Our thoughts are with you, London.

As the UK digs in and prepares to batten down the hatches for another night of widespread violence, it lifts hope to see so many Londoners on the streets this morning raising their brooms in unison and cleaning up their city.

“Riots are about power, and they are about catharsis. They are not about poor parenting, or youth services being cut, or any of the other snap explanations that media pundits have been trotting out: structural inequalities, as a friend of mine remarked today, are not solved by a few pool tables. People riot because it makes them feel powerful, even if only for a night. People riot because they have spent their whole lives being told that they are good for nothing, and they realise that together they can do anything – literally, anything at all. People to whom respect has never been shown riot because they feel they have little reason to show respect themselves, and it spreads like fire on a warm summer night. And now people have lost their homes, and the country is tearing itself apart.” from Penny Red– blogger & Tottenham resident

Be safe on those streets tonight, London.