The Riots in England
August 9, 2011
A woman jumps from a burning building in Croydon
THE PHOTOGRAPHER Amy Weston described this scene in The Guardian:
I was told there were fires in the Church Street area, near Surrey Street Market.
By the time I drove towards it, I could already see the fires from my windscreen.
There were six or seven people screaming and crying outside, and they looked like they lived at the flats that were burning. The flats were above small independent shops. A man in a white shirt was screaming that a girl was at the window and that she was ready to jump. He ran towards her but riot police had appeared and pulled him back, and they went to her instead.
As soon as she dropped, the crowds pushed back and there was no way to see what happened to her. I remember hearing people screaming that there were more people in the building. The crowds started getting angry with each other, with one group blaming another group for starting the fire.
There were warnings of gas cylinders being fired into the crowd from riot police so I got out of there. I couldn’t get to my car so I had to walk, wrapping my camera in my clothes to avoid being mugged.
Many links to reports on the riots may be found here at VFR.
