1981 Moss Side riot

In July 1981, the inner-city district of Moss Side in Manchester, England, was the scene for mass rioting. By that time, the area had been a key settlement for Asian and Caribbean immigrants for over thirty years. The rioting at Moss Side started at the local police station and later moved into the surrounding streets over two days. Key factors seen as fuel for this riot were racial tension and mass unemployment brought on by the early 1980s recession. Unemployment was at a post-war high across the nation during 1981, but was much higher than the national average in Moss Side. There were also frequent allegations of police officers racially abusing and using excessive force against black youths in the area.^[1]

Initial riot and police response

On 8 July 1981, a crowd of more than 1,000 youths besieged the police station at Moss Side, Manchester. All windows in the building were broken, and twelve police vehicles were set on fire. Police reinforcements equipped with riot shields and protective crash helmets were deployed around the station. A second attempt was made by crowds to attack the police station and during this a policeman was shot with a crossbow bolt through his leg.

Community meeting

Following the violence, Chief Constable James Anderton of Greater Manchester met with local community leaders including councillors, churchmen and youth workers. Agreements made in this meeting were later disputed. James Anderton stated in his official report about the riots that per request from the community leaders, he ordered his officers to maintain a low profile and avoid further confrontations, to allow the leaders time to ease tension among the young people and disperse the crowds. The community leaders that attended the meeting denied that they had demanded that police withdraw from Moss Side. Anderton later told the Greater Manchester Police Committee that the community leaders had failed to deliver on their promise to restore peace and were simply unable to admit their lack of influence over the people engaged in the rioting.

Stopping the riot

The "low profile" approach of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the efforts of the community leaders failed to stop the rioting which lasted for some 48 hours over two nights, with much burning and looting of shops all the way down Princess Road, Clarendon Road and the surrounding areas, including Rusholme.

The Moss Side riots ended on the night of 11 July, when Anderton ordered his officers to advance and clear the streets of rioters in a massive show of force. James Anderton had used the previous two days to build up enough officers trained and equipped in public order tactics. A mobile task force of 560 officers in 50 transit vans and Land Rovers had been assembled in local police stations around the area of rioting. As part of the planned dispersal operation, Anderton authorized use of vehicle based rapid dispersal tactics; previously only used by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the British Army in Northern Ireland. These tactics involved vehicles containing "snatch squads" being driven at high speed into groups of rioters, with officers then leaping out to make arrests.

Over two hours, 150 people were arrested with no police injuries reported. Afterwards, the Moss Side section of Princess Road (a main road south from Manchester centre) was closed for several days while adjacent buildings and gas mains damaged in the riot and fires were made safe.

It has been reported that Anderton had earlier had given a speech to the assembled officers at Moss Side Police Station encouraging them to restore order as rapidly as possible and promising them his full support in the event of any complaints of excessive force.

Anti-racism campaigner Louise Da-Cocodia helped transport victims of the Moss Side riot to hospital, and later sat on the Hytner inquiry panel investigating the causes of the unrest.^[2]

Conclusion and response

After the riots there were allegations from both local residents, community leaders, and lawyers that groups of police officers in vans had been observed cruising the streets of Moss Side, racially abusing and using indiscriminate violence against any young people seen on the streets.^[1]

Interviewed in a 1992 BBC documentary on his career following his retirement as Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, James Anderton described his strategy during the Moss Side riots:

"When trouble arises and violence occurs on the street, you hit it fast and hard. And that's what we did the following night. We hit the rioters fast and hard with all the force at our disposal-legitimate and lawful force-and we crushed the riots in Manchester in 24 hours."

James Anderton's handling of Moss Side riots received praise from the media, politicians, and general public. The use of snatch squads and vehicles to disperse rioters was unique in British public order policing at that time, and the response of Greater Manchester Police was contrasted favourably with the perceived loss of control and high police casualties during the earlier Toxteth riots. William Whitelaw, the Home Secretary, described the dispersal operation as a "conspicuous success".

James Anderton's Greater Manchester Police were the only police force in England at that time equipped with protective riot helmets with visors for use by its officers in public situations. This was unlike the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, and the Merseyside police in Toxteth, who sent their officers to face petrol bombs and missile attacks in traditional helmets and tunics.

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Riots in England

12th–19th century	1189 Massacre of the Jews 1196 Poor riot 1355 St Scholastica Day riot 1381 Peasants' Revolt 1517 Evil May Day 1668 Bawdy House Riots 1710 Sacheverell riots 1714 Coronation riots 1715 England riots 1769 Spitalfield Riots 1780 Gordon riots 1791 Priestley riots 1793 Bristol Bridge riot 1809 Old Price Riots 1816 Spa Fields riots 1816 Ely and Littleport riots 1819 Peterloo Massacre 1830 Swing riots 1831 Queen Square riots (Bristol) 1832 Days of May 1838 Battle of Bossenden Wood 1896 Newlyn riots

Early 20th century	1907 Brown Dog riots 1919 Epsom riot 1919 Battle of Bow Street 1919 Luton Peace Day riots 1932 Old Market riot (Bristol) 1936 Battle of Cable Street 1958 Notting Hill race riots

1970s	1970 Garden House riot 1975 Chapeltown race riot 1977 Battle of Lewisham

1980s	1980 St. Pauls riot 1981 England riots 1981 Brixton riot 1981 Chapeltown race riot 1981 Toxteth riots 1981 Moss Side riot 1981 Handsworth riots 1981 Scarman report 1985 Handsworth riots 1985 Brixton riot 1985 Broadwater Farm riot 1987 Chapeltown race riot 1989 Dewsbury race riot

1990s	1990 Poll Tax riots 1990 Strangeways Prison riot 1991 Meadow Well riots 1991 Handsworth riots 1992 Hartcliffe riot (Bristol) 1995 Manningham riot 1995 Brixton riot

2000s	2001 Bradford riots 2001 Oldham riots 2001 Harehills riot 2005 Birmingham race riots 2009 G-20 London summit protests

2010s	2010 UK student protests 2011 Stokes Croft riot (Bristol) 2011 United Kingdom anti-austerity protests 2011 England riots

Related	1979 Death of Blair Peach 1985 Death of Keith Blakelock 2009 Death of Ian Tomlinson 2011 Death of Mark Duggan 2011 House of Reeves fire List of riots Leeds London Riot Riot Act Riot control Public Order Act 1986 Territorial Support Group

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