Enfield Fights Back

But Who Are They Fighting For?

Latest reports from Twitter and Facebook, verified by Sky News, are that the residents of Enfield have finally had enough and have started to fight back against the looters and rioters that have plagued our area for the past few days.  


Many people have reported witnessing large groups of men patrolling the streets, looking for any potential rioters in the area.  The image above is of a pub on Enfield high street.


After the scenes over the weekend, in particular the horrendous burning down of the Sony Centre in Enfield North, this is not surprising.  Residents over here have never witnessed anything like this before and there has been talk over the past few days on social networking sites that it was time we 'took the streets back' from the thugs.


Whilst I would usually condemn all acts of vigilantism and encourage people to let the police do their job, it has become apparent that the police have been overstretched and have been practically helpless from allowing the looting to occur.  It is also good to see the community coming together, especially at a time when the whole notion of community in this country seems to be going down the drain.


I do, however, feel slightly apprehensive about giving my wholehearted support to these vigilantes patrolling our streets.  Some people have commented on a BNP presence amongst this group and, whilst this cannot be verified, these reports coming from the Guardian suggest that there may be a slightly racial element to this group's intentions.


Any attempt to turn this into a 'black vs white' situation is reprehensible and I am slightly worried that many closet racists will use this opportunity to inflame racial tensions in an area that is pretty tolerant and welcoming.  If the rumours are true, I can see the situation getting worse with divisions between races in the area emerging.


Let's just hope that the images coming out of Enfield will scare off any potential rioters tonight and over the coming week and we can go back to a time when we do not need to physically defend ourselves from mindless thuggery.  Instead we can rely on the police to do that for us.


At Team Urbanite all we can do is hope.


Update


This video shows the vigilante group chasing away a group of kids on Hertford Rd.  Although the chants of 'England, England' scare me, I have been told by people who were there that the group was ethnically mixed.  We will have to wait and see if racial tensions do indeed increase.