10/08/2011 North West Tonight

Good evening. Welcome to North West Tonight. I'm Ranvir Singh, in

Manchester city centre. "We know who you are and we are coming to

get you," - the police warning to vandals who trashed our cities. We

will be hearing from the people determined to get our cities back

on their feet and bring the folks So how will they do that? I've been

finding out, and asking the police whether they were properly prepared

for last night's trouble here in And away from the burning cars and

smashed windows, I'm live in Liverpool One, where even here the

economic cost is being felt, as shops close early and stock is

cleared out as a precaution. And I direct appeal for calm from

I'm Gordon Burns. In the studio tonight, we'll be examining the

reasons for the disorder and asking how so many young people got

involved, and we'll be looking at the role social media is playing in

helping to bring the violence to an There is only one story on North

West Tonight and that is the violence that spread across our

region last night. Ranvir, as you saw, is in the city centre of

It all seems to be running pretty normally now but last night battles

with the police, looting, mindless violence and hundreds of arrests

were the kind of scenes that shocked people across the North

West. Today police are saying a note to the criminals are and they

will be brought to justice. I chafe -- our chief reporter is on

Deansgate. There is an increased level of police, isn't there?

If you look around Deansgate tonight you can see there are more

police up and down the street. The area did experience its share of

problems last night. These are not just Greater Manchester Police

officers, they are from other forces, too. Greater Manchester

police officers sent some officers down to London to help last night

but they say that did not hamper their ability to deal with problems

here. The message today is it his business is normal. Tonight, though,

it has to be said that some people are not taking any chances. Some

shopkeepers are boarding up their It was the night when the normal

rules of morality were put on hold in parts of Greater Manchester.

were outnumbered last night. It was hard to see criminals attacking

premises that we could just not get the numbers do in order to stop it

spreading. This was Salford, a city where, for a few terrifying hours,

anarchy swept the streets. There was honour even among thieves as

they tussled over their spoils. In Manchester, they helped themselves

to whatever they fancied from city centre stores, brazenly and

apparently without any fear of the consequences. They were trying

shoes on on the steps in front of us to see if they had got the right

size. They were going into the back and taking bags and filling them up.

Aspects of life I never thought in my wildest dreams I would say.

today, the police promised there would be consequences for these

people. We have your image, we have your face, we have your acts of

wanton criminality on film. We are coming for you from today. No

matter how long it takes. We will arrest those people responsible.

The trouble escalated quickly into scenes which shocked even the most

seasoned of police officers. But were those officers properly

prepared? We knew there was a potential and lots of different

areas of Greater Manchester. What shocked and surprised us was the

level of violence, particularly in Salford, so that was a different

situation which we had to give priority to. On Merseyside, too,

they have been counting the cost of another night of senseless violence

that brought fear and destruction to the streets of Liverpool and

Birkenhead. Fire crews found themselves in the firing line.

fact that we or any other members of the emergency services come

under attack is appalling. I cannot understand the logic of the people

that would attack us, or indeed anyone, for that matter. The tender

years of some of those involved has been almost as shocking as the acts

they carried out. There were 15 people arrested last night, some of

them as young as 14 years old. That is something the parents can do

something about. A sense of outrage is shared by the majority of law-

abiding citizens in Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Their

main concern now, what can be done As we have already said, the police

are having more officers on the street. They have been rounding

people up all day. Two people have been jailed, for ten weeks and 16

wickets respectively for their parts in the trouble. The police

say they are the first of many. Manchester magistrates' court is

opening from 7pm for a series of special sittings, to deal with more

than 100 people. An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of

arson. That follows the fire at the Selfridges Straw -- Selfridges

Interesting details about the number of arrests. The youngest

person arrested last night by Greater Manchester Police was a 15

year-old boy. But it was not just youths out on the street. The

oldest person arrested was a 58 year-old man. Greater Manchester

Fire Service also had a difficult night. They responded to 351

incidents. That is five times the usual number. Across Liverpool, six

fire engines were attacked and 11 properties were set on fire. And

although Cheshire saw a little disorder on the streets, eight

arrests were made for inciting disorder on social networking sites.

