Riot Our Crime

This programme contains some strong language

We are the generation that film everything. Even our crimes.

What are you driving?

I don't want that car.

On films and on CCTV, they're uploaded and shared on line.

Last summer's riots were the biggest outbreak of mass criminality

for decades.

Thousands of hours of footage were generated,

giving us the chance to intimately experience the events

of those four days.

Best day ever!

Look at her. Yeah, little girl.

This is the story of the people who were closest to the action.

I knew it was going to kick-off, man.

OK, ice man.

I was at an Iron Maiden gig because it was my birthday,

and on the bus they said, the bus isn't going it's normal route

because there's a riot on.

Public disorder interests me, so I got off the bus,

got a taxi to my house,

grabbed some beers and decided to go and film some rioting.

There was a police line by the police station,

I didn't have a clue what was going on behind the police line.

Before I could work out what's going on,

that's when everyone shouted they were going to loot JD Sports.

That was the first JD Sports to get done over.

The guy on the bike says, "Can you look after my bike?

"People are nicking everything, I can't leave my bike, it's not safe."

I said, "Look, dude, given the situation, on this one occasion,

"it's probably OK to take your bike into JD Sports.

"I don't think you'll get into trouble for taking a bike in."

He said, "Good idea" and just rode his bike straight in there.

PC World was when it got a bit more serious.

GLASS SMASHES

I'm not sure if that's full HD, dude, it might only be 720.

HD ready, man, doesn't mean shit.

That was a brilliant example of the way we live now,

because a guy came out with a big telly and he saw some other guy

with a bigger telly and put his TV down. "I want one like that guy."

My thought that what I was experiencing in the retail park

was the most epic thing that could be going on that night.

I didn't realise that half of Tottenham was on fire.

We were kind of there thinking, "Where are the police?"

Hundreds of people just emptying out the shops.

Put your fucking camera down now, yeah.

Put your fucking camera down now.

Finding what people will reduce themselves to

when they see stuff put in front of their eyes,

that is not beyond their reach.

No, no, no, no, we're going to run in.

Go, go, go, go...

Drive, drive, drive, just drive.

Tell me who else was in the car with you.

Erm, my friend, Nick.

He was driving, I was the passenger.

No, no, no, stop, stop, just stop there.

It was like our little bubble

and all the stuff that was going on outside that bubble

was like a dream, it was like a dream.

These are streets that we'd just go to the shops and get milk

and go and buy a pair of shoes. It was just mayhem.

They're doing that guy, there's an Indian guy in there.

-Is he actually in there?

-He's got the shutters down.

No, he hasn't. They were half down and he couldn't close the door.

Only the people on the other side of the shop window

seemed to be angry or worried, or upset.

The people that were rioting, their faces just seemed...

just excited. Nobody seemed angry or resentful about anything.

REPORTER: The Prime Minister has confirmed he's cut his holiday short

to hold an emergency COBRA meeting later.

It just seemed like a massive free-for-all.

Everybody was jumping on the bandwagon.

There was screams of laughter.

I suppose it's like the reduced aisle in Tesco's.

Everybody hoards around it and tries to grab what they can at that point.

If we weren't out in the car looking at what was going on,

we were at home watching it on the news.

Reverse... Don't drop us in here.

It was constantly in our lives.

For those few days, it was the riots, riots, riots.

Where it was going to kick-off the next day,

where do we go to watch what is going on?

Left... Left, left, left.

It's here where you live.

You could see the fires across various areas.

Obviously, on Twitter, it was the number one trend and topic.

On EBM, Lewisham's getting hit.

Bus on fire in Peckham. Shops getting looted in Brixton.

It was to the BBM groups, coming through like crazy.

Suddenly, I saw it appear across the breaking news thing.

I'm getting reports that Croydon's been hit.

I thought, I live on the main road and I couldn't hear any sirens.

I said to my mum, "I'm popping out quick."

She was all worried saying, "Luke, where are you going?"

I said, "Fine, I'll get in my car, I'll be back in a bit."

I got my mate, and I said, "I've heard Croydon's getting hit."

He was like, "OK." So we got in the car, just two of us.

At this point, you wouldn't really have known there was a big issue.

SIREN WAILS

AUTOMATED VOICE: This bus is under attack, please dial 999.

I thought it was a simple, quick attack.

That somebody had just thrown a few bricks

and it was screaming for help, the bus.

'Please dial 999.'

So, I just made a quick video of that thing.

I thought if somebody's attacking buses, it might get

even more stupid, really.

And, it did.

Explain to me how you were filming it?

I was riding my bike and holding my camera

and trying to get the best footage I can.

I went around buildings.

When I came back, it was already on fire.

That smoke, I think, attracted most of the people there.

And, that's when they started gathering there.

