“Street violence in the UK have no connection with politics, being motivated only by the desire to rob”, said on Thursday British Prime Minister, David Cameron.
“It’s not about politics, not about protests, it’s about theft”, he said. “We will not allow installation on our streets of a climate of fear”, said Cameron, addressing the British parliament, during a meeting Thursday in an extraordinary session on the most important urban riots of the recent decades that took place in the country.
The death of a man killed by police last week in London, was “used as an excuse for opportunistic thugs”, said the Conservative Prime Minister.
“This is criminal, pure and simple. And for this, there are no excuses”, he insisted. “It is not a problem of poverty, but of culture. A culture of violence, disrespect for authority”, continued Cameron.
In his speech, Prime Minister announced new repressive measures, notably the possibility that the police can remove masks from the face in the case of suspected criminal activity.
Government will also examine the conditions for introduction of prohibition of movement, and Cameron did not rule out the future military involvement.
“My responsibility is to ensure that any scenario will be considered, including whether there are tasks that the army can take over, to give police a free hand on the front line”, he said.
Cameron admitted that, during the early riots, there were “too few” police. But “the response was good”, as, after the first night, since Saturday such events have not happened again.
The premier also promised compensation for victims of riots, announcing the creation of a fund of $32 million to assist business owners whose shops were vandalized.
Just one year before the Olympic Games in London, he also said that it is necessary for Britain to show another side.
“We have to show the world that seemed appalled, that the perpetrators of violence (…) are not representative of our country”, said Cameron, given the fact that many people have expressed concern about the image these disorders create before the Olympics.
“A year before the Games (Olympics), we have to show that Britain is not a country that could be destroyed, but a country that builds, not resign, a country is not looking back, but always forward”, he added.
The violence that erupted last Saturday, hit for four nights in a row, England, where many shops were looted and many buildings were set on fire.