Well, here to talk about the situation in Manchester is council

leader Richard Leese. We have seen that there are more police on the

street. Are you confident they will write some of the mistakes of last

night? We have twice as many police on the streets tonight. That should

be enough to contain any potential disorder this evening. But this

will have to be kept up for a period of time. We need to get the

disorder under control and move on to making sure that those people

who have been responsible are taken to caught and punished. And you

have announced this afternoon that any child or family seem to be

involved in any of this criminality runs the risk of losing their

council home. That is a very tough measures. Is it helpful in the long

run? I think it is. We have to make sure parents to take responsibility

for their children. We do have this power that where a child is guilty

of antisocial behaviour, we can use eviction as a tool. The people of

Manchester, to have their confidence restored, will need to

see very tough measures taken against these people. And in terms

of the financial cost to the city, do you know? It will run into

millions of pounds. We know that there rather a lot of independent

businesses at risk and today I have asked the Government to make sure

they provide support to those independent businesses. Has it made

you think again? I know it is still quite early on but has it made you

think again about horror perhaps you interact with some of these

young people, who clearly could not care less about the City that they

were born and raised and educated in? First of all, we have to

restore public order. Then we need to get confidence back. Then we

need a proper postmortem. I think every public organisation should

look at what they have done and what they could do better. Do you

feel any responsibility at all for this or are you putting it down to

parenting and things like that? This is criminal behaviour and the

criminals have to take responsibility for bat behaviour.

We saw this morning the sort of Manchester that most people want

and I think collectively we have to take that responsibility to create

that Manchester. And we will be seeing the good work that some

young people have done. But you cannot necessarily a stereotype --

you cannot stereotyped the people involved. Someone treaty to say,

speechless, my cousin, from a comfortable background, pictured

rioting. But the violence was not just in Salford and -- in

Manchester, it was also in Salford. We have been speaking to some of

Images that will live long in the memory. Here BBC Radio Manchester's

radio car is attacked. It was indiscriminate, violent and

frightening. On the streets today, the question is, who would do such

things and why? This teenager admits he was on the streets of

Salford last night, watching but not involved in the disturbances.

The kids are rioting because there is nothing to do.

REPORTER: There was a lot of looting going on, why? Windows are

smashed in shops and people are going to see the opportunity to go

in and grab something. Is there any excuse for it? No, no. Jake the

street capture these images, a mechanical digger being stolen from

a construction yard in Salford at the height of yesterday's

disturbances. They started driving the did get out of the construction

yard and up the road at 30mph. These children could have killed

anyone. They could have wrecked thousands of pounds worth of cars.

I did not expected at all. other witnesses are too frightened

to be identified. This student in Salford watch a supermarket trashed.

When I saw people from my own residential block looting and being

involved in violence, I was totally stunned. I could not believe all

the people I have met here Libya who see normal common eyes, happy

people. Obviously they saw the opportunity and decided to be

criminals. The hope today is that More from Ranvir, too, towards the

Now, we have heard much over the last few days about a class of the

so-called feral youth. But today a different sort of young person came

out onto the streets of the North West. Their aim, simply to help.

Kate Simms reports now on how they, and others, joined the big clean up.

A difficult start to the working day for many businesses in Salford.

The shop is destroyed. But recruits were on hand to help. We need to

help. There is no need for it. are willing to fight the yobs.

Manchester, hundreds turned up in the rain after an overnight

campaign on social media, armed with pressures and backs to clean

up. Everybody today came together and they all knew what had to be

done and it has been done. It is to show that we are not all like that.

We are not going round looting. Some of us actually care about the

City. And then a bad businesses that had been attacked. These

people are normally out fitting lifts. Today we are helping

Manchester clean up. People have been coming in to work, walking

through a bomb site... Event the visiting Salford and P Hazel Blears

was given her clear orders. Get a brush and get stuck in. Manchester

City Council have worked hard through the early hours to make

sure it was business as usual here. Because of events overnight, the

morning after the night before is not quite as bad as everyone feared,

but although there is not as much for the volunteers to do, they say

they are keen to come right anyway and show their support. And anyone

showing support was given a clear message. Why would you attack?

do they attack London, Brannigan...? Because the corrupt

police is at they know -- need to be shown who the boss of England is.

