Published on 12, July, 2020
First of all a heads up - this post is intended to give the facts about what riots have happened in the UK this century but not to discuss their politics.
There have been a number of posts that descended into political debate that caused them to become locked and I want to avoid this.
The purpose is to show the patterns to riots and their possible causes (the links to articles about each are shown on the link below if you want to research more). I draw no conclusions other than wondering what the heck is wrong with Belfast - it dominates the llst!
Make of it what you will but please don't start with points scoring over right vs left, racism, sexism or any of the other dog whistles of arguement.
The list is compiled from Wikipedia, specifically:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots
2001- May Day Riots, May 1, 2001 (London, England).- Oldham Riots, May (Oldham, Greater Manchester, England)- Harehills riot, Leeds, June, (West Yorkshir, England)- Bradford Riot, July (Bradford, England)- July 2001 Belfast riots, (Belfast, Northern Ireland)- Holy Cross dispute, Summer (Belfast, Northern Ireland)- November 2001 Belfast riots, (Belfast, Northern Ireland)2002- May 2002 Belfast riots, (Belfast, Northern Ireland)2003 - none2004 - Boston, Lincolnshire, Croydon, and other UK towns. Fans rioted after England lost to France in their first game of the UEFA Euro 2004 group stage.- Dublin May Day riot2005-2008 - none2009- Rioting in Belfast, Northern Ireland after St Patrick's Day on March 18.- Riots in Birmingham, United Kingdom, when far-right activists clash with anti-racism protesters and local members of the Muslim and Afro-Caribbean community on August 8- Riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on August 32011- Riots in Northern Ireland. Police estimate that million in damages were caused, and over 80 police officers injured by nationalist rioters.- Student riots in London, 14 injured, 35 arrested- More student riots in London. Twelve police officers were injured with six requiring hospital treatment. 43 protesters injured, and 26 arrests made. - Anti cuts riot in London, around 250 thousand people, initially a small protest- Riots, three separate outbreaks in June and July, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, over 300 injured.- Riots in London which spread to other cities in England, over a hundred injured and 5 killed. Related to the death of Mark Duggan2012- Riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland.- Rioting during the Belfast City Hall flag protests in Northern Ireland2013- Riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the flag protests. 29 police officers were hurt- Riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland following July 12 parade and over several days. Dozens injured mainly Police Officers- Riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland on August 9.2014 - none2015- July: Three days of riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland following the July 12 parade.[2016 - none2017- August 7: Rioting in Belfast, Northern Ireland2018- April 2: Rioting in Derry, Northern Ireland, following an illegal republican march2019- April 20, riots in Northern Ireland- August 30–September 1: Riots in Glasgow, UK. Attack on Irish unity march by opposition and subsequent clash of both parties with the riot police- November 25: Brawl between hundreds of knife yielding youths turned into violent riots a movie theater in Birmingham2020 - none2021- March 21–29: Riots in Bristol, UK, at least 25 arrested- March 31 – April 9: Riots in Northern Ireland are caused by tensions relating to a post-Brexit arrangement introducing a sea border.- April 24–25: Anti COVID-19 lockdown riots in London, 5 arrested2022- August 28-September 19: the 2022 Leicester unrest, a series of riots and street fights between members of the Hindu and Muslim communities- September 16: Anti-monarchy protests against King Charles III of UK turned into violent rioting forcing police to crackdown on the protesters and calming the situation2023- August 21–23: Riots in Derbyshire, UK surrounding a Kabaddi event. Knife attacks and gun shots were reported- November 23-24: Riots in Dublin, Ireland in the evening following a stabbing incident outside of a school in Dublin. 34 arrested2024- 30 July-present: Riots across many cities in the UK by the political right
I hope this can dispel some of the misinformation that has been going around here.
Legislators across the history of our nation have struggled to define "riot" and associated unlawful actions.
To explore the consensus I noted the below.
By 1986 the emphasis in legislation (in England and Wales) the definition of riot was:
“12 or more persons who are present together, use or threaten unlawful violence for a common purpose and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety...” (Public Order Act, 1986, p. 2).
Riot = 12 or more people.
Violent Disorder = 3 or more people.
Affray = an individual.
Fear or provocation of violence = threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour (or written words or imagery) towards a person "with intent to cause that person to believe that immediate unlawful violence will be used against him or another by any person, or to provoke the immediate use of unlawful violence by that person or another, or whereby that person is likely to believe that such violence will be used or it is likely that such violence will be provoked".
The formal psychology of motivation to riot has long been a matter of academic debate.
Sometimes it has more to do with the motivation and emotion of a person's limbic system which initiates behaviour.
The "symptoms" and underlying "disease" of riot, rampage and violence are complex. There may be altruism or their may simply be material gain as motivation.
On occasion; the thoughts / beliefs / ideology / motivation / needs / wants / deprivation / opportunism / the need for inclusion or a sense of exclusion and emotions of riot participants can be less about the reason an individual or group takes part and has much more to do with factors such as: the influence of coercion, manipulation, duress, external enterprise or criminality.
Each time a person, community or population is exposed to riot conditions there is temptation to rush through assumptions towards rash conclusions.
In the event of any riot; calm heads need to over rule knee-jerk emotions / reactiveness ...long enough to permit the relevant subject matter experts to complete their investigation to secure sound convictions of the perpetrators.
None of that means the detrimental emotions and outrage of individuals / communities / Employers are to be overlooked (although, patience and restraint are needed).