Writer, Film-maker, Speaker & Social Media Practitioner

The London riots hit Clapham and Clapham hits back

It’s hard to believe that anyone hasn’t heard about the London riots. I followed online on Saturday and Sunday – it was scary and angering but it felt far away. On Monday that changed…

The London riots hit Clapham and Clapham hits back with #riotcleanup

Here’s my experience of the 3rd night of rioting in London and how we mobilised in Clapham Junction to help clean up the mess as one united community.

On Monday night, people began to gather in Clapham. It didn’t take long for looting to start and carried on for hours before police arrived. Videos started appearing and it was hard to believe that was only a few streets away.

I ventured out onto Lavender Hill just after midnight (don’t tell my mom!) - as I was 15 minutes up the road, I thought it would be clear of people but part of me also wanted to make sure the family run shops were OK. The closer I got to Lavender Hill the scarier it felt. I could hear the sirens first and then I saw 15-20 people in pulled up hoodies and masks on the corner at the end of my road. People were walking down the road with stolen goods and others were trying to safely get home.

Shortly after I got home I tweeted this...

I’m going to be cleaning up clapham junction tomorrow am. Who’s going to join me?

And then seeing the #riotcleanup hashtag (it was #riotscleanup when I first saw it), I tweeted out this...

“Tomorrow 9am. Nandos, Northcote Road, to assess and help clean up. Let’s show everyone what London’s truly about #riotscleanup

I sent it out to each Facebook group as it began and when @riotcleanup was set up (such a brilliant initiative and so very very helpful to us all! Great work guys!), I let them know the plans for Clapham which they tweeted out to their followers. Morning hit and I wasn’t sure if anyone would come. People could be talking about it but would they really come?

I walked down the road with my broom in hand. Nearing Nandos, I couldn’t see anyone and I thought - more Twitter chat but no action. But wait a minute...I rounded the corner and there were at least 30 - 40 people also armed with brooms. Hoorah!

We moved to St Johns Hill so not to disturb traffic and the numbers continued to grow as the day went on. The time to start the clean-up kept being pushed back as the forensics teams did their work. A team of us started helping organize the volunteers, with James being the main spokesman to relay info to the crowd (he does have a booming voice!) As the police drove by our growing numbers we clapped.

Sainsburys and Costa were on hand to give out what food and drink they could and others dropped off bags and gloves. Unfortunately, took some time until we could clean but everyone was patient and lovely and kind to each other. And united.

At three, we began to move and waited on a side street.

London and UK riots: the clean-up operation in pictures telegraph.co.uk

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Everyone was there to take back the streets. So far there’s been great coverage of the clean-up. It’s nice to see the positive side to our community and social networks in the media instead of the negativity we’ve been seeing in recent days.

Twitter calls spur on riot clean-up
thesun.co.uk
Residents took to the streets to tidy up the mess left by hundreds of yobs torching buildings and cars and looting shops. Cops said lawless louts used Twitter and mobile phone messaging services to co-ordinate their attacks.

Communities rally for riot clean-up
channel4.com
Some areas of London have been devastated by days of rioting. Houses have been burned down, properties looted and windows smashed. Debris litters the streets in some neighbourhoods. The riots have now spread to other areas of Britain as well. But some communities have had enough.

I’m glad to have been a small part of it and I hope everyone keeps giving as much as they gave today to continue to rebuild our community and all of those throughout London.

Heather Taylor is a filmmaker, writer and community and social media strategist whose work has been shown and published throughout Europe, Asia and North America. She currently works as BBC’s Corporate Community Manager.

As a filmmaker, she has written commercial narratives, short films and features as well as directing and creating documentaries, social media content and music videos. Heather wrote the screenplay for ‘The Last Thakur’, which premiered at the London Film Festival 2008 & has had its cinematic, television and DVD releases in the UK. Her short documentary Wild West Dream was an official selection for Atlantic Film Festival and the Edmonton International Film Festival. She also produces video, audio, written and social media content for large organisations and start-ups.