Israelis in London: 'Sense of violence in the air'
As riots intensify around UK, Israelis living in English capital say 'people getting increasingly concerned,' claim unlike Israel's middle-class protests, British uprising fueled by 'deep hatred toward police'
As riots continue to spread across Britain, Israelis living in London describe the fear on the streets: Omer, who works for a private investment fund and lives in the Notting Hill neighborhood, told Ynet about the violence that has reached his doorstep.
"A number of youth gangs walked around the neighborhood, shattering display windows and looting the stores," he said, adding that there is "a sense of violence in the air, especially when one comes near these gang members.
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"Yesterday we sat at the pub and suddenly heard explosives. It turned out that someone tossed a brick through the window. When you pass by these gangs of children, it's scary," he noted, "They stand by a torched motorcycle or a Lamborghini with shattered windshields, and though you didn’t see them commit the act – you know it's them."
Fire in London (Photo: AFP)
Yochai Hakak, a sociology lecturer who has been living in central London for the past three years, described the heightened deployment of police forces on the streets of the capital.
"People are getting increasingly concerned, because it has evolved from breaking into businesses to breaking into private homes. The number of burglaries has increased dramatically overnight," he noted.
According to Hakak, the riots were sparked by budget cutbacks in social services and the higher education establishment, which have been implemented since Prime Minister David Cameron and his conservative party took office.
"Budgets allocated to universities were cut back by 80% and tuition increased threefold," he said, adding that "welfare pensions were also trimmed down, while programs encouraging people to go out seeking jobs were put in place – sort of like the English version of the Wisconsin plan.
"While these changes were met with surprisingly little resistance," Hakak argued, "The death of Mark Duggan, who was shot by a police officer last Thursday, was the match that sparked the whole thing up."
The Sociology lecturer described the differences between the Israeli tent protest and the riots in London: "While Israel's revolution is spearheaded by the middle-class, the riots here are a product of the working class. These groups harbor deep hatred toward the police."
Meanwhile, Cameron recalled Parliament from its summer recess Tuesday and tripled the number of police on the streets of London to deal with the crisis touched off by three days of rioting.
Cameron described the scenes of burning buildings and smashed windows in London and several other British cities as "sickening," but refrained from more extreme measures such as calling in the military to help beleaguered police restore order.
Also on Tuesday, the BBC reported that a 26-year-old man who was shot in a car in Croydon, south of London, during disturbances this week has died, becoming the first fatality of riots sweeping Britain.
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