While the majority of the damage caused by rioters and looters was contained to London, the madness spread to Liverpool, Birmingham and other English cities, with electronics chains being the worst hit.
As it stands, most of the thugs were actually teenagers and children as young as 11, all with a taste for sportswear and electronics, which saw chains such as JB Sports and Curry's looted and torched in what the BBC described as "no go zones."
As it stands, most of the thugs were actually teenagers and children as young as 11, all with a taste for sportswear and electronics, which saw chains such as JB Sports and Curry's looted and torched in what the BBC described as "no go zones."
What started in Tottenham, North London, on Saturday spread to Brixton in South London, and further afield, to Croydon, Balham and Peckham amongst other suburbs. A video shot in Brixton (minutes away from where I live, incidentally) showed damage caused to shops on Sunday night, with an eyewitness reporting that cellphone stockists were targeted most likely because they're "small valuable items that you can disappear with quickly."
It wasn't just the electronics stores which were targeted by these criminals, though—a Sony distribution warehouse in North London was ransacked and set on fire, before it collapsed during Monday evening.
The clean-up effort started in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with local councils and residents pitching in to return their areas to some semblance of normality. If any Londoners reading this would like to help, the Twitter account @RiotCleanup is your best bet, with the matching website occasionally falling down due to a high influx of traffic.
An arrested woman wearing a Curry's employee jumper, outside a Curry's store in Brixton on Monday August 8th. [Getty]
A damaged Curry's electronics chain in Brixton, Sunday 7th August. [Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett]
Curry's employee checking the damage to the store in Brixton on August 8th. [Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett]
The bunting hanging outside a Comet electronics store in Enfield on August 7th looks incongruous with the scene. [Getty]
An Orange cellphone network's shop, in Clapham Junction on Monday August 8th. [Getty]
Sony's distribution center in Enfield, ablaze on Monday August 8th. [BBC]
An electronics store in Tottenham Hale Retail Park, which had been turned over by looters on Sunday August 7th. [Reuters/Luke MacGregor]
Tottenham Hale Retail Park's electronics store gets cleaned up by employees. [Reuters/Luke MacGregor]
A looter, injured, is escorted away by police after breaking into a Clapham Junction electronics store on Monday August 8th. [AFP]
Riot police outside a Curry's electronics store in Clapham Junction. [Getty]
Riot police outside a Curry's electronics store in Clapham Junction. [Getty]
Rioters and passersby congregate on the streets of Clapham Junction, outside a looted O2 store. [Getty]
Clapham Junction's O2 store, boarded up after attacks. [Getty]
Onlookers take photos of the ransacked 3 mobile operator's store in Clapham Junction. [Getty]
A 3 mobile store in Clapham Junction, emptied of its demo phones and stock. [Getty]
A youngster outside a video games store in Brixton. [Getty]
Forensic police inspecting the damage to Brixton's Currys store. [Getty]
Forensic police inspecting the damage to Brixton's Currys store. [Getty]
A damaged video games store front, in Brixton. [Getty]