excerpts from salfordstar
22/01/2012
- Last Friday, Salford man Zac Challinor got five and a half years
in jail for torching the BBC Radio Manchester car at Salford
Precinct. It was the lengthiest sentence doled out for any rioter.
But, so far, the media hasn't bothered to report it.
At
midnight on 9th August, Challinor posted on Facebook that he was
going to see what was happening in town. ...
Within hours, Salford streets erupted and Challinor was on the front line.
At 5pm, Challinor threw a coin at lines of police in riot gear battling with youths in Brydon Close. Hundreds of youths overturned a BBC Radio Manchester car in Heywood Way. Challinor excitedly suggested 'come on lets set it on fire' and lit the match. As smoke rose over Salford, the mob made their way to LIDL, smashing through the shutters. Challinor was captured on CCTV with armfuls of aerosols. Finally, Challinor aimed a kick at William Hills in the precinct but for some reason stopped before the shutters were damaged around 9pm. Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage was attributed all or in part to Challinor's actions.
Challinor received the lengthiest sentence of any rioter.
The majority of those brought before the courts for offences related to civil unrest during the summer are young men like Zac Challinor and Stephen Carter. Like Carter, another of Salford's sons serving time for riot related crime, Challinor was homeless, jobless and estranged from his family at the time of the riot.
Media blackout
In recent months, Salford has been awash with journalists. No-one reported on Challinor's landmark sentence which will, like Carter's, form a bench mark for prosecutions taking place later this year. Within minutes of the BBC car being set on fire, images were being broadcast on Youtube. With their staff as the story, the BBC has shown little taste for broadcasting what was behind the destruction.
Within hours, Salford streets erupted and Challinor was on the front line.
At 5pm, Challinor threw a coin at lines of police in riot gear battling with youths in Brydon Close. Hundreds of youths overturned a BBC Radio Manchester car in Heywood Way. Challinor excitedly suggested 'come on lets set it on fire' and lit the match. As smoke rose over Salford, the mob made their way to LIDL, smashing through the shutters. Challinor was captured on CCTV with armfuls of aerosols. Finally, Challinor aimed a kick at William Hills in the precinct but for some reason stopped before the shutters were damaged around 9pm. Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage was attributed all or in part to Challinor's actions.
Challinor received the lengthiest sentence of any rioter.
The majority of those brought before the courts for offences related to civil unrest during the summer are young men like Zac Challinor and Stephen Carter. Like Carter, another of Salford's sons serving time for riot related crime, Challinor was homeless, jobless and estranged from his family at the time of the riot.
Media blackout
In recent months, Salford has been awash with journalists. No-one reported on Challinor's landmark sentence which will, like Carter's, form a bench mark for prosecutions taking place later this year. Within minutes of the BBC car being set on fire, images were being broadcast on Youtube. With their staff as the story, the BBC has shown little taste for broadcasting what was behind the destruction.
MediaCityUK
has become the forbidden city for thousands of Salfordians
denied employment, to the elderly who will be confined to their homes
by the closure of day centres, to women forced to give birth on the
kitchen floor because of the closure of Salford Royal maternity unit,
to the people whose homes are being repossessed, to the families
forced out by regeneration to make way for new housing that they
cannot access, or the schools reducing 25% of the teaching
staff....Repossession notices, redundancy notices, closure
notices – no damn notice is paid to the conditions that have
blighted Salford for years. The only notice given to those beyond the
Media City walls warn of powers to disperse groups under the Anti
Social Behaviour Act 2003 who seek to disrupt the brave new
world.
As the marketing of Media City struggles to maintain the illusion of a cohesive community – `Our City, Your City' - the truth is that it's their city now and disaffected youth, the elderly, the sick or impoverished have been cast aside.
As the marketing of Media City struggles to maintain the illusion of a cohesive community – `Our City, Your City' - the truth is that it's their city now and disaffected youth, the elderly, the sick or impoverished have been cast aside.
...
The
torching of the BBC car will never be seen as a symbol of working
class struggle by the organisations at the interface of accelerated
social change and the digital revolution. But perhaps it
should, as youths gather in shadows of the precinct with nothing to
do, nowhere to go...
Thank you for the info. It sounds pretty user friendly. I guess I’ll pick one up for fun. thank u
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