l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 On Saturday night, in London, Ont., St. Patrick’s Day revellers spilled out
onto the residential street Fleming Drive and began setting fires. When
emergency crews responded, the students — estimates have given counts of
anywhere from 300 to 1,000 – attacked the first responders with rocks and
bottles. The police and emergency crews retreated and regrouped while the
mob cheered and continued to flip cars and set fires. The riot eventually
petered out. Police have arrested 13 so far, including seven students from
nearby Fanshawe College, many of whose students live on Fleming Drive.
Officials in London are making all the usual disgusted noises. “You will
pay in one way, shape or form,” said Mayor Joe Fontana. Police Chief Brad
Duncan chimed in, noting that local students “are under the illusion …
that they can reject the lawful authority of police and emergency services
personnel.” Except it’s not an illusion. Fleming Drive has been an
effectively lawless enclave for a decade. The students realize that with
more clarity than the police and Mayor do, apparently.
The weekend’s riot wasn’t the first such incident on Fleming Drive. Or the
second, for that matter. The Saturday riot, in fact, was at least the
fourth such outbreak of civil disorder on Fleming Drive in the last five
years (and that’s not counting a riot in 2001, the first such recorded
incident). In 2007, at the start of the academic year, students on Fleming
Drive spilled out of parties, set several fires and pelted first responders
with bottles when they arrived to extinguish them. A smaller group had
another bottle-fight amongst themselves and police barely a month later. In
the fall of 2009, the same street was rocked by an identical disturbance —
fires set, bottles thrown, police and emergency crews attacked. A city
councillor warned after the 2009 incident that a full-blown riot would
eventually erupt there. He was right.
In each of the instances above, arrests were light, with no public follow
through. As a student housing area, there is frequent residency turnover —
the rioters of 2011 were unlikely to have lived on Fleming Drive in 2009,
and and almost certainly did not live there in 2007. This admittedly makes
such incidents hard to deter — it would take a strong, public police
response to leave a lasting memory, something that would be passed on as
part of the neighbourhood’s lore, and that has been sorely lacking.
Combined with the seeming police ineffectiveness following last year’s riot
in Vancouver and the 2010 G20-related violence in Toronto, the ability of
police to deter and defeat rioters has been brought into question. The
students there know they may act with near impunity.
For that, much of the blame must fall upon civic leaders and the police.
London Police claim that they were maintaining a presence on Fleming Drive
last weekend, and yet they were still overwhelmed and forced to retreat.
During the riot, someone threw a propane tank into a bonfire. Had that tank
been full, and if it had exploded, dozens of the rioters could easily have
been killed or severely burned. It was only good fortune that prevented that
outcome, and had it occurred, the police would have had to explain why they
were holding a perimeter while drunk students triggered a potentially
deadly explosion. Clearly, being caught by surprise would not have been a
reasonable excuse.
The only thing that will deter more violence on Fleming Drive is a strong
police response to future disorder — no more retreating before the mob —
and successful prosecutions. As was the case in the 2011 Vancouver Stanley
Cup riot, police are already receiving tips from the public about the
identity of rioters caught on film or tape, and many of the stupider riots
boasted about their participation on social media. They are also being
investigated, often after being given in by a friend or acquaintance. This
evidence must be put to good use, with those involved in Saturday’s mayhem
put behind bars. And in the future, London’s police must swiftly deal with
spreading disorder before lives are again put in danger by the short-sighted
actions of a drunken, reckless mob.
National Post
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