- 1981 Moss Side riot
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The Moss Side riot happened in July 1981 in and around Moss Side in Manchester, England.
On 8 July 1981 more than 1,000 young people besieged the police station at Moss Side, Manchester. During this a policeman was shot with a crossbow bolt through his leg
The riot lasted for some 72 hours over three nights, with much burning and looting of shops all the way down Princess Road, Clarendon Road and the surrounding areas, including Rusholme. It ended on 11 July when the Manchester police went in hard: The Greater Manchester Police Tactical Aid Group was deployed in mobile snatch squads using vans to drive into groups of rioters and then to make arrests. In the space of 2 hours 150 people were arrested with no police injuries reported. James Anderton's force were the only force in Britain kitted out with full riotsquad gear; unlike in Brixton and Toxteth there were none of the usual British tall police helmets visible, just white riotsquad-style crash helmets. In terms of tactics and equipment GMP were the prepared english police force at the time of the 1981 riots. Anderton had allowed community leaders time to disperse the crowds over the previous two days with no result and his decisive intervention and use of snatch squads set the benchmark for effective public order policing in the UK As Moss Side had been a key settlement for Asian and Caribbean immigrants over the previous 30 years, racial tension was seen as a key factor in the riots, as was the mass unemployment in Moss Side brought on by the recession; although unemployment was at a postwar high by this stage, it was much higher than the national average in Moss Side.
There were also allegations of police officers racially abusing some of the black youths who were rioting.[1]
Afterwards the Moss Side section of the Princess Road (a main road south from Manchester center) was closed for several days while adjacent buildings and gas mains damaged in the riot and fires were made safe.
See also
- Brixton riot (1981) - London
- Chapeltown riot (1981) - Leeds
- Handsworth riots - Birmingham
- Toxteth riots - Liverpool
- List of riots
- Urban riots
References
External links
Categories:- 1981 riots
- 1981 in England
- Race riots in England
- Black British history
- History of Manchester
- Crime stubs
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