Worst possible London Riots?

What would be the worst possible scenario for the London Riots of 2011?

Troops on the streets? Worse rioting in other cities? Dead Police officers? A national State of Emergency? What's the absolute worst that could conceivably happen?
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Obvious answer is that the worst it can get is a full scale an uprising against the British Government and descends into a Syrian style War with Croydon an Aleppo of sorts (sorry Meadow).

More sane and plausible answer would be that the riot becomes extremely hostile and violent as more reactionary and violent groups hijack it (instead of prick looters), with the London and other cities put under Marital Law and a state of emergency declared. Troops are deployed to keep the peace, with curfews enacted and bans on loitering and large groups. The groups would likely be reactionaries and would see sectarian violence, be it on a religious or ethnic level, with many attempting to 'reclaim their streets' as an excuse to attack anyone who is different and fits the stereotypical rioter image. The violence and chaos causes the economy to go south, and Britain reenters the recession hard.
 
The_Gordon_Riots_by_John_Seymour_Lucas.jpg


That's from the worst case of London rioting ever (well, assuming Boadicea doesn't count), where the army shot dead 285 rioters and wounded another 200 before they were brought under control. Hard to see things getting that heated nowadays though, or indeed Jeremy Corbyn leading troops against the rioters!
 
What would be the worst possible scenario for the London Riots of 2011?

Troops on the streets? Worse rioting in other cities? Dead Police officers? A national State of Emergency? What's the absolute worst that could conceivably happen?

It isn't rained off as per OTL, and the rioting continues for another week or so, while politicians and police continue to mumble platitudes about 'community policing' and how we can't use water cannons because it would look bad or something. Eventually the rioters get bored/exhausted/rained off from looting, the sense of disorder loses its momentum, and the rioters go home.
 
Obvious answer is that the worst it can get is a full scale an uprising against the British Government and descends into a Syrian style War with Croydon an Aleppo of sorts (sorry Meadow).

So, I guess in this scenario the Scots would be the Kurds, and the Welsh or the Northern Irish would be the Druze, but who would be Daesh?
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
So, I guess in this scenario the Scots would be the Kurds, and the Welsh or the Northern Irish would be the Druze, but who would be Daesh?

EDL/Britain First?


Anyway, during the riots there was a lot of talk of the Army getting involved- I remember very clearly people getting all huffy and declaring 'I don't know why they don't get the army involved'. I also remember my father, who served in Northern Ireland during the early 90's, expounding that sending the Army in was the worst possible decision due to them lacking the power of arrest unless Marital Law is declared, and, if the Government declares Martial Law, then the situation has reached the point where the Police are useless, which is never good.
 
Anyway, during the riots there was a lot of talk of the Army getting involved-

There is always talk of the army getting involved when something goes wrong in this country. You're too young to remember really disruptive strikes, but during the fuel protests, there was talk of getting the army to drive the trucks. It doesn't really mean anything other than 'The government has really lost control of the situation and we'd like a magic bullet/superhero intervention pls'.
 
It isn't rained off as per OTL, and the rioting continues for another week or so, while politicians and police continue to mumble platitudes about 'community policing' and how we can't use water cannons because it would look bad or something. Eventually the rioters get bored/exhausted/rained off from looting, the sense of disorder loses its momentum, and the rioters go home.
And when they do the police turn up at their homes with CCTV of them rioting, and on knocking at the door find half a dozen DVD players and promptly nick said scrotes, whom the judiciary promptly send down for twice as long as usual. More property damage, but IMHO preferable to the army having to shoot a few hundred.
 
Long-term rioting destroys civilian confidence in the government. Mafia-owned trucking companies start hauling trash. Gangs of teenaged thugs are paid to patrol the streets and chase anyone off with the wrong coloured skin or wrong accent. Tourists stop visiting. Local "bucket brigades" respond to house fires. Religious fanatics set up elementary schools. Mafia collect taxes to pay for all the above services.
 
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