So this was the state of things this afternoon, although I can’t help but wonder what things will be like in the morning. There have been plenty more sirens tonight and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of the violence yet.

Plenty of people are trying to explain these riots as being the result of deeper problems. Problems related to poverty, racism and a general poor treatment of the “lower classes”. Apparently this has been a long time coming, but we are supposedly ignorant for not realising it until it happened. However, what I can’t wrap my head around, is how this violence attacks any of the issues. The rich are not affected by this. The government is not affected by this. The people hit hardest by this are the groups these rioters are claiming to represent. When I call this “wanton violence”, I am not trying to pretend that the underlying issues do not exist; instead I am trying to explain that nothing that has happened in this country justifies anything like this. Opportunists have found an excuse to exercise some lawlessness and other pople are now trying to find ways to justify their actions.

This riot is not brave and it is not noble. They are not bold revolutionaries such as the youth at Tianmanen Square. This violence can only reinforce the negative stereotypes that the rioters claim to be protesting against, and I think it is disgraceful.

What has happened to this country? Have we lost the ability to be civilised with our disagreements?