‘Join in mate,this one is on the state’

Many had gathered on the stairs of Tottenham Hale Tube Station,the epicentre of the riots that ravaged London. The police had managed to cordon off the streets. The overground tube station offered a bird’s eye view of the destruction below: burnt and gutted properties,smashed windows and the stray shopping trolley. Mementos from the first night of rioting in London,the worst seen in a generation.

We are trying to prove a point. Dont mess with us or else… he said. His gaze was fixed on the the post office where firefighters struggled to put out flames. Members of the forensics team in white uniforms collected rubble. Then his BlackBerry Messenger beeped and he was on his feet; Bruvs are taking another spot down,its about saving face now, he said and ran.

Its the blacks, said Sergio,a day worker in the council projects in Wood Green,in north London. But that was just another misconception of the four-day trial that rocked London. The initial march was an Afro-Caribbean affair but as the night set in,men and women of all colours took to the streets. Later in the week,as looters were brought to court,most were white.

Suddenly,I found myself looking over my shoulder. If a person was in a hoodie,he could be up to mischief,groups of three or four made me jump. This was not the London I knew,not the London I grew up in. I was at a friends house in Kensington on the third night of rioting; we switched on the news and without hesitation,she spoke her mind: Its these damned immigrants. Was this violence turning well-educated liberals into bigots?

Later that night,there was a power cut in SoHo,which was miles away from the chaos. But the tremors of the rioting were felt. The entire street poured into their apartments or into restaurants in collective panic. Are they coming here as well?

A line was drawn between us and them,the haves and have-nots. Fingers pointed at the new government for driving another wedge into an already divided society. Why is it that a Conservative government brings out the worst in people? asked a 72-year-old. He recalled the 1980s,when such riots had last rocked London. Many looked towards the governments austerity programme and the corresponding budget cuts that had brought an end to soft services that kept the youth off the streets.

The neighbourhoods of Wood Green and Tottenham,though,had a bad reputation for a reason. It is more common than not for there to be a gun or knife-related crime here at least once a week. Places such as those are,however,the ones who open their doors to the so-called freshies immigrants to London.

But the sound of sirens,the continuous flow of police cars and hum of police choppers turned most into cynics. Central London was on alert but rioting had not hit the city centre. Tara,29,had just returned from her summer vacation in the south of France and she knew whom to blame. They dont want to study. These kids have every opportunity. Theyre just thugs, she said.

The image of London as a multicultural,melting hot pot unravelled as the divide between black and white,Indian and Caribbean,became more pronounced. The gentrified areas thought they were safe. Tara discussed putting a large iron gate on her street to keep uncouth elements out. Rioting was for another London,she said,a London she didnt mingle with.

But then the rioting and looting made its way to Camden the thugs were moving closer to the wealthy classes. It was only then that a sense of panic took over central London. If Camden fell,Regents Park would be next and that was not too far from Downing Street. One naturally wonders,was the government slow to respond because Tottenham,Wood Green and its environs have always been areas of economic and social depression?

Who were the people who had London petrified? In the deep of the night,class was no barrier. In Lewisham,a Carphone Warehouse was looted. A young girl in her twenties walked out with three mobiles in her hand. She surveyed the area before pulling off her hood. The police had been slow to act in Lewisham. She wouldnt be identified. She walked off with her goods; there was no sign of guilt. She didnt think this was theft. Its payback,its for not giving us the opportunity to earn so that we can buy, she said. She was a graduate from University College,London; she couldnt get a job in the recession. Another girl,Louisa,her face covered with a balaclava,said,They want us in this situation,they want to push us into this corner.

Yadav Singh didnt know if businesses would be up and running when he got on the bus to Peckham on the third day. He had arrived from India three months ago. It was a straightforward journey from his house to his work it took him 25 minutes on a normal day. On the third day of rioting,it took him over an hour.

He passed a kebab store and saw no chaos but the calm was short-lived. Three boys charged past him,their faces covered with balaclavas. They had beer bottles in their hands. Singh watched one light the rim of one. Petrol bombs were going off here and there, says Singh. A group of boys looted the nearby HMV music store as Singh stood back and gaped. When the boys had collected their booty,one called out to Singh,Join in mate,this one is on the state. They laughed and chanted,brap,brap,brap,their hands full of merchandise.

Adam Louis,an Addison Lee mini-cab driver on duty for the night,saw a young white boy,no older than 12,carrying goods from a looted Boots. He stood in front of Louiss cab,and banged on the bonnet. He pulled his hood off; stared the cab driver in the eyes. What is my city,my country,coming down to? the cab driver said. He finished his shift early that night.

On the last night of violence,a girl stood outside Sainsbury in Camden. She had been inside looting. She pulled out a pair of track pants and showed them to a friend. She tried them on the street and did a little twirl. Then she caught my prying eye: How would you understand? she asked.

I couldnt,despite seeing the chaos unravel in front of my eyes.