Riots in Leicester: Display of anger amongst young people

Yesterday afternoon in Leicester, shops closed early as police gathered on the streets in anticipation that the wave of anger shown across the country would arrive in the city.

While a few groups of young people gathered around the clock tower, in Highfields the community centre held a meeting. They discussed how they should respond to the riots and the shocking number of people who have died at the hands of the police. Around 20 young people marched into town holding banners saying ‘Peace on the Streets’. Their aim was to speak to the youth thinking about rioting and convince them to protest peacefully.

Youth Fight for Jobs supporters and Socialist Party members went along to support the protest, which swelled to about 100 people. Many people there were looking for a way to fight back and organise around the outburst of anger being seen. There was interest in the Youth Fight for Jobs march against youth unemployment from Jarrow to London in October and people bought copies of our newsletter ‘The Spark’.

One of the organisers from Highfields Community Centre said to me:

“This has been a long time coming. Even since the last government, the Labour government back in 1997. The youth have no power, no direction , they’re full of anger. I’m upset about [the riots] but I’m not surprised and in a way it needs to be done for people to really wake up. It started as a peaceful protest over another incident. They needed an excuse. The youth have got a voice, they need to be heard.”

Then a few members of the English Defence League turned up, coming into the crowd and deliberately provoking the mainly Black and Asian youth by saying “I’m glad Mark Duggan got shot, he deserved it.” Once a few more had arrived they started chanting “EDL”. Understandably, the youth reacted to this. It was under a year ago when Highfields came under attack by an EDL protest. There was a small confrontation between the youth and the EDL until the police stepped in and pushed the protesters back.

The protest was then forced up the street by riot police and dogs as they tried to kettle the protest. Anger was then directed at the police with people chanting “justice” and calling them racist. One young man stood on a bench to read a poem about corruption in the police force – he was saying “if we can’t trust the police, what do we do? We come on to the streets and get justice ourselves.”

Eventually the protest was allowed to disperse. There were still groups of young people smashing windows and looting in Leicester late into the night but these were not connected to the organisers of the original protest.

Hypocritically, the EDL mobilised to act as vigilantes to protect Leicester against riots. They called on their members to patrol the streets, even saying that they should cancel all their ‘demonstrations’ in August to help the police! Last October they were not so concerned with smashing windows of takeaways and shops in the city, attacking innocent by-standers and attempting to attack the mosque in Highfields.

The EDL and their racist views do not represent working class people in Leicester who are concerned about the increased rioting in the city. It is not something organised by ‘Muslim groups’ as they are trying to portray. The protest that they attacked was peaceful, demanding that something is done to deal with the under-lying causes of the riots.

We need a community and trade union response to the riots, involving workers and youth. We do not condone the riots and violence that is taking place. But, it is happening for a reason. In Leicester, one third of those claiming Job Seekers Allowance are under 25. Highfields has the highest unemployment level in the city.

The government and the local Labour council should be investing in youth services and real jobs and a decent education for young people. The Jarrow March this year is an opportunity for young people to harness their anger in an organised and trade union backed campaign that is putting forward these demands.

The Socialist Party demands:

 

• An independent trade union-led inquiry into the death of Mark Duggan and into the causes of and policing of the riots. Scrap the IPCC. We need police accountability through democratic control by local people.
• End stop and search. No to section 60.
• For control of the police to be placed under the auspices of democratically elected local committees involving representatives from trade unions, councils, tenants associations, and community organisations.
• For the government to immediately cover the uninsured losses and repairs of all small businesses and homeowners affected by the riots.
• For councils to immediately re-house those who lost their homes in the riots. For investment in social house building and renovation, creating jobs and improving health.
• For the immediate reversal of the closure of local youth and Connexions services. Funding from central government to pay for it.
• No to all cuts in jobs and public services. Free education and training for all. Reinstate EMA and abolish tuition fees. We demand huge public investment in job creation and services.
• Build a mass campaign to fight for these demands but also to fight for socialist change in the way society is run, with democratic planning of how we use the wealth and resources of society – under working class control and management, not that of the millionaires.