The London Riots took place from the 6th to the 11th of August 2011 in London, England. It started off as a peaceful protest, to attain justice for the killing of Mark Duggan, who was killed by the police for allegedly being armed. The rioting began when the police restrained and injured a 16-year-old girl for throwing a champagne bottle at them. Over the next few days, “copycat” riots began to occur in parts of London and these riots were organized via the use of social media. Although there was no individual culprit of the riot, many believe that some of the blame goes to the media for representing the Mark Duggan case as well as the coverage of the riots wrongly, which in turn sparked subsequent riots in London. In this essay, I will discuss …show more content…
Firstly, (re-presentation) the media language used to describe the initial events of the riots was exaggerated. Strong words/phrases like, “Anarchy”, “The Battle Of London”, and “the rule of the mob” or “Police and the riot blunders” were the headlines on widely distributed newspapers. These exaggerated headlines make it seem as if that there was a political motive behind these riots and that the riots were planned attacks (rebellion) to take over the country’s capital. Furthermore, the rioters were described as young and opportunist people who were benefiting from the looting. The media also reported the different types of merchandise the looters had obtained in the course of the riots. Images of looters posing in front of the merchandize they had obtained were shown in the media and this tempted others to participate in the riots as well because the merchandise looked so easy to …show more content…
Several images displayed groups of people that either had all dark-skinned people or all white skinned people. This brings in racial stereotypes as well because the images of dark-skinned people would be more provocative then images of white skinned people. The initial stereotypes of dark-skinned people being uncivilised and violent would be further strengthened with the portrayal of such images in the press. The young are thought by adults to be risk-takers, bold and rebellious. The portrayal of the young in the riots would have also further enhanced this negative stereotype of young people and therefore it would further degrade them. The police in-charge of riots was also shown as inadequate and incompetent. Images of people posing in front of police officers, while they were trying to bring the riots under control were shown in the media. Certain images of police being unable to control the riots were also circulated in the
On March 17, 1955, more than 10,000 crazed hockey fans from inside the Montreal Forum and from the streets outside gathered together to protest the suspension of Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. An outraged fan slapped and punched the president of the National Hockey League, Clarence Campbell who was quietly sitting among the spectators. This "seven-hour rampage of destruction and looting" was a result of this attack that occurred during the game that opposed the Montreal Canadians and the Detroit Red Wings (Zacharias, 2000). During this riot, there were many people who were injured and over 100 fans were arrest.
To me a riot is a civil disorder resulting from some real or perceived injury by a segment of a community. The Memphis events weren 't a riot. Ash used the word massacre. That 's closer to the reality. An even better word would be pogrom. The events in Memphis were an anti-black pogrom sparked by Irish racial resentment, fueled by the precariousness of social and economic life in the post-war South, aided by the blatant discrimination practiced by the city government, and not thwarted by the feckless local Union Army commander, Major General George
The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this particular incident. This type of ethical deviance is something the public has not seen since the civil rights era. Little did Chief Gates, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the LAPD know what the consequences of their actions would lead to. Moving forward in time to the verdict of those police officers being acquitted of the charges, the public sentiment spiraled into an outrage. The disbelief and shock of the citizens of Los Angeles sparked a mammoth rioting that lasted for six days. The riots led to 53 deaths and the destruction of many building. This is a true but disturbing story uncovering the ethical deviance from the LAPD and the L.A. riots. The two perspectives are from the Rodney King incident are the LAPD and the L.A. riots.
The media takes this news focuses on the protestor’s violence and showcases them as the ones creating a scene. The media then showcases police as the ones that have to deal with the situation by detaining citizens, thus making them look like the good guys. The mayor and chief police also take away from the citizen’s freedom by allocating a 7pm curfew and a 25 block ‘no protest zone’. So if individuals were to not follow the set curfew they can be detained even if they had nothing to do with the protest. Police started attacking citizens even before curfew, which stripped citizens more of their freedom and liberty to protest. Individuals who were leaving their office, and who were not apart of the protest were also taken to prison, even when they followed procedure. This proves that the actions taken were not a part of the due process system where we protect individuals but rather part of the crime control module where we screen out innocent people and get them into the
What is a Riot? According to Encyclopedia.gov a riot “is a social occasion involving relatively spontaneous collective violence directed at property, persons, or authority.” There are five main
This suggests that they had negative relations with the government and authorities because their voices were not being listened to and they weren’t equally represented in the government’s policy decisions. Riot was a tactic employed to get their voices heard but there was a fine line between being listened to and retribution for their actions. For example, before the Oxfordshire rising in 1596, the people of Oxfordshire appealed to Lord Norris and other members of authority to help resolve the issue of dearth in the area. However, Lord Norris did little to help improve the situation and further appeals took place until the rebels resulted to riot in the hope of change. However, the rising against enclosure largely failed due to the lack of support, as only a handful of men turned up to support the rebels cause. Additionally, what gave rebellions the scale and force they had, such as the Pilgrimage of Grace, was the combination of supressed local grievances which had built up over time as they had not been effectively dealt with. For example, if someone heard a rumour about a potential uprising they may have become involved to express their personal grievances which may have been repressed in the past but had not achieved the outcome the rebels wanted. The Pilgrimage of Grace was caused by a combination of factors,
On the night of August 11, 1965 the Watts community of Los Angeles County went up in flames. A riot broke out and lasted until the seventeenth of August. After residents witnessed a Los Angeles police officer using excessive force while arresting an African American male. Along with this male, the police officers also arrested his brother and mother. Twenty-seven years later in 1992 a riot known as both the Rodney King riots and the LA riots broke out. Both share the similar circumstances as to why the riots started. Before each riot there was some kind of tension between police officers and the African American people of Los Angeles. In both cases African Americans were still dealing with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools. Add these three problems with policemen having a heavy hand and a riot will happen. Many of the primary sources I will you in this analysis for the Watts and the LA riots can be found in newspaper articles written at the time of these events. First-hand accounts from people living during the riots are also used.
