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In the News
In this regular feature the Alliance looks at a significant news story of interest to evangelicals and invites readers to comment.
Follow the links for selected stories and opinions from the world's media.


09 August 2011

Churches call for calm as riots spread

 

Prayer for London tonight at Ruach Ministries Kilburn, please come and join - 7pm

The Gaumont State Theatre, 197-199 Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 7HY
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Christian leaders continued to appeal for peace in the wake of further riots in the capital and spreading violence outside London last night.

Church of England, Roman Catholic, Methodist, United Reformed, Pentecostal and independent churches in Tottenham held a peace vigil service last night where many people attended.

Violence also spread to Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol on Monday evening. In Birmingham, 100 people were arrested after shops were looted and windows smashed, and a police station in Handsworth was set on fire.

In a statement this morning following the chairing of a special Cobra security meeting, Prime Minister Davd Cameron said "Be in no doubt we will do everything necessary to restore Britain's streets. [These] are sickening scenes...[and] this is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted and defeated."

The Prime Minister said that there will be 16,000 police officers on streets of the capital tonight, compared to the 6,000 on Monday night. He also announced that Parliament is to be recalled on Thursday.

In Croydon, south London, widespread violence was also seen last night.  Several fires broke out in many buildings including one at a large sofa factory. A furniture shop that had been in a family for five generations was destroyed and tram lines were affected.

Other parts of London also saw violence including Hackney, Peckham, Lewisham, Clapham, Catford, Deptford and Ealing.

Many have also been involved in clean up operations this morning in London and Birmingham. #riotcleanup is the third top trending topic on Twitter with local people coming together to clean up their streets following violence. Celebrtities Simon Pegg, Kirsty Alsop and Stephen Fry are backing the iniative.

Yesterday, Rev Nims Obunge, chief executive of the Peace Alliance, a church-led response to gun and violent crime in Haringey, called for the questions of those in the community in Tottenham to be answered. Speaking to BBC News about local protests, Pastor Obunge said:

Rev Dr Valentin Dedji, minister of St Mark's Methodist Church in Tottenham for 11 years, is to visit the family of Mark Duggan, the victim of the shooting. 

The church was visiting those made homeless by the riots in Tottenham Green Centre to find out what their needs were and to raise funds to help them. "We want to support the families and victims of the riots; to be with them and to pray with them whenever there is loss of life."

Anglican church St Mary the Virgin in Tottenham is distributing meals and providing hot water and phone charging facilities to those who were left without electricity.

Following the rioting in Tottenham, The Daily Mirror reported on residents despair at the rioting, with one saying: "This community was already dying, now it's dead. I can't see how it will come back from this."

An iconic 1930s building that survived the Blitz was set alight, every shop along the high street smashed and buildings in Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane stadium destroyed. There was also looting in Brixton, Enfield, Wood Green, Tottenham Hale, Walthamstow, central London, Islington and Chelsea.

Sky News and The Daily Mail reported on conflicting analysis over evidence at the shooting. The BBC said that forensic results would be known by Tuesday.

There has been widespread reporting internationally of the riot on which The Telegraph gave a round-up.

There have been criticisms that there was too little police presence in the areas hit with deputy assistant commissioner Steve Kavanagh conceding this was the case on BBC Radio 4. He also blamed Twitter for fuelling looting and violence, saying: "Social media and other methods have been used to organise these levels of greed and criminality."

The Daily Mail and The Metro also reported that Twitter played a large part in the organisation of the riots, however The Guardian and social media news website Tech Crunch reported that it had been the use of blackberries via BBM messaging, and not Twitter encouraging further troubles.

On Monday, a Brixton resident said: "This morning central Brixton had become a no pedestrian zone, I guess from the fear of more looting and probably also for evidence gathering."

Prayer iniative 24/7 Prayer also issued calls for prayer.

 

 BBC News London: Parliament recalled to tackle riots - David Cameron

The Guardian: David Cameron announces recall of parliament over riots

The Independent: Family's Croydon furniture store destroyed in riots

The Mirror: London riots: Celebrities unite on Twitter to condemn riots

Channel 4 News: Communities rally for riot 

BBC News online: Reverend Nims Obunge: Tottenham 'crying out for justice' ; Mark Duggan shooting: Bullets results 'within 24 hours'

The Mirror: Tottenham riot: Our community was dying.. now it's dead

The Telegraph: London riots: world reacts to city's 'hungry mutiny'

Sydney Morning Herald: London rampage spreads across city

The Times of India: Riots spread in London, questions raised over security of 2012 Olympics 

BBC News: London riots: Theresa May to meet police chiefs

Sky News: Questions over Duggan death

Daily Mail: Did bullet fired at officer belong to police? Father-of-four may not have been using gun before he was shot dead by officers

BBC London: Brixton wakes up to 'mindless violence' 

Daily Mail: The revolution will not be televised, but it will be Tweeted

The Guardian: London riots: how BlackBerry Messenger played a key role ; Nick Clegg defends government response to London riots

Techcrunch: How Blackberry, not Twitter, fuelled the fire under London's riots

The Metro: Tottenham Riots: Police chief blames Twitter for 'organising criminality'


 

 



Latest comments :
(The views below are the authors', and not necessarily those of the Evangelical Alliance.)

Written by Xaviere E. on 15 August 2011 at 06.16
We appreciate that Social media also taking an active role in the restoration attempts as hundreds of volunteers rally to literally clean up the streets. Related article I read: Londoners gather for riot cleanup effort .Open communication for a good cause.

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