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Harehills riot: The product of a sick system

Harehills riot: The product of a sick system

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Last night, rioting erupted in a deprived Leeds suburb, sparked by a disturbance involving the West Yorkshire Police. Social explosions like this are the direct product of a sick system, and offer a taste of what is to come under Starmer’s government.

Last night, rioting broke out in the Leeds suburb of Harehills following a disturbance involving the police. The explosive response from members of the local community provides a snapshot of the rage developing across Britain.

The spark that lit the blaze was the heavy-handed removal, by police and social services, of kids from their family home.

A shocking video of the removal shows two police officers dragging screaming children away from their house, with dozens of officers standing guard to hold back the growing crowd.

The response from the youth of Harehills was immediate. Videos of children, young men and women throwing stones and whatever else they could get their hands on have been shared widely on social media.

One police car was overturned, and others were smashed up. An abandoned double-decker bus was set alight, and several other fires raged on nearby streets.

For hours, large crowds of people gathered on the streets, blocked traffic, and soon forced the police to retreat out of the area altogether.

Sick system

That an explosion of such violent anger has happened in Harehills is no surprise. People here are experiencing the appalling symptoms of the sick system we have to live under.

Harehills suffers from some of the worst rates of poverty in the region. One 2023 ONS report found that the average income in the area was only around £18,000 – around half the national average. Unemployment rates are sky-high.

Poor housing, shoddy schools, and decades of decline have left the local community – and the youth in particular – feeling completely hopeless about the future.

Working-class areas like Harehills also live under the constant threat of police brutality and state violence, especially directed towards oppressed minorities.

Police-britain
Working-class areas like Harehills also live under the constant threat of police brutality and state violence, especially directed towards oppressed minorities.

Over the last few years, there have been a number of investigations into serious misconduct within the West Yorkshire Police (WYP), including sexism, racism, abuse, and corruption. This behaviour stretches back decades.

Driven by poverty and social alienation, communities like Harehills have extremely high rates of violent crime. And yet the police – the very people who are supposedly responsible for stopping crime – are themselves nothing but violent thugs.

It’s no wonder that these communities feel completely repelled by the police. In fact, similar riots took place in Harehills back in 2001, as well as down the road in Chapeltown as far back as the ‘70s and ‘80s.

A similar distrust and rejection of the police is growing across Britain. Scandal after scandal – from the murders of Sarah Everard and Chris Kaba to the abuse of Child Q – has left trust in the police at an all-time low.

Establishment condemnation

Unsurprisingly, the completely out-of-touch establishment understands none of this.

The WYP Assistant Chief Constable Pat Twiggs blamed the disorder on a “criminal minority intent on disrupting the community”.

But it is clear that this riot was not organised by a handful of shadowy agitators. Thousands poured onto the streets within hours of the original incident. A response like this cannot be whipped up out of thin air.

Yvette Cooper
Labour home secretary Yvette Cooper warned that “those responsible must face the full force of the law… and the strongest possible action”.

Never to miss an opportunity to demonise immigrants, Nigel Farage and his far-right goons also condemned the events as the “politics of the subcontinent”. The subcontinent had nothing to do with it, but we expect no different from a racist like Farage.

But Labour’s response has been no better. Newly-appointed home secretary Yvette Cooper was quick to decry the “disgraceful” and “shocking scenes”, remarking that “disorder of this nature has no place in our society”.

Keen to flex her ‘law and order’ credentials, the Labour minister warned that “those responsible must face the full force of the law… and the strongest possible action”.

Unfortunately, even the local left-wing Labour MP Richard Burgon expressed his concern over the “incident” and stressed the need to calm things down.

Inflammable material

The point they’re all missing is that a mood of extreme anger and bitterness towards the establishment has built up.

Enough inflammable material exists that it took only one incident to set off an explosion. A ‘law and order’ crackdown will not make the slightest bit of difference to the poverty, racism and deprivation faced by communities like Harehills.

Unlike the establishment hacks who feign shock whenever events like this occur, we understand that such eruptions are inevitable, and will become more frequent and intense as capitalism sinks deeper into crisis.

Riot_police_uk_riots
Social eruptions like this are inevitable, and will become more frequent and intense as capitalism sinks deeper into crisis.

It was only one year ago that we saw similar events in Ely, Cardiff. And let’s not forget the nationwide riots that spread like wildfire in 2011, in the wake of the 2008 crisis and the austerity that followed.

Society increasingly resembles a giant pressure-cooker. And with Labour’s big business government in power, supported by the reformist trade union leaders, the pressure is only going to increase.

These events are symptomatic of what Starmer’s government faces in the next period: strikes and industrial action on one hand, and intense social explosions on the other.

Last night, the youth of Harehills were desperate to inflict any damage they could to express their fury.

That sense of rage is a very powerful thing. But without direction and a clear plan, all it can achieve is broken windows and piles of smouldering rubble.

This anger must be channelled into positive revolutionary action, aimed at tearing down the entire oppressive system.

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