Reports on incidents on Behtnal Green Road
Didn't see this reported elsewhere, so thought I 'd post here. There were some incidents involving rioters and police yesterday evening on Bethnal Green Road. I was there at around 19:30, and witnessed a group of maybe 200 people there on the streets, and some police presence, including riot police and a police horse van turned up at some point.
I didn't stay that long ; the situation was tense, with stand-offs with short bursts of confrontation. Today I saw that there were some broken windows, though the damage was clearly targeted : local businesses (apart from a pub) were left intact, and banks (barclays, halifax) and chains (tescos) had some windows broken. Something was burning yesterday though I couldn't see what it was - from the remains today I guess it was a bin.
Today the tension on Bethnal Green Road is palpable. Just walked there, at around 4pm. Some shops have gone for pre-emptive boarding (a gambling shop) ; others have emptied their stocks (a shoe-shop). A lot of shops are closed that would otherwise be open. Tension is in the air, though I don't see any evidence of people gathering or anything ready to happen.
Original article on IMC London:
