1981 England riots
| 1981 riots in the UK | |
|---|---|
| Date | April 1981–July 1981 |
| Location | London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool |
In 1981, England suffered serious riots across many major cities. They were perceived as race riots between communities, in all cases the main motives for the riots were related to racial tension and inner city deprivation. The riots were caused by a distrust of the police and authority. The four main riots that occurred were the Brixton riot in London, the Handsworth riots in Birmingham, the Chapeltown riot in Leeds and the Toxteth riots in Liverpool.
In all four main cases, the areas had large ethnic minority communities, who had largely come from the Commonwealth in the 1950s and 1960s to do low paid manual jobs. All the areas suffered from poor housing (mostly dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries), high unemployment and particular problems with racial tensions. According to the Scarman report which was subsequently commissioned by the UK government, the riots were a spontaneous outburst of built-up resentment sparked by particular incidents. Lord Scarman stated that "complex political, social and economic factors" created a "disposition towards violent protest". The Scarman report highlighted problems of racial disadvantage and inner-city decline, warning that "urgent action" was needed to prevent racial disadvantage becoming an "endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society".
Brixton (London), Toxteth (Liverpool) and Chapeltown (Leeds) were originally built as affluent areas of the city. However the relocation of industry, rising popularity of homes on new private housing estates since the 1930s, poor connections and the influx of migrant workers had led to a downfall in their fortunes and the large Victorian terraces and villas were often divided up into low rent bed sits, and many of those still existing as houses had been bought by landlords who let them to tenants.
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