A Sainsburys worker dishes out free pastries to clean-up volunteers in Clapham. Photo credit: Kay Burgess Twitpic
Watching the rolling news through Monday evening, you’d be forgiven for thinking London was a city at war. In a night of violent anarchy, buildings blazed as youths ran riot across the capital city. Over-stretched police struggled to keep even a semblance or order.
However, amongst the anger and chaos there have been some genuinely heartening responses by Londoners to the alarming mayhem. Here’s a run-down of some of the more heart-warming moments from the last few grim days.
- #riotcleanup takes Twitter by storm. Three nights of consecutive violence have left the worst affected areas of London like Hackney and Tottenham looking like war zones. With this in mind, Twitter users keen to mend the hurt have launched a hugely popular #riotcleanup voluntary campaign. Sainsburys in Clapham has been handing out free pastries to the clean-up volunteers. There is also a post-riot clean-up page on Facebook, gathering together and helping organise those who want to help the battered and bruised city.
- Ledbury kitchen staff to the rescue. When rioters ransacked The Ledbury restaurant in Notting Hill on Monday night, diners were understandably terrified. Food blogger NakedSushi, who was eating in the restaurant and had her wedding and engagement rings stolen, wrote of how brave the kitchen staff were in defending the establishment and its guests: “The kitchen staff at the Ledbury went beyond their call of duty by rushing up from the kitchen with rolling pins, fry baskets, and other dangerous kitchen tools and scared off the looters. Then they provided well-needed glasses of alcohol including champagne and whisky.”
- Kurds and Turks front up to rioters. In Hackney, the location of some of the worst looting on Monday night, Kurds and Turks bravely defended their shops and restaurants with bricks and bats. George Eaton of The New Statesman referred to it as “a true English Defence League.”
- Catch a Looter blog. The police have urged communities to help identify the looters and the appeal has not fallen on deaf ears. A tumblr blog called Catch A Looter has been set up which features pictures of looters in action. “This site does not support vigilante action; merely using social media to collate all images in one place,” informs the info section.
Do you know this looter? The Catch a Looter blog want to know
- Hackney woman slams rioters to their face. In a clip that has already gone viral, a West Indian matriarch from Hackney confronted the rioters and ordered them to stop. The fearless lady branded the rioters “dirty tiefs” and urged them to “get it real.”
- (Some) celebrities call for calm. While many celebrities have lamentably decided not to weigh in on the issue, some notable opinion formers have taken to Twitter to condemn the violence. Idris Elba, star of The Wire, tweeted “this is bullshit!! The Protesters and the Rioters are not the same people anymore. Stupidity.” And, later, “London Come on!! This aint it!! Fallback from this shit!!” “Surely enough is enough. Mindless fools destroying their own cities and people’s lives,” tweeted QPR defender Fitz ‘One Size’ Hall.