Yeah, what's that? Where's that?

Even though it's not thing you can see,

it just looked like adrenalin and their blood was pumping so much.

It just looked like their eyes were just lit up,

like they were so in the moment of what's happening, I think.

I think that's what everyone was feeling at the time,

it was just a buzz.

I'm seeing a lot of smiles around here and I don't get it.

I can't connect the dots.

There was a serious disconnect, you know, because I'm seeing

all of this turmoil going on, a lot of damage to property,

a lot of livelihoods just going down the drain.

But, I'm seeing smiles.

It was just confusing.

I'm in the midst of it.

People have to leave their houses, their houses are getting burnt down.

People's houses are on fire.

Fucking hell!

How long have you lived in Croydon?

11 years now.

I've never had any kind of problems,

never been mugged, never been broken into.

From my experience, Croydon's a pretty good place to live.

We've got everyone, we've literally got everyone.

That's what I like about Croydon, the diversity.

SHOUTING AND SWEARING

There are people trapped upstairs in the house.

Why aren't the police doing anything?

What can they do? You know...

Most people filmed what was happening in front of them.

Tell me why you decided to film YOURSELF as the action unfolded.

And even though there are people's houses on fire,

they're still throwing bottles like it just doesn't matter.

For a lot of people it's not real to them until they see

a recognisable face and they can connect the dots.

It's important for people to get into the thick of it

and see what's really going on.

'It made it so much more real, that it was literally

'at the top of my road.

'For that reason, I felt as if it involved me,'

as much as I probably didn't want to be involved in it,

I was pulled in.

This little girl now.

This little girl thinks she's going to get involved.

She just looked so young. She was kind of egging the rest of them on.

There was this little girl egging on these big guys,

saying, "Come on, we've got to get into the shop. We've got to get in."

Look at her.

Look at her.

Yeah, the little girl.

Her...

She was so motivated and determined to break in.

She had one of those glass hammers that you usually find on buses.

I swear it's like I can hear my heart breaking.

I can hear Croydon's heart breaking.

All right, so I'm going to call you Mr A. Yeah?

-The reason is...

-Right, so Mr A.

What's the reason, what's going on?

Many of us can't get paid, no jobs out there!

-What the fuck! Money is money, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Fuck it, money for a different country.

-You know like that?

Explain your situation to me?

-My situation, they need to fucking give me my passport.

-Yeah?

He's been in this country for X amount of years,

and he can't get a job, they won't give him back his passport,

that kind of thing.

Why are you angry? What's going on?

I've been here, fucking, since nine years old.

I'm now a big man, they try to send me back home. What's that?

He felt like he'd been mistreated by the government.

Fuck this country, bro.

And after you spoke to him, what did he then go off and do?

He joined the rest of them and started looting.

I don't know if I should go in, cos it's a crime scene now, but erm...

I'm going to take you inside Lidl, just to have a look in here.

'The store was just torn apart. It was unrecognisable.'

This is my local Lidl, yeah?

'They were stealing alcohol, that was the main thing.

'The food and that kind of thing was still there, left untouched.'

And loads of the booze and the alcohol,

everything was just ransacked.

I'm going to get myself out of here. It's a little dangerous.

Has anyone got a bottle opener?

Wow. This young lady just asked for a bottle opener.

'The irony. You take what you value,'

and a lot of people took what they thought would keep the party going.

Seriously, man, guys...

It could almost be looked at as a kind of street party, I guess,

in a funny sort of way.

Complain about jobs and money and stuff and you steal alcohol.

Doesn't make sense to me.

But I'm not in their situation, so...

I'll try and find out a little bit more.

Tell me where you're from.

I'm originally from Poland.

You know, from someone that comes from Poland,

what did you make of these riots here?

I don't even know what was it all about, really, you know.

It was, you know...

I saw stupidity and anger, to make a statement.

What is that statement?

Well, the statement is, well,

that they don't want to be managed that way.

They don't like the way that system works.

They feel overall injustice.

Who's willing to talk to me for a few secs?

Everyone wants to be involved but nobody wants to talk.

Everyone wants to keep their mouth shut.

They don't necessarily relate why they are doing it

to what they are doing.

Dude, I'm going to call you Dude A, all right? And you're Dude B.

Catford, looted out Catford, Lewisham, moving at different ends,

just doing this, innit? Proper down to the shops,

-getting all the fucking TVs...

-What's the reason for you doing this?

They shot that dude in North London.

Tried to say he shot them first but tests proved, rude boy, yeah?

Tests proved that the bullet was not fired from his gun.

OK, so that's your reason for joining this anarchy, yeah?

Electrical, electrical shop!

Just hear the noise. This is people's houses.

People's houses, local businesses. I'm going to try and stop this.

