List of riots in London

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The following is a list of riots and protests involving violent disorder that have occurred in London:

Cartoon of the Old Price Riots, 1809, following a rise in the price of theatre tickets
A dispute arose between certain of the craft of the goldsmiths and certain of the craft of the tailors

The Justiciar...took proceedings against them in the King's behalf, saying that they, against the peace and their fealty to his lordship the King, had gone armed in the City, and had at night wickedly and feloniously wounded some persons, and had slain others, whose bodies, it was said, had been thrown into the Thames.

Chronicles of the Mayors and Sheriffs of London

  • 1391: Riots break out in Salisbury Place over a baker's loaf[2]
  • 1517: Evil May Day riot against foreigners takes place
  • 1668: Bawdy House Riots took place following repression of a series of attacks against brothels[5]
  • 1710: Sacheverell riots, following the trial of the preacher, Henry Sacheverell
  • 1719: Spitalfields weavers rioted, attacking women wearing Indian clothing and then attempting to rescue their arrested comrades[6]
  • 1743: Riots against Gin Taxes and other legislation to control the Gin Craze, principally the Gin Act 1736; rioting was fuelled by consumption of the drink itself[7]
  • 1768: The Massacre of St George's Fields after the imprisonment of John Wilkes for criticising the King
  • 1769: The Spitalfield riots when silk weavers attempted to maintain their rate of pay
  • 1780: Gordon riots against Catholics
  • 1788: The notorious Westminster by-election held in the summer of 1788 resulting in 2 deaths and more than 40 injured.[8]
  • 1809: Old Price Riots, 1809 following a rise in the price of theatre tickets
  • 1816: Spa Fields riots, Spenceans met in support of the common ownership of land
  • 1830: Attacks against the Duke of Wellington in his carriage and on his home, for his opposition to electoral reform (which had been seen partly as a solution to rioting by rural workers).
  • 1866: a riot took place in Hyde Park after a meeting of the Reform League was declared illegal
  • 1886: The West End Riots followed a counter-demonstration by the Social Democratic Federation against a meeting of the Fair Trade League.[9]
  • 1887: Bloody Sunday, a demonstration against coercion in Ireland and to demand the release from prison the MP William O'Brien
  • 1907: The Brown Dog riots, medical students attempt to tear down an anti-vivisection statue.
  • 1919: The Battle of Bow Street, Australian, American and Canadian servicemen rioted against the Metropolitan Police
  • 1932: The National Hunger March ended in rioting after the police confiscated the petition of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement
Red commemorative plaque in Dock Street
Police push back rioters during the 2011 London riots


References[]

  1. ^ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 79–81. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "John Strype's Survey of London Online". hrionline.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Introduction". British History Online. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  4. ^ Barbara A. Hanawalt (1998). Of Good and Ill Repute: Gender and Social Control in Medieval England. ISBN 9780195109498.
  5. ^ "Striking the posture of a whore: the Bawdy House Riots and the "antitheatrical prejudice". – Free Online Library". thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  6. ^ "'Industries: Silk-weaving', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  7. ^ "The Gin Craze and Gin Riots". staticandwine.blogspot.com. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Westimnster by election riot of 1788". thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Marxism and Rioting". whatnextjournal.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  10. ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY – 13 – 1977: Violent clashes at NF march". BBC. 13 August 1977. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  11. ^ "A Different Reality: minority struggle in British cities". University of Warwick. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b DK Renton. "Memories of Welling". DKRenton.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Dearlove 2000, p. 108
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Welling: Disturbances". Hansard. 18 October 1993. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  15. ^ Moyes, Jojo (15 November 1993). "Hard-left violence 'hurting anti-racist organisations'". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  16. ^ Saggar 1998, p. 136
  17. ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY – 1 – 2000: May Day violence on London streets". BBC. 1 May 2000. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  18. ^ "The London May Day protests at a glance". The Guardian. 1 May 2001. Retrieved 15 December 2010.

Notes[]

  1. ^ The march was against the headquarters of the British National Party, located in the area.[13] Thousands of people attended the demonstration, for which 2,600 police officers were deployed.[14] A hardcore element associated with the SWP and Militant[15] refused to accept police instruction to divert the march away from the BNP's headquarters itself, once it had gone past it. In a resulting riot, 21 police officers and 41 demonstrators were injured.[14] In 1995, Welling Council shut down the BNP headquarters.[16]
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