Police were very few, very tense and very ineffective. Foot Locker was up in flames, while H&M was being looted. Marks and Spencers, Bodyshop, McDonalds and most other shops on Brixton Road had glass damage, while other places like the games shop at the corner to Ferndale Road and William Hill on Stockwell Road have big gaping holes and look like some things might have gone missing.

The H&M was being attacked and looted with the police guarding the burning Foot Locker just up the road on the other side of Brixton Station. People inside were trying on things before deciding whether they were worth nicking. Shortly after the H&M was opened up to the public, most of the people on the streets took off towards Effra Road. Rumors said that some people were trying to break into Curry's and Halfords between Mervan and Trelawn Road.

This turned out to be true. Heading down there later, police went into the parking lot and had the crowd pushed back towards Brixton Water Lane. After taking the long route round, approaching the situation from the South, the police line had moved back to the other end of the parking lot, leaving Curry's open to the crowd.

Loads of people were on the streets, carrying large screens and laptops, even driving up in cars. While quite a few people were masked up, many were not, and we will see if the CCTV was good enough to be able to recognise number plates. The rain might have hampered vision, but the brazenness and festival atmosphere was amazing. People were chatting to each other and running around with big smiles on their faces.