Lambeth Leader responds to events in Brixton

The Leader of Lambeth Council, Steve Reed, has cut short his holiday to deal with events in Brixton, and has written the following in reaction to what happened last night.

"Brixton is quickly returning to normal after last night’s disgraceful looting and disorder. Let’s be clear about one thing first: this was no re-run of 1981. What we saw last night was a mob of mainly young people taking advantage of the violence in Tottenham the night before to stage copycat activities so they could break into local shops. They targeted businesses selling mobile phones, video games, electronic goods including plasma screen TV sets, and sports clothing. It seems they used social media to move quickly in an attempt to out-run the police. There is universal condemnation from across the community this morning for what was nothing more than criminality and opportunistic theft.

I went on a walkabout around Brixton first thing and saw the clean-up operation in full swing. The damaged shops are being secured. Broken glass and litter – some of it left over from the Brixton Splash event yesterday afternoon – was being cleaned away. The Council is working with businesses and the police to make sure our town centre is restored to normal working as quickly as possible."

To read the full piece, click here