Mark Duggan Death Started Roit Nd Agitation In London U.k

Two night of riots that rocked London point to deeper social unease in poor areas of the British capital, community leaders said on Monday, but police and politicians said much of the violence was opportunistic.



The touchpaper for the unrest was lit on Thursday when police shot dead Mark Duggan, a resident of the multi-ethnic district of Tottenham in north London, after officers stopped the taxi in which he was a passenger.



Hooded youths set fire to police cars and a double decker bus in Tottenham on Saturday night after a peaceful protest against the death descended into violence.



A block of 26 flats was completely gutted by fire after the carpet showroom on the ground floor was set alight, sending terrified families fleeing into the street.



The violence then spread to other parts of London on Sunday, including Brixton in south London, another racially mixed district which like Tottenham was rocked by riots in the 1980s. Young men were seen carrying new televisions out of some shops, while others tried on looted sports shoes.



The scenes in Tottenham evoked memories of severe rioting on the Broadwater Farm housing estate there in 1985, sparked when a local woman died after police raided her home. In the ensuing violence, a policeman was hacked to death.



A quarter of a century on, with Britain's economic growth almost at a standstill and government cuts to public spending hitting areas of high unemployment like Tottenham, some residents said they saw the seeds of more unrest.



Osagyefo Tongogara, a community activist who was in Tottenham during the Broadwater Farm riots, said: "There are a lot of parallels with 1985. I don't call it rioting, I call it rebellion. People are angry and frustrated. If you have a community with high levels of unemployment and cutbacks in welfare then this is what you are going to get. We are told that this is a global financial crisis and that we are all in this together but why should we be? But you