London Burns In Third Straight Night of Rioting

Rioters in London clashed with police, looted shops and torched parked cars on Monday night, three days after officers from London's Metropolitan Police shot and killed an armed black gang leader in the Tottenham area.



At least 225 rioters were arrested over the weekend and on Monday. Scenes of lawlessness played out across the city, starting in the Tottenahm and Wood Green areas. Balaclava-clad looters, many of them believed to be black or East Asian gang members as well as white anarchists, began torching police cars and buses a few hours after a vigil for 29 year old Mark Duggan, the suspected gang leader fatally shot by police.



With police and firefighters busy attempting to disperse the rioters and put out the fires they set, looters used Blackberries to coordinate their next move and help themselves to cellphones, cigarettes, flat screen TV's, alcohol and jewelry from stores that were shuttered for the evening.



Sony's UK Distribution Center in Enfield was also hit by looters and arsonists. Eyewitnesses reported seeing about hooded men leaving the warehouse before the fire took hold. The building partially collapsed in the blaze and a nearby hotel was evacuated. Police in London also ordered two League Cup matches set to take place on Tuesday to be postponed, while a friendly match between the English team and Holland is in doubt for Wednesday.



By late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, the unrest had spread to elsewhere in England with reports of arson and looting in Birmingham and Liverpool.



Fomer London Mayor 'Red Ken' Livingston reportedly had this to say when interviewed by the BBC.

“A lot of these young people, they are criminals, yes, but there’s a disengagement – they feel no-one at the top of society, in government or City Hall, cares about them or speaks for them.”

Apprently Red Ken is running for office again and has decided to curry favor with those who set the fires or looted their neighborhood shops as opposed to the people left homeless or without a job thanks to the actions of the very same people Livingston urged viewers to feel more sympathetic towards.



[Just a reminder- we're less than a year away from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. If I were the International Olympic Committee, I'd be less concerned about the Rio games in 2016 and more worried over the London Summer Olympics next year- NANESB!]