There are people taking dip a stand So just what is the economic impact

of all this? Nationally, this is the figure, �100 million. In the

last hour and a half, Manchester's Arndale Centre closed its doors

early. Liverpool One also shut up shop as a precaution. Countless

smaller businesses have also taken a blow. Our economics correspondent

Jayne Barrett is at Liverpool One We are well away from the burnt

cars and smashed windows of just a few miles away but even here, the

economic cost is being felt. Some shops here should as early as 4pm

yesterday, all by six, but the rest of the week they are going to close

early at 6:00pm. Liverpool Chamber of Commerce said the cost so far

just two businesses is �2.5 million. Let's hear some of their stories.

In Wavertree, a much-loved local pub trashed. Along the road, a

newsagents targeted. Small businesses, but businesses which

mean a lot to a community where investment is in short supply.

try to make an investment but, I don't know... Further along, this

man shows me his swannery arm, injured in a fight. -- Swarland arm.

Outside they are making new shutters but he does not know when

he will re-open. What can I do? I do not know. In Birkenhead, more

businesses targeted. The cost mounting across the region. In

Piccadilly, an archaic closed by the damage. These kids have is a

report eight or nine people out of work until we get this right. --

easily port. Tonight again the Arndale Centre close early. They

say they are taking every step to stay ahead of the looters. We have

seen them targeting certain shops in the Birmingham, etc. We have

taken the stock out of the buildings and close early.

tonight, Greater Manchester Police urge businesses not to close. Life

must go on. It is a sentiment shared by one customer and this

Liverpool launderette. Workmen arrived to do fix the windows this

morning and found a woman inside doing her washing. She climbed

through the broken glass just to do her washing. Keep calm and carry on,

the message there. Take a look through this Apple shop window.

They are clearing away the shop as a precaution. Who, if anyone, will

those looters listen to? Perhaps Liverpool or Everton Football Club.

Tonight the two clubs have issued a statement calling for calm. Kenny

Dalglish says, please, stop this now. The city has an excellent

reputation. And Steven Gerrard, this city has always stood together

and supported each other. If you are thinking of going out tonight

and causing trouble, please, please, There is playing -- social media is

playing a big part in the riots. Police Ding sides like Facebook,

Twitter, are being used to bring rioters together. But they are also

helping with the clean-up and forming a part of the police

These are the pictures of people who Greater Manchester Police are

They are on their flicker website website for anyone to see. They are

Updating it all the time. Also on the police's Facebook site, people

have been uploading their own pictures and videos. Already some

people have spotted someone they know. Our police forces have also

been very vocal on Twitter, with warnings to stay away from certain

areas. Another interesting development is the kind of offences

police are beginning to charge people with. In Lancashire, one man

has been charged with using Facebook to try to encourage

looting and in Cheshire, eight people were arrested on suspicion

of inciting public disorder through social media. Twitter is also being

used to help clean up. Last night almost as soon as the problems

began, a Twitter group is arranging a clean-up. Someone got in touch

with me and said, you are from Manchester and clearly care about

the community. Do you want to take over this Twitter account? It has

just taken on from there -- taken off from there. Also on Twitter,

plenty of Sadique centre shops saying they were open for business.

The role that social media is playing in these breads is only

likely to increase. -- in these Ever since the violence broke out,

people have been expressing their shock at the age of some of the

vandals involved. It is that children as young as ten were

looting from the shops. But why I used to live here damaging their

own cities? Here to try to make some sense of the door is Father

Phil Sumner and Sinead Andrews from the use mentoring charity, Reclaim.

