Symbolic location

A symbolic location is an expression coined by Sir Kenneth Newman, when he was Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Service (the Met) from 1982 to 1987. The term was used by the police in London in the 1980s to refer to a no-go area, one regarded by local youths as their territory, where police were viewed as intruders.^[1] John Smith, former deputy commissioner of the Met, said in 1991 that the term was no longer in use.^[2]

Symbolic locations were identified with high unemployment, a high crime rate, drug dealing, and illegal drinking and gambling. Newman said in 1983 that they "equated closely with the criminal rookeries of Dickensian London," and symbolized the inability of the police to maintain law and order.^[3] In a report that year to the Home Secretary, he offered as examples Broadwater Farm in Tottenham, Railton Road in Brixton, and All Saints Road in Notting Hill.^[1] Stonebridge Estate in Harlesden was cited as another example, as was the Notting Hill Carnival.^[4]

P.A.J. Waddington wrote in 1999 that the police sought on occasion to restore—"take back"—symbolic locations as public spaces, leading to raids under a pretext of breaking up criminality.^[5] The term was criticized for identifying largely black communities in England with crime, or as a social problem. John Solomos and Les Black argued in 1996 that such thinking was an example of "profound historical amnesia," because, they wrote, Britain has a long history of civil unrest.^[6]

Notes

1 2 Rose, David. A Climate of Fear. Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1992, pp. 31–32.
↑ Rose 1992, p. 224.
↑ Newman, Kenneth. "Policing London, post Scarman," Sir George Bean Memorial Lecture, October 24, 1983, cited in Rose 1992, pp. 31–32.
↑ Cashmore, Ellis and McLaughlin, Eugene (eds). Out of order?: Policing Black People. Routledge 1991, pp. 8, 36–37.
↑ Waddington, P.A.J. Policing Citizens: Authority and Rights. Routledge, 1999, pp. 18–19.
↑ Solomos, John and Back, Les. Racism and Society. Palgrave McMillan, 1996, p. 182.

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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Symbolic location

Notes

Further reading