This is literally on my doorstep. It's literally on my doorstep.

'To know that people have strived to build up a business,'

and in five minutes or so, a group of people can just tear

it down and that person may not have insurance.

That person may not have anything else to go over to.

Look at these guys. These guys are trying to smash into the shop. Him.

This guy here in the green.

Yeah? This guy here in the green behind me, yeah?

I just didn't want it to continue.

You know, the little bit that my voice can be heard,

I don't know, I just, I don't even know if it's making a difference.

Oh, shit, this building's on fire here.

Oh yeah, like get it from the inside.

What is wrong with people?

And your footage captures that first moment of the fire.

I think it was just a split-second decision

where someone just thought, "That's it." Brick through the window, petrol bomb,

whatever it was, in. That was it.

I cannot... This building is...

I've never seen nothing like this in my life, ever.

This is... Jesus Christ, this is absolutely crazy.

I can't believe that. I'm in shock. I was going to buy a sofa from there.

Feel the heat, right?

But I want to be over there.

'At this point, no-one was really doing much else'

in terms of looting and stuff.

I think everyone was so amazed at the size of this, what someone had done,

that everyone stopped what they were doing at this point

and kind of thought, "Wow. Is this happening?"

'Who's that other voice on your footage?'

That's a guy called Nick, who I met that night.

He was trying to steer me towards certain things

and tell me how we were going to interview different people.

I just went along with it cos it was quite funny.

The Carpetright building was on fire,

and while I was filming you can even hear him saying,

"You've got to capture the emotion, get the emotion of this woman."

I was like, "Dude, her house is on fire!"

'She doesn't even know if everybody she knows is alive,'

the last thing she needs is me with a camera in her face,

like, "Let's see your emotion," you know?

So I politely declined that one.

'Haven't really stayed in touch.'

We're friends on Facebook.

'We went and chatted to a policeman afterwards.'

What's happening up there?

We were just in the Tottenham business park, there's looting and shit.

-Yeah.

-Do you guys know about that?

Really?

Operation Do Absolutely Nothing was going particularly well for them so they stuck with it.

There are lots of officers down there

going by Tottenham police station

because there it's a matter of protecting life.

-Yeah.

-Life takes priority over property, I suppose.

You said you'd grown up here.

Did you know any of them, recognise any of them?

Later on in the night, after a couple of hours, after things were set alight and stuff,

a boy who I knew came up to me and went, "You all right? I just got this guitar from one of the shops."

He was like, "I'm just going back to my house to drop off the guitar."

He's the same age as me, used to be in the same class as me. So...yeah.

Why didn't you join in?

Because, definitely, I've been brought up much better than that to do that kind of stuff.

The career I want to go into doesn't condone that kind of act.

People should think ahead and think of the consequences of what will happen.

Think about that split-second decision to just run into a shop and get something.

And you talked about the future career you want to go into - what's that?

When I'm out and about generally and kind of see some stuff,

I think, "If only I was a police officer in this situation."

SIRENS WAIL

'I want to make an individual difference.

'I'm not doing that particular path at the moment,'

but it's definitely in the future something that I would probably aim towards.

I just heard the police issuing some instructions or suggesting,

"What about if we do this, what about if we do that?"

So clearly they're not equipped to deal with this kind of situation.

I'm not a great fan of the police.

I don't think they handle every situation the best way they can.

But they were incredibly brave.

They left their families to come and protect what they could

and I respect that.

If you watch her, it's all most like she's transfixed by what's going on.

Yeah, she was, cos she said to me,

"Mum, I'd never seen nothing like that.

"I just couldn't believe what people were doing that day."

She just said she was listening to that man talking to the police.

He actually didn't do nothing to the police,

he was just being angry with them for how he'd been treated or something.

CLOCK TICKS

We went up to town, I think it was about quarter past two.

We'd gone in New Look, we came out, went to Greggs,

and, being a teenager, she said, "Mum, leave me up town."

I said, "Right," just in case anything did happen,

"I'll pick you up half four, five o'clock by the Hogshead."

You fucking people are next.

Then, I think it was about four o'clock, Danielle's ringing me in tears,

saying everything had kicked off uptown.

SHARP CRACK

-PEOPLE SCREAMING

-Gunshot!

'And fireworks were going off.'

She was crying on the phone to me, saying, "It's horrible.

"There's police falling in front of my feet, there's bottles being thrown at me."

GLASS SMASHING

'So she had to run.'

And then she went down Queen Street, and that's where it happened.

She had bumped into an old friend from school

she hadn't seen for ages and they were walking down Queen Street

and she just picked these gloves up and put them on her hands,

and just walked about.

She saw everyone going into this, I think it was, Zap Clothing, menswear?

And she said, "I just went in to be curious."

