[DIAL-UP SOUND]
-It was on Monday, the 8th of August, 2011, that Britain's
superstructure collapsed.
By midnight, it was clear that the police and the government
had lost control.
For one night, at least, delinquent anarchy had proved
more powerful than fellowship and bureaucracy.
On Monday afternoon, with shops boarded up, it was clear
that all London needed to explode was a spark.
And this was it.
At the narrows at the end of Mare Street in Hackney, three
police vans swerved to a stop.
About 10 policemen rushed two men.
A crowd quickly formed, exciting themselves and
freaking out the police.
Soon there were two groups, and bricks were being thrown.
[SHOUTING]
-A gridlock of cop cars and rioters
grew beneath the bridge.
And soon there was a running battle up Mare Street.
-Oh shit.
[SHOUTING]
-The crowd was split into two, half of whom were chased up
Morning Lane, where they broke into Tesco's.
"Missile up," they shouted while pulling out Coke cans
and bottled water and charging towards the cops.
[SHOUTING]
-The rest of the crowd were moved up Mare Street.
And that's when everything started to go crazy.
[SHOUTING, BREAKING GLASS, SIRENS]
-As the daylight robbery turned into midnight chaos, it
became increasingly dangerous to be seen on the street with
a camera, or just without any bag of swag.
We made our way to Kingsland Road, though, where we heard
that the local Turks had driven the rioters off by
running down the street with blades and weapons.