Riots and looting started in London on Saturday and have spread all over the country. They were here too, and shops were looted and burned and people made homeless. Here are a few pictures from my town:
A family furniture store that has withstood both world wars up in flames:
And in the morning:
The ashes of a bus:
This was just at the end of our road:
This is what it looked like in the morning:
And from where the water is being poured. Those are flats on top of the shops:
The remnants of an Asian clothes store:
The ironic sticker left on a completely empty gold shop:
How they got into another gold shop:
I saw a toddler wearing a motorbike helmet, walking beside his mother carrying a packet of pampers nappies which they had looted from Sommerfield.
I heard an Asian man with his arms full of toilet rolls say, “Yaar, if only I had a car.”
I saw a woman steal someone’s wheelie bin, which she filled up with alcohol from the Sommerfield storage area and Tesco and wheel it home.
I heard of a woman wearing Superdrug uniform looting Superdrug.
I heard the cries of a lady whose house was on fire.
I saw an injured pregnant lady ask for refuge at our mosque and we fed her the food prepared for iftaar and gave her drink until the ambulance came.
I saw armoured vehicles containing riot police from Cambridgeshire, Devon and Cornwall and Wales the day after. But by then it was all over.
*****
Please remember all those around England who have been made victims of such selfish, stupid and sickening actions. People have lost business’s, their homes, their loved ones and in some cases their lives. May this violence end soon, and may peace return to the streets of this country.
Please also remember the suffering of those around the world who due to war, famine, natural disasters and or disease are also undergoing difficult times.
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Title: Nursery rhyme.
Photos that are not my own were taken from here and here.
Posts
10 August 2011 at 17:19
Wow :(
Coming from someone who has witnessed it makes it sink in even deeper. All over tumblr I hear of Muslims being attacked and Mosques. They're even being murdered, protecting their mosques. There is a warning being spread around Tumblr too, that supposedly, a gang plans on bombing the mosques :/ This is scary. I swear. The day is coming so fast. More signs are coming. Ironic too that this is happening during Ramadan.
10 August 2011 at 18:11
the images coming from London and other cities in UK are truly sickening. stay safe.
@Usagi
rioters don't seem to discriminate between people of different religions. everyone is being affected.
10 August 2011 at 18:31
I'm shocked ordinary folk were looting I thought it was the actual rioters.
The picture of the person jumping from the window & people ready to catch them really brought it home.
was the pregnant woman okay?
x
10 August 2011 at 19:19
I hope you guys are okay. Stay safe.
10 August 2011 at 22:45
Hey Nas,
I couldnt believe it as well I thought London was passed those days of violent rioting. Fingers crossed this will end soon.
G
10 August 2011 at 23:10
Oh woooow! I can't believe this is happening, it seems so surreal that people would go around like that AND go on looting in addition to everything. What has our world come to? I'm glad you're safe alhamdulilah and hope this stops soon!
10 August 2011 at 23:51
=/ I don't even know what to say. This is so Absurd!
Hope this all ends sooon! x
11 August 2011 at 00:59
Oh my God. I was wondering where you found these close up pictures of all the damage, and then I remembered that you live in London. And I was like, “Oh. My. God.”
Why exactly did the rioting start? I've been getting so many different reasons...
I hope you and your loved ones are okay :( That bit about giving the pregnant woman Iftar food was so sweet.
Sending you lots and lots of love from New York. <3
11 August 2011 at 02:05
i had a question. do you guys have a 2nd amendment type thing in Britain? like do people over there have guns in there homes and businesses for defense or is that not allowed?
11 August 2011 at 04:39
Y, we don't have free possession of guns in the UK, thank God ...
Sad about those 3 boys dying :( but did you hear about the Sikhs who protected a mosque during taraweeh prayers? Apparently .. and the 400 youth in Green Street fighting off the rioters .. at least there is some hope for community cohesion still :/
11 August 2011 at 09:58
Hope you're keeping safe dude. Was worried sick for you when I heard it had hit near you. It's good to see that people are pulling together, but equally puts pressure on the "big society" idea. Members of the community are being killed for trying to help others out of the goodness of their hearts, as the gvt wanted... Hopefully something positive will come from these recent events, and we are not just left with the devastation.
Hope everyone is staying safe and on the right side of the law (unlike some of the moronic looters the bbc are managing to interview who clearly have no grasp of right, wrong, responsibility or grammar...).
A x
11 August 2011 at 12:59
And i thought the xenophobic attacks we had in South Africa were bad... This is a lot worse. I cant imagine what it must be like for those people who's businesses were burned down. All your livelihood is gone. In our case they were attacking the people more than their businesses (but whats the use of your business if you dead??), and i still remember one picture so clearly of a man who was set a light after having being doused in paraffin. It was horrid to see him engulfed in flames, and the agony on his face!!
May Allah make it easy for all those that are suffering, Ameen.
11 August 2011 at 17:40
I've read some terrible stories on the news and some blogs about the riots in London.. And saw some pretty horrible and disturbing videos on YouTube.
Really made me sad.. :(
I really don't know what to say.. Just be safe, Nas. Take care, ok.
11 August 2011 at 17:42
The state of the world at present is very depressing. Libya, Yemen, all of those and now this. May Allah keep everyone in His safety, aameen.
I hope that you and your family are safe, Nas. I am sure it must be worse witnessing all this first hand as opposed to reading about it or watching it on the news channels on TV.
May Allah ease everyone's suffering and restore peace, aameen.
♥
12 August 2011 at 05:43
Oh oh! What's wrong with these youths? What do they want?Oh oh! What's wrong with these youths? What do they want?
12 August 2011 at 09:57
Omg, this was really sad. Hope peace is restored soon. It'll be normal soon inshAllah, don't worry Nas.
17 August 2011 at 16:40
keep yourself Nas!
17 August 2011 at 16:40
safe*
21 August 2011 at 04:52
This is very sad. I hope things have returned to the usual now. It was shocking for us to see a comparatively civilized part of the world up in flames.
23 August 2011 at 12:39
Thank you everyone for your kind words and prayers. Things have quietened down considerably here and the regeneration process has begun.
We're all fine Alhamdulilah.
<3 x