She goes to turn round and the shutter falls.

Everyone's going mad in there, so she says, "Mum, I just pick up two odd trainers off the floor,

"ready to throw in case someone attacks me."

This man comes past her, lifts the shutter up and says, "Come on, let's go."

She says, "I just walk out, and then I think,

"I have trainers in my hands."

So you see her throw one and just drop the other

and then the gloves come off.

This was the day after.

Everyone kept texting her saying, "Danielle, you're in the paper."

"Who is the girl wearing the big black gloves?"

More or less, "If you know this girl, phone this number."

And she said, "I don't believe this, Mum.

"They're making out to be something I'm not."

How did you feel when you saw that picture on the newspaper?

I said to Danielle, the first thing I said was,

"That was the wrong thing to do, Danielle.

"With what was going on uptown that day,

"people are going to see it completely different."

Out of her own choice, she said,

"I'm going to go down to the local police station to explain myself."

They said, "That's fine, we can see you're doing no harm,

"we're after the more serious criminals."

Then early the next morning, they raided my house.

A dozen of them.

Knocking at my door at quarter to two. They got Danielle...

PHONE RINGS

It's all right. It's fine, it's fine.

Do you what to see who it is?

-It's Danielle.

-Oh. That's all right.

-Oh, I think she's gone off.

-That means she's going to ring. Is that all right?

-Yeah. It's fine.

They went and searched Danielle's room

and then they came in and handcuffed my daughter.

I said, "Is there any need to handcuff her?" They said, "It's for our safety."

-What was she finally sentenced with?

-Ten months. Ten months.

Well, I was really mad in court.

I stood up and I told the judge, "That's totally unfair. You're ruining a young girl's life."

She thought she'd go the way of the RAF.

It's all gone

because there's no way she'll get in the RAF with a criminal record.

PHONE RINGS

That's her. Yeah, it is. Hello? Hello, bub.

Oh, now, if you want. I've just got the BBC here filming me.

Danielle said hello.

I'm coming to see you tomorrow. I've got you some more jammies and that.

Will they let me take it through? Yeah?

Another flannel and another towel? All right, then.

They've given me a list on how many leggings I could send in.

I think you got your limit there.

All right, then, bub. Ta-ra, love you.

Bye.

-How do you find those calls?

-Hard.

Yeah.

I feel lost.

I keep looking for her and expecting her to come down the stairs.

Yeah. And it's... It's horrible.

Everyone makes mistakes in their lives, I don't care who they are.

That's teenagers, isn't it?

Well said, well said.

She was filming it.

-She was filming it as well?

-She filmed it, yeah.

ALL LAUGH

She's got all that on her phone but the police took her phone

when they actually raided my house that night.

-And you've not got it back?

-No. And they never used that in evidence.

And that's on contract. So I'm paying for that.

That's what they all do nowadays. Everything's on camera, isn't it?

They like to film things that are going on.

They started charging at them.

Oh, my God.

-See what I meant about the power thing?

-I know.

-So was that filmed from this building as well?

-Yes.

Every time I watch this, my blood boils up.

-Makes you angry when you see that?

-It does.

I was sleeping -

my parents were here to spend their vacation with me -

and my dad woke me up. It was Ramadan, we were fasting.

So I was sleeping, and he woke me up, and he was like, "Look what's happening outside."

And I could see everyone running around

and I could see the looters actually running around with stuff as well.

I took the camera and started shooting the footage from the balcony.

You know, the funny thing is, just one night before the riots start

taking place in Barking, he's walking outside with my mum late at night

and he's like, "You see, it's so peaceful and calm here."

We are on the 15th floor, it's a high-rise building.

The rioters were right inside JD Sports.

The JD Sports is right next to the police station.

And people were actually standing on the stairway of the police station.

-Were you scared?

-Scared? No. Why would I be scared?

These things don't scare me. I've seen worse.

We have a Facebook page for residents living in this building.

I actually posted on that page saying, "Please,

"if someone tries to get inside the building,

"you guys can call me any time and I'll be more than happy

"to come downstairs and take care of everything."

How did you feel about that, Sarrah?

Oh, he's just trying to be Superman, isn't he?

At that time, we were planning for our wedding

and then all of a sudden he messages me,

he's like, "Oh, the rioters are outside, I want to do something about it."

I was like, "Are you stupid? You stay indoors and you stay safe."

I was actually getting texts from other people saying,

"Oh, so finally you feel like you're back home."

I was like, "This is sad, you shouldn't be saying things like that."

How would this compare with a riot in Pakistan?

In Pakistan, we usually have riots relating to a specific issue,

probably hunger or politics

or different political parties rallying for some specific issue,

things like that.

The last major riot that we had was when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

When riots happen, Pakistan people do not actually start looting stores.

