Sagnir - 01.06.2016, Blaðsíða 121
FRÉTTABLADID
PRETTASKÝRING: Skálmöld i Bretlandi
Þrefaldur fjöldi lögreglumanna á götum
^eadline in Fréttablaðið on 11 th august 2011. The riots in Britain attracted a lot of attention in Iceland
Background of participants, intersections of gender, race and class.
^Jthough relations of race and community relations with the police could be seen
fs triggering the riots, research has shown that the participants were not only from
;ack communities. It would seem that the powerless sections in society were more
"'erse than that. Even though a large proportion of the participants were of black
°r tninority ethnic descent, the participants often represented the ethnic makeup
°f the area where the unrest happened. Consequently in predominandy white
netghbourhoods a majority of the participants were white. These are the findings
an independent research made by the London School of Economics and The
k Uardian, called Readittg the Riots. The same research also pointed towards that the
ackground °f the people that participated in the unrest was more diverse than
e trnage often presented in the media. Many thought of the participants as only
í^en> but some of the data suggested that up to 20% of participants were women.
cvertheless the most common background-trait were; young men from impov-
erished areas. Some of the data suggest that two thirds of the participants came
0rn the poorest 20% areas of the UK, overall men were in a majority, and the
arSesr part were either juveniles or young adults. The data showed that most of
°Se that were arrested hadprevious offences, however this is controversial since
manV arrests were made after the riots had ended, and then the police picked up
'ndividuals they knew since before.8 The Guardian interviewed many women who
gjlrUcipated both in rioting and looting. Journalists Alexandra Topping, Rebekah
lshi and Helen Clifton suggest that gender stereottpes sometimes influenced the
act °f looting in the unrest, makeup for women and electronics for men. Other dif-
rences would be more subtie. Many women avoided unnecessary risks, avoiding
ghts with other participants over loot and also would wait until after the stores
" ere broken into. Perhaps these precautions also explains why so few women were
arrested. Among the interviewed, women would be more likely to admit to fear
an men, but a majority said that the fear was towards the police and not the other
Parricipants. Nevertheless, it is difficult to draw any conclusions from the observa-
n of these journalists, since they also reported that some women took part in
^tacbing the police. There was great hatred towards the pohce by both genders,
foC stop and search policing’ also targeted women, although to a lesser extent then
men. Many women and girls also expressed anger over how the police treated
eir male-friends and family members. One 20 year-old women was angry because
S »Reading the Riots“, The Guardian, p. 13-14. http://eprints.lse.ac.Uk/46297/l/
ading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf. Retrieved 11. August 2015.
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