...te police officers of charges stemming from the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. As a result of this verdict, thousands of citizens rioted for six days. Mass amounts of looting, murder, arson and assault took place.” Riots are one of the most common forms of mob mentality and are shown in this book several times.
The officers were acquitted of use of excessive force and abuse. This started riots in Los Angeles that rocked our country. This was the beginning of a stigma and stereotype that would be placed on all police officers. The stigma was that Rodney King was brutally beaten because he was black. The media portrayal of incidences across the nation since 1991 only heightened the stereotype. There was a very similar incident in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 with the shooting of Michael Brown by a white officer. The coverage for Ferguson lasted for weeks and put the police in a very negative light. The Portland Press Herald states that “many police think they’re being stereotyped as racist and brutal” (Wise). There also seems to be a stereotype within a stereotype. Besides the stereotype of police officers profiling young black men, is the stereotype that all young black men are thugs, especially if they’re in neighborhoods known for gang and drug activity. “Our country 's history, culture and social divide feed a subconscious attachment to stereotypes, even in the minds of people with no measurable racial bias.”
This riot was in a sense a sign of the new revolution to come, due to the song “Burn, Baby Burn” by the Creators, being played... ... middle of paper ... ... g that is dance able but has a marching feel to it, lyrics such as “ Uncle Jam’s army, here- yeah. Disturbing the peace at the bridge of the river quiet.
Though separated by a gulf of time both incidents have served to evoke strong racial sentiments. In both the issue of racial discrimination and the disenfranchisement of the black ‘man’ are core. While the Civil Movement era was fighting against entrenched racial segregation policy the Fergusson riots are a response to perceived police profiling and excessive force against blacks. There also exists similar embracing of non-violent protest by both groups including placards and T-shirt messages. Police use of intimidation technique in attempting to control the crowds transcend the times. While in the Civil Rights era the police used dogs, todays police have gone hi-tech. use of rifles, water cannon and teargas achieved similar ends.
In 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged ten at the time, abused and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. There was media uproar about the case with the two boys being described as ‘evil’, ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ in the media (Franklin & Horwath 1998). There were many references to evil in the newspapers; with the telegraph stating that Thompson’s nickname was ‘Damien’ (from The Omen) and declaring that Venables birth date was Friday the 13th. The majority of society was united in the belief that these two boys were the epitome of evil and it was the media that nurtured this belief. ‘Newspaper reports were unequivocal in their denunciations of Thompson and Venables as inherently evil, prompted perhaps initially by Justice Morland’s description of the murder as an act of unparalleled ev...
Another example of why blacks are overrepresented, was with their involvement with the Brixton riots. According to statistics by the Metropolitan Police, it showed that around 79% of robberies and 83% of offences of theft were carried out by black people. Solomos 1988 :107. These statistics were heavily reported by the media which attracted the attention of the public that created a moral panic of the ‘growing problem’ of the link between black people and crime. The reaction towards black criminality was a growing panic however Gilroy argued
There were several causes which led to this riot and the immediate cause was racial tension. Racism tends to persist most readily when there are obvious physical differences among groups e.g. “Black” and “white” differences. This no doubt results in attempts to limit economic opportunities, to preserve status, to deny equal protection under law and to maintain cheap labor. Discrimination was represented ...
Devastation, destruction, vandalism and ravage are words that have filled the English media the last few weeks. In cities all around England, riots have caused chaos and have left both the government and general population grasping for answers. The big question is of course; why are rioters destroying their own cities? The answer to that question may come from a different angle. In an article from The Guardian website in 2011, the well-known comedian Russell Brand comments and discusses serious matters regarding the recent riots. The riots are the cause of a big political the debate and especially the solution and the blame of the riots are discussed intensively. Russell Brand argues that much of the blame lies with Cameron and his government,