For the Muslim community, although not a relief,

it was somewhat of a...

I can't find the word, but we were demonised for so many years.

-Oh, that's different.

-You shouldn't actually be saying that about...

No, I mean...

I can see what you're saying because there must have been,

"Oh great, it wasn't us!"

Yeah, it wasn't us. We're not the ones being victimised or pinpointed.

There was a sense of that around through friends and family

and things like that, so it was there.

The image that sticks in my head is where you see

an adolescent boy casually packing in everything he's actually...

It's like he has all the time in the world.

You see this guy with a camera

and he's trying to take, I think, some journalistic photos,

and you can see him

with his bravado coming up and trying to intimidate the guy

into deleting these scenes.

I should have done something.

I mean, someone has to take the first step.

But if civilians start taking things into their own hands,

it makes the police obsolete.

They should be taking care of things properly.

That's true, but, still, if you're standing there,

it's your duty as a human being to stop this from happening.

There were some people that weren't looting.

They were just standing there and they were enjoying watching it.

'I knew it was going to kick off, man.'

All right.

I took the second day off and then the third day, yeah,

I decided to go and check out Mare Street.

What did you do on your day off?

I don't know. I think I watched it on telly.

It was a different kind of motive.

It wasn't just about being able to loot stuff.

I heard a lot of guys saying Hackney should have been first,

as if it was a matter of national pride.

They wanted to really put Hackney on the map by smashing it up.

Then some people just started throwing some stuff.

LOUD BANG

A policeman got knocked out with a brick.

Is he OK?

Take my picture in front of them.

In front of the Feds, in front of the Feds.

The tactics of the police, they'd sort of secure us at one place

and then everyone would go,

"Oh, there's a police car over there. I'll just smash that."

I remember likening it to that kind of toilet roll you get at school.

It doesn't actually clean anything up.

It just kind of spreads it around and makes more of a mess.

That's what the riot policing was.

I heard one guy try to start a chant of,

"No postcode beef, it's all on the police,"

meaning all the different Hackney gangs

could put aside their differences for the day.

Did you have any sympathy for them?

For the police?

Not especially. It's their job, isn't it?

# We're all in it together We're all in it together... #

Remember what David said.

I couldn't find a pub to stop and get a quick drink in,

so I just decided to call it quits

and go back and watch the coverage on TV again.

Our streets, our streets!

I'm at the focal point of where violence is happening.

It felt as close as I'd ever been to a war zone.

Best day ever!

This is Hackney for ya!

There was this one woman.

She had a bandana on her face.

She was repeatedly lighting Molotov cocktails

and throwing them at the police like she was in Baghdad or something.

So surreal, considering they're in the middle of London,

in the middle of a civilised society,

and you're seeing people doing that kind of thing.

-Do you think there was any political motive?

-Absolutely none.

Opportunistic would be the word.

As soon as five or six of them are doing it,

that increases to a mob in a second and then strength in numbers

and they're just doing whatever they want.

I mean, the most shocking thing I saw

with my own eyes was the convenience store.

There were kids committing an act of robbery over

four bottles of J20 orange juice,

and they were walking out

as if they'd robbed a De Beer's diamond jewellers or something.

-How long have you had this shop?

-11 years.

-And where are you from originally?

-Sri Lanka.

We have an electric shutter on the shop front

and everything is always shut properly.

We'd just left the shop.

I went home and the BBC and SKY

shows us the shop was broken in.

I was so shocked.

How did you feel when you were sitting at home,

watching YOUR shop being broken into on national news?

I'm busy, though. You can't say that horrifying moment, you know.

I would just...moan and crying. I just would.

And, you know, it's all happened, and then now, to call the police,

but I have to wait for 15 minutes to get on.

So then they say, you know,

"Due to the high demand, you have to go to the local police station."

And I went Waltham Forest, and there was a poster there -

"Due to the high demand, police station was closed.

"And go to the next police station."

Had they taken much?

Yes, everything.

You should ask what they left for us.

And I lost £90,000.

I didn't do anything bad to them, so if they done to me,

they got lied to them.

I'm not a policeman or judge to give justice.

I believe karma, you know.

Whatever you do, you know, that will come to you one day.

Why did you start shouting?

I actually started shouting because I saw all these cars on fire,

and bikes and...

..bins upside down. And people were taking pictures.

I said, "Do you think this is something to take a picture of?"

You know, "Is this really what it's about for you guys?

"You know, taking pictures of burning vehicles and rubbish?

"You know, isn't anyone going to do anything about this?"

I think I got described as a "parasite"

by somebody from filming this.

"You are a parasite!"

Instead of filming, I should just stop and single-handedly,

like, arrest everyone myself and just put a stop

to this whole thing instead of

picking at the bones of the carcass of London.

