Tired of staying locked up. London revelers took advantage of last week’s heat wave to let off steam. A multitude of raves and of street parties were organized illegally in the capital British. The principle: gather in the street to drink and listen to music. There had already been parties of this kind in full confinement, but these events have multiplied with the deconfinement. If the masks are sometimes there, the distance between people has disappeared. The participants are rather young, most of them around twenty, some of them are not yet of age.
“People rebelled”
The phenomenon affected different places in London: Brixton and Clapham Common (south), Wembley (north-west), Tooting Bec Common (south-east) or Tottenham (north-east). For revelers, these street parties just seem like a way to have fun after the three months of confinement imposed in the UK. At first, everything was nice. After the forties, people just wanted to have a good time, testified on the channel SkyNews, a participant in the Brixton party, Wednesday June 24. And then the police decided to come and disturb it all … They turned off the music, and the people rebelled.
Charges
While some people followed the dispersal orders, others decided to do battle with the police, who were hit with bottles and projectiles. Police vehicles were damaged. After the Brixton rally, several people were arrested and four participants, including a 16-year-old, were charged with violent unrest and offenses related to these unauthorized parties. Twenty-seven police officers were injured that night, two of whom were rushed to hospital.
Has Scotland Yard lost control of the streets of London? Questioned by the British media, Priti Patel, Minister of the Interior, denounced the organization of these parties and of any gathering, in the middle of a pandemic, as well as the violence against the police: If people attack law enforcement, they will deal with the law
warned the minister. Pubs and cafes, closed since the end of March, except for take-away sales, will only be able to reopen on July 4.
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