Fighting Fire With Fire

"When they talked about fighting fire with fire, I don't think this was what they had in mind," says Peckham resident Arthur Piddle as he watches a mob of so-called vigilantes hurl firebombs through the windows of a local house. "I know they're saying that the lad who lives there is one of the little bastards who was rioting the other day, setting fire to buildings in the shopping centre, that's actually his Gran's house. She's eighty two, for God's sake!" However, the leader of the mob - who wears a mask and hoodie and will only identify himself as 'Ron' - is unrepentant, even as the house's elderly occupant attempts to escape the blaze, hampered by her walking frame. "These little gits have brought on themselves," he declares. "Running around, wrecking the neighbourhood, terrifying old ladies and families - well, let's see how they like it when we do the same to them!" This isn't an isolated incident - already there have been reports of gangs of angry shopkeepers breaking into alleged looters' homes and ransacking them in Hackney, whilst in Lewisham a youth centre has reportedly been burned down and local teenagers assaulted by a mob of elderly men.

"We're just taking back the streets for ordinary, decent, people," says 'Ron', as he directs several of his mob - wielding baseball bats - to prevent firemen from fighting the blaze. "The police and justice system are clearly inadequate, so we're administering our own justice - an eye for an eye. That's only fair." With bands of vigilantes springing up all over London, there have already been clashes between rival groups. In one particularly ugly incident, a group of Turkish shopkeepers found themselves confronted by a mob of English nationalists in Croydon as they prepared to defend their properties. "I don't know who the bloody hell they think they are - trying to stop English people from rioting in their own country!" bellowed English Justice League leader Nigel Griffiths after police intervened to try and prevent violence. "I can guarantee that if a load of black or Asian rioters came here, they'd let them loot any businesses belonging to white people to their hearts' content!" Griffiths explained that he and his gang were on the streets of Croydon exclusively to protect any shops and businesses owned by white English people, but denies that he approves of white rioters burning down ethnically-owned businesses. "Obviously, we don't want to be seen to be condoning lawlessness," he says. "But there's no doubt that if a poor, unemployed white Englishman was to throw a brick through the window of an Indian restaurant or kebab shop, it would be a political, rather than a criminal act."