-'The fucking, car, man.'

-'Yeah.'

'That makes five.'

Look at that!

You're burning your neighbour's car!

This guy says, "Oh, what's the problem? Shut up old woman!

"They've got insurance, haven't they?"

Well, that was it.

Then I...

I mean, how can you justify burning someone's car by saying,

"Oh, well, they get insurance."

This is the fucking reality!

Lower the fucking burning of property!

Lower burning people's shop

that they work hard to start their business!

D'you understand?

Pour out the fucking shop, then.

She's working hard to make her business work,

and then you lot want to go and burn it up.

For what? Just to say that you're worried and you're Bang Man.

The gentleman who filmed me,

he possibly caught the last couple of minutes...

SHE LAUGHS

..of it, which, thank God, he didn't catch any more!

I can imagine you going for a while.

I went on for a while.

I mean, my friend had crossed over the road and lit a cigarette.

It's like, "Oh, it's going to be a long one. She's on one again."

This is about a fucking man who got shot in Tottenham!

This ain't about having fun on a riot and busting up the place.

Get it real, black people! Get real!

-..In the middle.

-Do it for a cause.

If we're fighting for a cause, let's fight for a fucking cause!

You know, you're all going on like you're big and bad.

What's big and bad about it?

Because, you know, you're bandanad up,

you're balaclavad up, you know.

There's nothing bad about doing something and running away from it.

You know, be a man!

'You lot piss me the fuck off!

I'm shamed to be a Hackney person.

Cos we're not all gathering together and fighting for a cause.

We're running out of Footlocker.

This here is where the big moment took place.

Hello!

How you doing, friend? Bless.

It was about here.

It's now known as Lady P's wall, which is quite funny,

but people actually come here now and take pictures, apparently.

Did you see the Hackney heroine?

Yeah, I saw her on YouTube.

I didn't see her in real life, though.

She was heroic.

In these days, anything could happen to her.

You just don't know these days how people react.

-Hi, there.

-Hi.

-All right?

I would have applauded her if I was there.

I mean, someone had to say something!

I appreciate what you're doing. You have to speak your mind in this situation, you know.

-Need a lot more people like you around.

-Ah, bless you.

-Clown around the place, you know what I'm saying?

-Yeah.

The lady with the stick!

That's what I'm known as!

Just "the woman with a stick"!

-Anyway, take care of yourself.

-All right, darling. Bless, bless. Love.

One love!

-Life must have changed quite a bit...

-My life has changed...

..since going viral.

Was I viral?! That sounds painful!

How does it feel, going viral?

It's surreal, it's overwhelming, it's strange, it's unbelievable.

I mean...

I still can't believe that me giving them a mouthful

has led to so much attention.

And this is the Pembury Estate.

I mean, come on! Look at where these people are living!

It's not the most colourful of areas.

It's not the most picturesque.

You've got the estate there, and then opposite,

you've got some rather nice old Victorian houses.

Victorian houses, which very posh people live in.

Just cross the road, and you've got a different lifestyle altogether.

It's amazing.

Kind of distressing, as well.

There are a lot more affluent areas in London.

These kids who live in Hackney, it didn't really make sense to me.

If I had to get inside their brain

and sort of logically do what they were doing,

I would probably go to a much more affluent part of London

and do it there rather than destroy my own neighbourhood.

This is just a little report out of one of the local papers.

"A semi-professional footballer,

"who looted a shop in Sloane Square during the riots, has been caged."

Like he's an animal.

"Talented Mario Quiassaca, 18,

"who plays for Staines in the Conference South League,

"was part of a 60-strong mob

"who rampaged through the area of August 8th.

"He kicked in the windows of Hugo Boss,

"helping himself to clothes worth £1,133.

"Earlier on in the evening, he had been at the youth club

"and met up with some friends from the estate.

"He was sentenced to 30 months in a young offenders' institute

"after admitting burglary and violent disorder.

"His friend, Charlie Burton, 18,

"admitted violent disorder and received the same sentence.

"He said he joined in after seeing the Croydon riot on TV."

That night was very strange.

It was really eerie, the streets.

The police told all the shopkeepers to close their shops early,

which they did.

But there was just a funny atmosphere.

It was like...

ghost town.

But then, apparently, youths gathered,

and they went up to Sloane Square.

Describe Sloane Square to me.

Sloane Square is where I would say all the posh shops are.

Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein,

Peter Jones. Lots of expensive shops.

Charlie worked for highway maintenance.

That week, he had a week off work.

He went to football training that evening.

He came home about 9:30, quarter to 10,

and he said, "I'm just going to my friend's."

And he came back about half an hour, 40 minutes later.

And he said, "Mum, I've done something stupid.

