Vigilante Groups Will Not Help!

King David Cameron of "Arrogant"
King of Lies and Broken Promises

I understand exactly why vigilante groups have sprung up but I feel that this is a situation that will only ever end in tears, and very sadly apparently it already has. Last Tuesday night in Birmingham three lads were out protecting their neighbourhood, when a car was driven at them on purpose at great speed, it ploughed into all three and all three young men died, it is absolutely tragic and listening to one of the lad's father was a humbling experience. If those lads were not on that street corner they would not have died.

In other places like Enfield and Eltham there have been gangs of men marching around their streets after drinking alcohol  pledging to "reclaim their streets". Normally when this happens it can be very disturbing for people and whether they intend it or not they can come across just as frightening as the rioters. If these people really want to protect their communities why not simply walk in silence and in their silence show great silent strength and dignity and respect for already frightened people? Show rioters that they know how to behave? One man interviewed on the TV yesterday appeared really frightening. His actions really disturbed me made me wonder what kind of life his family have, hopefully his behaviour was a one off born out fear and determination to protect his family. However, his manner was very aggressively to the point where he was right up to the camera lens spitting with his eyes bulging and veins in his neck protruding - you probably saw it, the clip was repeated throughout the day.

Last night (Wednesday night) a gang of vigilantes were marching around the streets chanting, apparently from the EDL and when the police asked them to stop making a noise the vigilantes supposedly out there to help restore calm and order to the streets and to help protect people, behaved just like those rioting and taking part in violent disorder - they actually started pelting our police with missiles!

Some of these groups there was a definite racial element. How will this help? it is like throwing petrol on an already out of control fire. If they attack and hurt someone of ethnic origin this is likely to stir up tensions that could end in rioting, so by default could end up starting something they originally set out to stop. Innocent people will be hurt or killed, this is exactly what happens in these kinds of situations. This kind of thing will not just stay a "one-off", it will remain festering away in the background long after the initial rioting has died down and one day it will erupt and then we will see a repeat of scenes we have witnessed this past week and we do *NOT* want that.

Everything was calm and quiet across the country last night thank goodness however, am I alone in sensing this as an uneasy calm? Perhaps like millions of others so shocked at what I saw that I am just being overly sensitive and things will calm right down now and the police will regain control of our streets and cities. However, I have a fear that will not dissipate, I wonder that once police numbers return to normal and that all police officers have returned to their forces across the country these rioters may return to the streets - I hope it's over but I do not think it is. I now fear that now these "feral youth"  have had a taste of something they found exciting and when the need returns for a free pair of the latest trainers or designer tack suits, or maybe just to break the boredom they will return and catch the police by surprise and the whole thing will start all over again. I hope and pray that I am wrong, for the sake and future of our country.

My fear is that when and if these riots break out again that  there will be some kind of "turf wars" between groups of rioters clashing with a group of vigilantes. If this happens there is going to be bloodshed and people injured, or worse still killed it is an absolute inevitability. This is my fear that lives will be ruined for people doing what they think is right for their families and inevitably some families will lose their protector to the very violence they were trying to stop and their families will be left to pay the ultimate price.

I wish we could return to where we were just a week ago, where by and large we had trust that if we needed the police, fire service or an ambulance all we had to do was dial 999 and help will arrive within minutes, sadly I don't think we will ever return to that position. With 20% cuts to police budgets right across this country, we can expect to see more of the same because unless it is stopped our streets are going to turn into lawless places where vigilantes fight thugs and that is a fact. They will rightly fear that the police and other public services are not there to help them so they will take matters into their own hands.

 If we lose control now it will be a long time before we ever get it back - if ever, so a tanned David Cameron, back from his third luxury holiday of the year and just before he takes his fourth in Cornwall, may like to think about that while he is away relaxing.