Action Against Rioters

[AB Editor]

 

This poll is closed.

Which of the following would you condone to be used against the rioters?

• Water Cannons - 245 votes
• 31%
• Rubber Bullets - 185 votes
• 23%
• Military Intervention - 166 votes
• 21%
• CS Gas - 165 votes
• 21%
• None of the above - more of the same policing. - 33 votes
• 4%

See final stats

Stats until: 17:06 Mon 29th Apr 2024 (Refreshed every 5 minutes)

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[Huderon]

Water cannon : According to Sir Hugh Ord, who used them in Northern Ireland, in the kind of situations we've seen in recent days, they are useless.

Military intervention : With army chiefs saying that the military are stretched close to the limit, why would anyone make that situation even worse ?

Rubber bullets : Given that the police who are trained to use firearms have been known to kill the wrong people, I don't think the ones who haven't been trained are likely to get using them right - remember they can injure and even kill people.

CS gas : Might be useful for dispersing a mob

More of the same : Flooding London with police last night seems to have done a pretty good job of stopping things, so as that works, more of the same

Real bullets ? Anyone for a bloodbath ? There are a lot of illegal guns in our cities, and if the police started shooting to try and stop rioters, the people with the illegal guns would start shooting back. I wouldn't want to see the kind of carnage that could bring about.

[vivandorron]

Is it inconceivable that Helicopters could be fitted with Water Cannons or some spray jets to dispense 'Smart Water' onto the groups of criminals.

Ed, please forgive me if I keep mentioning 'Smart Water' which originally was mentioned in AB by Trimeresurus, who deserves credit for having drawn attention to the product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmartWater

Ron.

[barney4444]

Makes you proud to be British reading the caring answers !!

[emmie]

one of the things that seems to have worked, are the plain clothes officers, who have been able to blend in, then nick the ring leaders, take them out of the situation, and off to prison, it may seem a small victory, but they have been picking them off quite quickly.

[tamborine]

Hoodies in Tesco Express openly stuffing goods down their fleeces & leaving without paying. Staff charged me for my goods :(

[vivandorron]

em...Very little is ever said about the bobbies who blend in with the scene and are the truly braves ones who risk being identified.

Ron.

[etbombhead]

Use of live ammunition should be a choice. If you are caught looting you get shot- end of.

[etbombhead]

Use of Live ammunition should be a choice- If you loot we shoot -end of.

[rov1100]

What surprised me was the amount of arson that took place. I don't remember the same happening in Northern Ireland to the same extent. Maybe deploying water canons would help to quell the rioters and possibly put the fires out at the same time. Its very noticeable that the fire hoses used on these vehicles are far superior to the hoses used by firemen.

[AB Editor]

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[piggynose]

fighting fire with fire, thats clever, are we supposed 2b a civilised society or what?

[Postdog]

Water cannon in front as I type this. Er, people, we only have ONE in the country!!!

[anotheoldgit]

And that can only be used on a 24hr notice, according to Mr Cameron.

Almost like saying to a Gunman I'll give you 24hrs to get out of my gun sight.

[anotheoldgit]

Why have Tasers not been mentioned?

[Zeuhl]

It appears that the Old Git is too yellow or weasely to reply to Housemouse's polite question posted in this section ...

[I.Don No]

If council house tenants are found guilty of rioting they may be evicted, at least that is what I think I heard....

If you own your own house and riot, what then?

[Eve]

It's been interesting watching the events here in Manchester over the last few days. Right before the riot in the city centre it was all very normal, very muted police presence around town. The small groups of potential yobs were quite obvious hanging around waiting for something to kick off they could jump on the bandwagon with. I got caught up in two rampaging mobs, initially when a load ran when the shout went up something was kicking off and then later when I was trying to get a bus out of town when a load of them came charging through with weapons trying to smash their way into shops then when all the sirens started they moved on. I have to say it petrified me, especially the second incident and moreso as there were no visible police despite being in a very busy area of town - last night and even tonight there were loads of them in sight.

Last night town was absolutely flanked by police, they were all over town in large numbers. A suspicious looking group passed work followed by a few police vans, they were targetting people wearing hoods, hats etc... Ok, the torrential rain can but have helped but it was a huge disincentive, especially to small groups looking for trouble to jooin and the widespread police presence would have made it, in my opinion, much harder for them to group together and have police free windows in which to wreak havoc.

I've seen similar tactics used for policing big football matches. Protests different as more containable (the riot police literally fenced the anti racist/anti facist clash in) an incident like the Rangers match was difficult due to sheer scale of numbers. I can't help but wonder if the same large scale pre-trouble police presence had been used on Tuesday night could have made quite a difference, it didn't take a genius to predict it was likely to kick off.

Salford I'd say different, a far more open and difficult area to control (albeit - not that they seemed to show it on the news - right next to a large police station) and not very nice area there (right by the Brasshandles broad daylight gang execution a few years ago).

[seniorcit]

Rioting is unacceptable in a so-called civilised country. The ordinary, up to now, law abiding person has had enough. The softly softly approach does not work. Three young men from families who have acted with such dignity and who have actually contributed something to this country, have died. If more forceful policing had been used from the onset, these young people and now I hear, a man in his 60s, would probably still be alive.. Use all force necessary to rid our streets of thes pariahs in our society. Children should be at home not roaming the streets. Where are the parents? Stop blaming everyone else and take responsibility for your actions. Use all of the above and, I have to say it, bring in Army snipers to take out the arsonists. I never thought I would take such a hard line but I am so angry!!!This country of ours has gone down the pan!