London Burns, The Script Plays On

Consider the following -

Two men have been sentenced to 10 weeks and 16 weeks for their part in last night's disorder in Manchester, Greater Manchester Police reports. The force tweets: "Swift justice," adding they will be the "first of many".

Much ink has been spilled over these riots, the reason for them and the solutions to deal with them. We will look at the reasons why much of it has transpired the way that it has. To simplify, we will assume several points in our Initial Action -

Initial Action -
Protesting commences due in part to immigration, social policy, taxes, mis-representation and the ongoing depression.

Stimulus -
Police training creates an atmosphere of fear and hostility for police towards most political dissidents.

Reaction -
Police shoot and kill one of the protesters.

Reaction -
Protests turn into local riots.

Stimulus -

As massive unrest plaguing the United Kingdom spread from London to other cities last night, claims emerged that individuals calling themselves journalists were offering to pay youths to start riots, suggesting an effort to provocateur some of the violence.

Reaction -
Local riots spread and intensify.

Stimulus -

According to eyewitnesses to the initial riots in Tottenham, police were seen “standing back and allowing rioters to cause havoc,” a trend that continued during subsequent nights before Prime Minister David Cameron ordered 10,000 extra police officers to patrol London last night.

This has now been confirmed by sources within Scotland Yard who said police were ordered to “stand and observe” even as brazen acts of violent crime were committed against both people and private property, a directive which prevented them from arresting any of the troublemakers.

Reaction -
Police and citizenry rightly fear and despise rampant acts of vandalism and desire some sort of police response.

Stimulus -

The most despicable of these drooling nonsensical knee jerk calls comes from Conservative MEP Roger Helmer, who suggested via his twitter account yesterday that it was “Time to get tough. Bring in the Army. Shoot looters and arsonists on sight.”

There must be some sort of need for nominal conservatives to appear 'tough'. Perhaps one to many 80's action flicks or Saturday morning cartoons. These individuals seem to think that every violation of codified law should result in some sort of standoff in the wild west which requires them to do what no other man could do. No sir, you need to do what you get paid to do, think. Ya know, with your brain.

Reaction -

According to a YouGov poll, a third of the British population wants to see live ammunition used on rioters in the streets. 77% want the army on the streets, 82% want curfews, and 90% want water cannons.

Of course shooting the 'criminals' would end much of the rioting overnight. However, it would also most likely accomplish the following:

• Injure or kill innocent bystanders who are merely trying to carry on with life. (Where would the recourse for the bystanders be?)
  
• Create a rationale for shooting 'criminals' in the future. (The 'It worked before' mantra)
• Create a rationale for shooting potential 'criminals in the future. (The 'We can't let it happen again' mantra)

This also returns in the form of stimulus as the politicians cite the polls as the reason they have to do it. We're simply following the populace's wish is all...

Note: This is a resource and may be updated as necessary.