can anyone tell me about the toxteth riots? what was it all about? and what was the conclusion?

Answer 1

In 1981, violence erupted on the streets of Toxteth, Liverpool. It is said every riot has a spark, and the Merseyside officers' treatment of 20-year-old Mr Cooper on the evening of Friday 3 July 1981 led to a fracas in which three policemen were injured. The police were being pushed back. That was the night they fired the CS gas

However, instead of dying away over the weekend, disturbances rapidly turned into full-blown riots with pitched battles between police officers and youths throwing petrol bombs and paving stones.

The Merseyside force of the time had a particularly bad reputation in the area for stopping and searching black youths under the infamous 'sus' laws. Officers were accused of planting drugs on youths in a practice known locally as "agriculture" or "going farming".

Months of heavy-handed policing and the heavy-handed arrest of Cooper unleashed a sea of rioters - they attacked supermarkets, firebombed a bank and numerous other businesses, as well as looting art from a "gentleman's club" before destroying it.

The iconic television image was the 'Rialto', a complex of buildings around an old ballroom. It had a cupola roof which must have been made of copper and was glowing in the flames.

The use of these tear gas "ferret" rounds remains controversial, with the police accused of firing them directly at rioters. The initial mayhem lasted for nine days and spread throughout the city with disgruntled white youths from other neighbourhoods joining the battles and starting disturbances elsewhere.

Police reinforcements were called from as far away as Cumbria, the West Midlands and even Devon in a desperate effort to control the burning streets.

Later disturbances saw one man struck and killed by a police Land Rover and another injured as police attempted to disperse crowds.

After the first week of rioting, Merseyside Police Chief Constable Kenneth Oxford tallied the damage done.

He said 468 police officers had been injured, 500 people arrested and at least 70 buildings demolished.

The chief constable said it was the work of "thieves and vagabonds" who needed no excuse for violence and destruction.

More than 100 buildings were demolished - But he admitted the police's response to large-scale rioting had been "totally and utterly inadequate".

Later estimates suggested up to 1,000 police were injured and doubled the number of buildings destroyed.

Answer 2

Yes but it would take too long. Just google Toxteth Riots and have a look what comes up. Theres loads of it.