- 8:38 pm - kidsxheroes said: "Friends of mine in the city (who are now trying to get out) have said The Square Peg pub on Corporation St has been smashed up too."
- 9:04 pm - Reports of riots spreading to Chelmsley Wood, Perry Barr, Aston, Erdington, Handsworth…
- 10:26 pm - thepoetmagi said: "The Childrens hospital has been hit. Rioters were smashing windows and attempted to bomb steelhouse lane police station. My friends mum was there and was escorted out of the hospital by police. I assume other people were too!!"
- 12:55 am - Police station fire in Handsworth confirmed. Also reports of looting at Cash & Carry on Nineveh Road and elsewhere around Handsworth. Reports of trouble in Northfield and Selly Oak as well as the gay quarter in city centre where a man was apparently attacked by a gang of people and stomped on before being pulled to safety by a
passing car, outside of the Missing Bar. - 1:38 am - doodus said: "Something kicked off about 20 mins ago on Portland Rd, Edgbaston, by the Rainbow Casino. Heavy police presence, lots of shouting, a couple of shifty looking guys hanging out in driveways & behind bins, road was partly blocked and a few heavies turned up in cars.
Scores of shop windows and doors – including sportswear and mobile phones stores – were smashed by gangs as frightened shoppers and city workers looked on.
Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Rowe said: “We will not tolerate mindless violence anywhere in the West Midlands and are working hard to ensure that the offenders are identified and caught as soon as possible.”
For the full story visit: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/08/09/birmingham-riots-100-arrests-as-youths-bring-chaos-to-bullring-area-115875-23330961/
Youtube
Vast numbers of videos of the rioting and looting have gone up on Youtube over the last 12 hours. This BBC video seems to perfectly display the mindless vandalism which occurred yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY-kaVSCw3Y&NR=1
The Telegraph
Headline: "Birmingham hit by riots as internet campaign encourages violence"
As an estimated 200 youths, many of them hooded or masked, congregated, West Midlands police put up a half-mile exclusion zone around the Bullring shopping centre, which shut early at 6.40pm.
Onlookers described thugs running with knives through New Street and one photographer was set upon by a group who beat him and stole his camera.
Police were prepared for trouble after a campaign on Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and Twitter warned of violence and encouraged others to get involved.
For the full story visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8690273/Birmingham-hit-by-riots-as-internet-campaign-encourages-violence.html
My thoughts
The reports go on and on, with many conflicting views as to what was really behind the rioting and looting. There have been some suggestions that it was related to an increase in taxes, whilst other reports claim that it is because of the recession. Personally I fail to see either of these as being a valid excuse. Most of the looting was caused by opportunists, who jumped on the back of the rioting in order to bag themselves some free stuff from places such as Primark, Addidas and Footlocker. And this was only further proven when a spate of muggings occurred on buses in areas such as Walsall and Hansworth towards the later part of the night.
The destructing and widespread damage caused by these uneducated and violent thugs is nothing short of idiotic. If any of this was for a real purpose or cause, that has once again been lost in the senseless acts of violence, theft and vandalism that you caused in your own city - just as it was with the peaceful student protests that spiraled out of control in January of this year. Whatever point some of you felt you had to make you went about it completely the wrong way. Violence solves nothing, it only fuels the resilience of the authorities against your cause. You will not be heroes for your actions, you will only be seen as the scum which tarrs our city's name. Rebels without a cause, and no right-minded person will ever take you seriously.
I was truly proud to see the support for the police that has sprung up overnight. They handled the situation as best they could, with somewhat limited resources I might add. Facebook this morning is full of campaign pages supporting the amazing work of the police force and riot teams who worked through the night to protect our city, despite being massively outnumbered on all accounts.
This morning Twitter is brimming with unity and a sense of local togetherness with http://www.riotcleanup.com/ forming to help the nation join together to correct the mistakes of last night. Hundreds of people have headed to the Bull at 10am this morning to help put our city centre back together, and nothing makes me more proud to be a Brummie than to see how our sense of community stands tall in the face of all this mindless destruction.
What happened in Birmingham last night was worthless, pointless and disgusting. When it boils down to it, our city has been attacked by our own...and for what? I hope the stolen gear and senseless rage you showed last night were worth it, because today our local economy will be suffering as our businesses try to put themselves back together, and the residents and workers of the city - who's property and jobs you have put in jeopardy - will be trying to make sense of why they had to be caught up in the destruction you inflicted for your completely lost cause.
It is poignant to note, however, that amongst the broken glass and burnt out stores one thing remains solid as a rock - and that is Birmingham's sense of what is good and right, along with the knowledge that we are at our strongest when we are united. Be proud to be a part of the Birmingham community and support that in whatever way you can.
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