Tottenham

A Week Later, the Battle to Understand England’s Riots Rages On

The French have a phrase for circumstances beyond control: “C’est la guerre,” literally “it’s the war.” They might say it, with a shrug, as they sit in traffic or wait for a bus that never arrives. But last week the expression, which dates back to World War II, took on a different inflection as residents of a village on the shores of …

Dispatch from Tottenham: Where the U.K. Riots First Started

As the crow flies Tottenham is eight miles from the center of London. As the traffic creeps, that translates to 45 minutes by car. The route takes one through the boroughs of Islington and Hackney—the latter still largely poor, but streaked by pockets of growing gentrification. To the right for much of the route one can see a mass …

London Riots: A Blast From The Past Or A Glimpse Of The Future?

At first glance there’s little to separate the riots that swept through Tottenham overnight and the street battles in the same part of North London a quarter of a century ago that reached a peak of violence with the murder of a policeman called Keith Blakelock. Both riots were sparked by fury at police after the deaths of black …