The London riots began as a protest decrying the police shooting of 29 year-old Mark Duggan. Unfortunately, the message the original protesters were trrying to send has been lost in the senseless acts of violence and mindless criminality which have followed.
The original protesters had the potential to rally behind the image of Duggan, to make his death stand for something and perhaps even spark debate about excessively violent methods used by police, or perhaps even the inherent racism and discrimination in the British police force.
One only has to look back to Iran in 2009, and the riots following the presidential 'elections' (and I use the term loosely because they were about as one-sided as a Port Adelaide match) to see that a death can become a powerful figure in anti-government protests.
Described as "probably the most widely witnessed death in human history", the shooting death of 26 year-old Neda Agha-Soltan was captured on amateur video and became the defining image of the Iranian peoples struggle against the brutal regime headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The rioters in London on the other hand have done away with any credibility they may have had by instead focusing on destruction of property, theft and random acts of violence. Reports have emerged of people being dragged from their cars and attacked, journalists have been beaten for taking photos, and private residences have been torched.
The above photos depict the aftermath of the London Terrorist attacks in 2005 (left), and the London Riots of 2011 (right). Although no lives have been lost in the riots so far, it is unclear which set of events left the people of London feeling more afraid.
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