Three nights of civil unrest have occured now and I, like much of the country, sincerely hope that it has peaked and will stop. I'm not going to make claims of understanding politics and the reasons why I think this happened, nor what needs to happen next.
Tonight was something I never expected to see in London. Civil unrest doesn't seem like it would take place in the city that I love so much. I understand protesting, I understand having a cause, but fighting for the sake of fighting... I don't think I can ever understand it.
Living in Hackney, I was worried about my best friend at the beginning of the evening. Then I see this report;
We've detoured to Dalston where a bus was set on fire in shacklewell lane earlier. The single deck bus is now cordoned off and there doesn't seem to be much damage, but the incident has clearly shaken the large Turkish community here. Many shopkeepers are on the street talking about how they chased away the gang of youths behind the bus fire.
"We beat up four of them quite badly and they ran off," one man, who wouldn't give his name, said. Another said: "this is not justice, coming here and trying to attack us." Notably several businesses are still open ascot usual here, unlike other violence hit areas.
We've just watched a mob of locals chase a gang of hoodies down the main road, with police vans on full siren in pursuit.
It was soon followed by a fantastic photo not of rioters but of his local community, working together to keep their area safe. Then came the rumours of it kicking off in Ealing.
My Ealing.
It was difficult to watch the riots throughout this amazing city, but now my Ealing was going to be destroyed? It became painful to watch the footage and hear the reports. Living there and studying there for three years I had fallen in love with the place and hope to one day move back there. Not to mention the people I care about still living and working there. Their businesses being destoryed, wondering if their door was going to be kicked in.
None of that really matters though because I realised as much as I worry and love and care about my friends, there was nothing I could do to help them. And that is a scary thought that is keeping me awake now.