Why do people riot?

London burning: Buildings in Tottenham, North London, on fire during the riots at the beginning of August. (Photo: PA Wire/Press Association Images.) The ‘English riots’ of this summer started in the North London suburb of Tottenham on Saturday 6th of August, following a peaceful demonstration protesting against the death of Mark Duggan, who had been shot by special police forces two days earlier. Tottenham has a long and varied history of difficulties between the black community and the police, and there were riots at the Broadwater Farm estate in 1985. On most occasions, protesters take their grievance to the local police station, and the matter is resolved in discussion with a senior officer. On August 6th, however, the local police, who hadn’t been involved with the shooting and technically couldn’t comment on it because it was subject to an official investigation, failed to come up with a way of defusing the situation. By nightfall, there were reports of fires, lootings, and clashes with police. Over the next four days, the unrest spread to many other parts of London, including Enfield, Hackney, Southwark, Brixton, Bromley and Croydon, as rioters used Blackberry messenger system to agree on new targets. Riots also erupted in other English cities, including Manchester and Birmingham. By the time order was re-established after four days of unrest, there were five people dead and over 1,500 had been arrested. Many of those were fast-tracked through the courts and sentenced to prison within days.