"I've gone out," he said.

"I see a group of youths. I followed them.

"I realised what I was doing, and I turned back," he said.

"I pushed a bin," he said,

"and I'm really, really sorry."

Then, on Thursday the 11th,

that's when they came with the warrant to my house.

It was eight o'clock in the morning.

I just heard "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

They came in like the American SWAT team.

They pinned him to the bed, asking him, "where's the PS3?"

They searched my premises, they found nothing,

and they said they HAD to take him in for questioning

because his name was put forward.

That was it, and from the day they came, they never brought him back.

He never came back.

So, were he and Mario good friends?

Very good friends, from young.

What do you think was going through their heads at the time?

I think these kids have just seen, like, "Wow, free stuff! Let's go!"

This is all I can imagine, seeing all the clips I've seen on TV.

I don't think anybody was thinking about the consequences.

I just think they just see all these people going into shops

and everybody went.

Mario did steal over £1,000 worth of clothes.

With Mario, I can't answer that.

Like I said, heat of the moment.

And what area were you involved in?

Southwest London area...

I was involved in.

Why will you only be interviewed anonymously?

Because...this riot stuff is very touchy

and I don't want to... I'm not going to incriminate myself.

Ask me a specific... Get straight to the meat and bones of the argument. What are you asking me, then?

-What-what...

-What was your involvement with where you were? Why did you go there?

To give the police a boshing. That's what we went there for.

We went there to give the police a boshing.

Can you tell me what area it was?

Erm... It was...

..Sloane Square. That's the area it was. Sloane Square.

You have absolutely piss-poor people living across the road from

not only the richest people in London,

but in some cases, the richest people in the world.

All the ex-politician. Margaret Thatcher lives there.

Saudi royalty and all of that have flats over there and all of that.

That's the police over there, staying at arm's distance.

Somebody needs new windows.

It was definitely the younger generation

with one or two older members who were using the cover of the crowd

and directing them towards shops.

-And so were you involved?

-I can't answer that question...

specifically.

But I had a good observation point.

I had a very good observation point where I could see, erm,

quite a lot of detail what was going on.

Lots of them got arrested.

One of them's just 18 and one of them's just coming to 18.

They were stupid.

They thought that it would make sense to plead guilty.

They were young and inexperienced at dealing with the police.

We spoke to someone anonymously.

This guy seemed to know Mario and Charlie,

and he said that they were stupid because they pleaded guilty.

I'm not saying what anyone did that night was right but

it's so easy to be led off.

If you recognised him, how would you feel?

Angry. Frustrated.

He's a coward to let these youths take the rap for everyone and everything,

knowing they didn't take a serious part in what happened in Sloane Square.

-Do you feel any guilt, generally, seeing this?

-I didn't participate...

-I know, but do you...

-Obviously, I can't feel sorry for a capitalistic company

cos it doesn't feel sorry for the person down at the bottom that it's squeezing.

I can't see Hugo Boss suffering any lasting damage

but I can see Mark Duggan's family suffering lasting damage.

I'm a warrior, I'm a scholar, that's who I am.

And all I can say to the young guys is...

stick together, mate, we'll get through this.

That's Currys. It's not amazing footage.

'If the police charge...'

This was pretty early on, innit?

Yeah...

I remember a lot of BB statuses being changed.

I remember a little broadcast coming through,

so we jumped in the car and as we were in the car,

I saw pictures of what was happening at Currys.

By the time we got there, it was just literally one order.

And when I say one order, I mean one order was being shouted out.

There was a weird sense of harmony,

like no problems, no quarrels between each other.

Obviously, it's chaos cos there's a riot going on,

but it wasn't chaotic, frantic, stepping over, stamping each other,

people getting hurt in the process. It weren't like that.

ALARMS AND SHOUTING

It was a united front. People from different estates.

It was just basically, "We've got an objective, let's get it done."

And everyone was just helping each other do it. That's what I saw.

ALARMS CONTINUE

What do you think was going through the heads of the guys

doing it at Currys?

Financial gain.

Definitely.

So, greed.

I wouldn't say greed. I would say hunger.

I don't mean hunger in a sense that they're hungry, belly rumbling. I mean like pockets rumbling.

Shops like Currys seemed to be a popular venue for looting.

But if you had a chance to go somewhere you get everything free, where would you go, innit?

Currys would be a main spot still.

Different electronic shops and whatnot.

But there weren't many bookshops being looted.

HE LAUGHS

I would doubt there would be a lot of bookshops getting looted!

I'm pretty sure WH Smith was unscratched. I'm pretty sure!

Ah! Do you know what it is?

Obviously, I could understand why,

because we're in the generation where not a lot of people's reading.

Have you heard stories about, people even trying on clothes before they stole them?

