 8, a decade ago, Clarence Road erupted into "madness". The riots in Hackney in Hackney shop's closed early that day, roads were shut off and trains ceased to stop at Hackney Central. Looting began on Mare Street in the afternoon and a stand-off between rioters and police followed, with crowds of young people pelting police with stones, bricks and makeshift weapons.
Clarence Road and Pembury Estate became a centre of unrest and lawlessness for several hours as cars were stolen and set on fire, road blocks raised and businesses stormed. Hackney Heroine Pauline Pearce. She said calling out the looters was a "natural response" to the destruction she was witnessing and her anger at the justification that local businesses and car owners had insurance so could afford the damage. Pauline's actions that day were recorded and went viral, leading to her being dubbed the "Hackney Heroine".
She was praised as an "unsung hero" by many including then London Mayor Boris Johnson.
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