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julesjonesPlod everywhere when I left work just before six, but all in regular beat uniform (with hi-vis jackets). I would be very surprised if the plod vans also everywhere had not contained police in riot gear, but the visible presence was clearly intended to be reassuring rather than intimidating, and indeed they were chatting to passers-by. Lots of shoppers and commuters in Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens, plus the usual street stalls, including the ever present sellers of dodgy umbrellas for those caught in the Manchester rain without one. And the guy who sells the devices for creating giant soap bubbles, which he was cheerfully demonstrating to a very happy little girl. The scars are there, including an obvious smell of smoke as I walked past Miss Selfridges, but the city is putting itself back together.
This is not entirely unconnected with the gangster accused of organising the looting having had his collar felt yesterday on suspicion of violent disorder. Before anyone suggests that he's being framed as a convenient scapegoat, there's some pretty incriminating footage of him. Apart from which, there were rumours flying around at least as early as Tuesday lunchtime that there was a riot planned for Manchester because half the police were down in London, and that kickoff time was four o'clock, so the police were telling businesses to close early and get their staff out of town. I said at the time that the latter part should be checked on the official GMP website because it sounded to me like someone was deliberately trying to scare people out to make life easier for the looters -- the police seem to have been saying something along the same lines.
And as the police acknowledged, PC Downpour played a major part in quietening things down last night. Manchester's natural defence made recreational and commercial rioting much less appealing.
This is not entirely unconnected with the gangster accused of organising the looting having had his collar felt yesterday on suspicion of violent disorder. Before anyone suggests that he's being framed as a convenient scapegoat, there's some pretty incriminating footage of him. Apart from which, there were rumours flying around at least as early as Tuesday lunchtime that there was a riot planned for Manchester because half the police were down in London, and that kickoff time was four o'clock, so the police were telling businesses to close early and get their staff out of town. I said at the time that the latter part should be checked on the official GMP website because it sounded to me like someone was deliberately trying to scare people out to make life easier for the looters -- the police seem to have been saying something along the same lines.
And as the police acknowledged, PC Downpour played a major part in quietening things down last night. Manchester's natural defence made recreational and commercial rioting much less appealing.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-12 09:02 am (UTC)Yes, nothing spoils fun like a bit of rain. Shame that ... not. Hopefully once they've had a few nights off, they'll be stuck to the sofas and TVs again.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-12 01:03 pm (UTC)I'm also hoping that fast-tracking the culprits through the courts and into prison will prove a salutory lesson. If they thought that they could get off with bail and a long wait before anything unpleasant happened, they will have had a rude awakening.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-12 07:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-12 04:46 pm (UTC)