I have heard different stories about different people making sure

they get the right weave and these different things, but obviously,

if you got that opportunity, you might as well get the right one, I suppose.

That's what they're thinking. There's point going home and it don't fit, innit? So, yeah.

Oh, my God!

Trainers were also very popular. Why is it important to have a good pair of trainers?

Why is it important?! Cos a pair... It says a lot.

I can literally tell you, you get to a point where,

when I was younger, if I was approaching a girl,

I'd go over to her and look at her face and then at her trainers.

The trainers that you couldn't afford, that day you could afford it.

And I can't be a hypocrite.

A few years back, I would've got more than trainers.

That's just me being real.

We share one Father, we share one Christ, we share one Spirit!

-ALL:

-Amen.

I'm a Pentecostal Christian so I'm a born-again believer.

-And this is why you and I can gel.

-Mm-hm. Amen. Amen.

-Amen?

'If it wasn't for the fear of God in my life,'

literally, on my moral compass to tell me, "That's wrong,"

I would've do to have got involved and not just been a spectator.

Because I come from a very terrible...

'I would've probably been the first one shouting out one order.'

Otherwise... And that's just me being real, innit?

In God's family there is no upper class or working class or middle class.

'We all the same!'

-Were you ever in a gang?

-Was I ever in a gang?

HE LAUGHS Yeah, I was in a gang.

I was in a gang.

And why did you join it? What was attractive about it?

I'm in a gang now...

if you're getting me.

God's family is a different family from every other family.

'Obviously, it's not the same sort of gang, we ain't got the same sort of purpose

but a gang is a team, innit, sort of thing? It's a circle of close-knitted friends that have a common goal

to do something like Sugar Hill and the gang and what-not.

Because you know that you can't buy peace...

'Got to a point where it was a dog-eat-dog world

'and the dogs that was playing in the parks that I played in'

barked a different sort of way so...

I kinda started barking along that tune, too.

DOGS BARKING

What kind of reputation does this estate have?

'The reputation wasn't a nice one.

'I remember there was a tabloid that read that

'even the devil's scared to walk through Myatts Field Estate.'

Myatts Field is the original name. Either "fields" or "Baghdad"

or "The Dads".

-Yeah, it's got different names, innit?

-Why Baghdad?

Baghdads. It's a risky place to be and so is here, innit? So...

'The dark side of the street culture. That's how I like to sum it up, basically.

'I saw a lot.'

I saw a lot. Most I can't say.

Despite your new-found religion,

were you still not a little bit tempted while watching the scene at Currys?

I weren't tempted to get involved at Currys, not at all.

What did kinda...

..sway some emotions was when I saw the initial riot in North London

and they were going directly against the police.

SHOUTING

I was thinking, "Oh," cos I've been a victim of police brutality myself,

but by God's grace, I've been able to forgive and whatnot.

-SCREAMS AND SHOUTS

-Scum, scum, scum!

I know that to the public is a proper crazy sight,

but the things that people live with is more shocking.

Like I went to go bury my friend the other day.

Then someone else ended up getting shot dead at the funeral.

And that happened, what, a few metres away from myself.

To be honest, I don't really care about a riot, if I'm going to be real with you.

Did you miss it when it had finished?

I suppose I did.

It was just, like, "Oh, back to normality now."

What do we now with our spare hours of the day?

I did miss it.

It was upsetting to watch but it was so interesting...so interesting.

And I'm not just saying this for Charlie,

but a lot of these kids do not need to be in prison.

You know, when they come out, what is there for them?

Prison's not the answer. You're just going to make a angrier society.

Do you think there'll be more riots?

There will be riots, obviously. Look at the whole planet. The whole planet's rioting.

And next time, you're going to be involved, mate, and your cameramen, and your little Miss over there,

because you'll realise you got mugged off when you go to the bank one day

and you try and put your card and the bank says, "Oh, sorry,

"all of the notes, there's nothing to back these notes. All the gold's gone."

You're going to be rioting too when you realise what's happened.

Now, this buzzer going off could be just a neighbour...

Going the way it's going, it's probably another film crew!

Or it could be, I'm now having people turn up at my home.

This is the danger side of it for me, I don't know who's ever out there,

and the buzzer's actually working, which is good. Hello?

Ah. My carer.

This is like a place of pilgrimage.

-Let's go and see the Hackney heroine!

-Well, they do.

Even if YouTube didn't exist, I would still take a camera with me,

just so that I could see it again.

I doubt I'll ever see anything like that in London again.

POLICE SIREN

-HE LAUGHS

-Speaking too soon, yeah!

Everyone's got an opinion on young people and crime.

To make sure your voice is heard

and to find out more about the issues, go to...

..and follow the links to the Open University.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd