F*CK THE POLICE

Take a sense of urban alienation amongst disaffected youth, combine it with a heavy-handed and oppressive police presence, and you have the beginnings of some of the most volatile inner-city riots that this country has ever seen.

From the first explosive sparks of the 1981 Brixton riots, through Toxteth, Handsworth and Broadwater Farm, to the latest inner-city unrest of Brixton in '95 and Leeds in 2001, we show how ill-considered police tactics provoke violent urban meltdown.

Young urban males instinctively mistrust the police - often with good reason. And when the police become the enemy, we're only a breath away from a riot.

Unemployment and social deprivation are also factors in sparking inner city rage.

Events:
Brixton 2001 (triggered by the fatal shooting by police of a man they mistakenly believed had been brandishing a gun). Leeds Harehill Estate 2001 (local Asian youth explode after the use of CS gas in the arrest of a local man).

Here are some other riots featured in this episode:
Bristol 1980
Brixton, Toxteth 1981;
Handsworth, Broadwater Farm, Brixton 1985;
Brixton Revisited in 1995 (black man dies in police custody, leading to rioting by both black and white men)
Here are links for more info:
BBC.co.uk >>>
Urban75.org >>>
Police.uk >>>
BBC.co.uk/history >>>