A former commander of British Forces in Afghanistan has said that bringing in the Army to help quell the riots in London, Manchester and across the country would be a step too far. A report by ForcesNews continues:
Writing in The Times newspaper, Colonel Richard Kemp said: “The last thing we want is for British troops to face rioting mobs on the streets of the UK again.”
Colonel Kemp, who himself experienced rioting firsthand during a tour of Northern Ireland, instead argued that water cannons and plastic bullets might be a feasible option.
“I have seen several situations in the past few days where these weapons would have saved injury and destruction of property,” he said.
So far COBRA, the government’s emergency committee has excluded the possibility of deploying military forces onto the UK’s streets.
Last night saw comparatively less violence and disorder in London, with small skirmishes breaking out only in a few areas such as Canning town.
The Prime Minister David Cameron returned early from his summer holiday in an attempt to regain control over the capital, with an extra 10,000 police officers being deployed on the streets of London last night.
However, there were more serious incidents in the north of the country with rioting and looting occurring in Salford, Manchester and Birmingham.
