London riots 2011

-- Photos of the Totenham Riots by Nico Hogg, full set of shots here.


Nico on taking these shots...

"Most of these were taken up the front, in the no mans land between the mass and the police line protecting Tottenham Police Station, bottles and missiles going everywhere.

It was a very tense environment, a lot of hostility was expressed to people with cameras. Got tangled in a trample of men lashing out against a professional photographer - 15 or so plus some bystanders jeering them on, but others trying to calm it. I had mine snatched from round my neck but managed to get it back... had friends there, don't think a non-local would have been so lucky. to be honest that put me off for a while.

It's pretty difficult to convey exactly how it feels to watch the place you grew up in getting trashed and torced. Still can't really believe it, every time the reality of it sets in another bit of news comes up - those Croydon aerial shots in the news earlier made my jaw fall to the floor. So much tinder in London at the moment."

-- Read more about Nico Hogg's photo's here, here, here and most recently here.


So what do I think about the riots? I can't condone the actions and don't think much positive of it will come about for the communities involved. I feel for the home and shop owners having their posessions randomly destroyed. What did they do to deserve it?

But as for the underlying causes of the anger and tensions, I honestly have thought to myself it's unsurprising it's not happened more often. From my vantage point these riots seem to be about a blend of opportunism and inequality. The former you can never mitigate but I still can't accept why some parts of London have ever been allowed to fall so far. And when people hit rock bottom, there's a bang.