Sinead, why are so many young people destroying their own city?

don't think many young people had brought about the consequences on

the city. It was more like following the fashion. It is all

over London and they thought they could do it here. Peer pressure, a

lot of older people going back they went and followed, thinking it was

all right for them to do it said they would do it, too. We also, of

course, saw the decent young people who turned out in force today to

clear up. Yes, we did, which was a very good show that we were not

giving up. It shows a different side. Was it because they were

ashamed of what are the young people had done? Yes, all over

Facebook last night were people's messages showing how a shame they

were. It was disgraceful, what I saw on TV going on in our city. We

have to live here and deal with it. If we destroy our city, what is in

it for us? We are always talking about cuts but what else will go

back into the city if we destroy it? Father Sumner, you saw the Moss

Side riots first hand at that time. Just compare the two, from what you

saw last night and what happened then. 30 years ago, there were many

people on the streets in Princess wrote in Moss Side. When the riot

took place, it took place in -- for a whole cocktail of reasons. They

are opportunists they, too, people going into the shops and bringing

out stuff that they have been asked to bring out on order. I suspect

that even now, the initial spark from the event in Tottenham, with

the young man killed, and after that it has just been a series

opportunists. Are they the same reasons that were there then in my

side? You cannot say they were not there then and this does not excuse

in any way the behaviour of young people. People have to take

responsibility for what they have done it at the same time, there is

a Poulter now, that is in nurturing individualism, commercialism,

wanting more and more and more. Wanting the adrenalin rush that

some people like solicitors have been getting involved in a football

hooliganism in the past. Now it is a different adrenaline rush that

people want to be involved in. interview I heard on BBC Radio 5

Live this morning to, one of the youths involved was saying, come on,

what do we see? We see bankers, as he said, putting their hands in the

tills, getting themselves rich, and still despite having brilliant the

country still making big bonuses. We saw politicians putting their

hands in the till and getting as much as they could in expenses. Now

we are trying to get as much as we can, and people lecture us on

morality? Is very bad example set? There is. There is a lot of social

inequality but two wrongs do not make a right and fall has to do

this in our own city, it is -- it stereotypes us. I went out into the

city and got really good responses from people previously, doing a

project. Today people did not want to speak to us. They did not want

We forecast the weather today at the start of the week. We knew the

rain would just keep on coming. The pictures reinforce what you know

already. The Met Office do still have a yellow warning. It is just

to really let people in parts of Cumbria and Lancashire know that

the brain will be fairly heavy as we go through the night. We have

already had significant totals. If you want to know exactly what that

means, go to the Met Office website. Here is the picture today. In the

more south-western corners of the region, it was not too bad

initially but once the rain arrived, it just sat right over the top of

us and the real telling thing of the covers. The green and blue mean

it the rain has been very heavy. Waiting in the wings, going through

parts of Merseyside and Cheshire, there is still some quite heavy

rain. It will keep on coming as we go through this evening and through

the night tonight. This is our lives skyline from Manchester. It

is very grey and damp. It just continues to come and go as the

night goes on. Every now and then you will have a break in the rain.

It will be dry for 20 minutes to half an hour. But the rain keeps on

coming and that is not great news. South-westerly breeze has been

strong ball through the day and continues to be strong through the

night tonight. It is a good direction. But for tomorrow, it is

more of the same but not as bad. It is grey, overcast and damp when you

first get up but damp rather than pouring down. Visibility is not

brilliant on high ground and then maybe misty fog. Because it is so

damp and humid the motorways will have a bit of spray. Visibility

will be an issue first thing in the morning for quite a few hours.

Through the day, the picture gets others are slightly better. -- ever

We will be here after the 10pm news. And there are your local radio

stations. Radio Manchester stayed on air all last night to keep

people up-to-date with what was going on. Finally tonight, we will

go back to Ranvir in Manchester city centre. We are hearing there

are some skirmishes in Salford tonight, is that right? Yes, there

have been around Salford precinct, where things kicked off last night,

in the same area, bricks and stones have been thrown to around 20

police officers with riot shields. A gang of around 100 youths, I am

told, are trying to get into a place called the Money shop. These

are skirmishes that have dispersed and congregated again. We will keep

abreast of that. Here, perhaps the weather is playing a part in

dampening down rioters. Let's hope it stays that way across the North

West. Let's take a look at some of the shocking images from last night.

They have nothing to protest against. There is nothing, no sense

of injustice, and no spark which has led to this. This has been

senseless violence and criminality on a scale that I have never seen

before. This rioting and this and violence... When we were attacked,

and there were no police whatsoever here. When you walk around and see

the scale of damage, unbelievable. We want to see the maximum number