London: Britain is calm after no major incidents of rioting were reported since Wednesday night, mainly due to heavy police deployment and the vigil mounted by local communities. The country is now counting its losses with the economic loss from four days of rioting, looting and arson pegged at about £100 million.
Analysts add that the cost to Britain's reputation and its lucrative tourist trade in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games may be incalculable.
There is also a fear of the riots stoking ethnic tension after three Britons of Pakistani origin were killed in Birmingham on Wednesday.
While police are treating the deaths as a hit-and-run case, the family and friends of the victims say it is murder. Police say the men were out on the streets trying to defend their petrol pump from rioters who drove over them. The men behind the wheel were reportedly of Afro-Caribbean origin.
"The cars, they drove up and down before as well, so why would you drive up and down if you are going to have an accident? So it was deliberate. Do you understand?" claimed Nasser Khan, a relative of one of the deceased.
"Please respect the memory of our sons and the grief of our family and loved ones by staying away from trouble and not going out tonight. Basically, I lost my son. Blacks, Asians, Whites, we all live in the same community, why do we have to kill one another? What started these riots and what's escalated? Why are we doing this? I lost my son, step forward if you want to lose your sons, otherwise calm down and go home, please," said Tariq Jahan, father of 21-year-old Haroon Jahan killed in the incident.
There is high tension in the predominantly Asian locality even though there are no reports of any racial flare up.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has promised tough police action and called the young rioters a sick society. Cameron has also authorised the police to use water cannons on the rioters.
"There are pockets of our society that are not just broken, but frankly sick. When we see children as young as 12 and 13 looting and laughing; when we see the disgusting sight of an injured young man with people pretending to help him while they are robbing him, it is clear there are things that are badly wrong in our society," said Cameron.
Almost 1000 people have been arrested so far with the youngest being an 11-year-old rioter.
Meanwhile, the British Parliament is meeting on Thursday after being recalled from recess.
The MPs will discuss whether there are social and economic deprivations that have actually fuelled the unrest, anger, crime, looting and arson on the streets of so many of cities. The government will also have to review and is certain to be questioned on its policy of cutting benefits for the poor people.
The riots started in over the weekend following the killing of 29-year-old mark Duggan by the police during arrest, but have quickly spiralled into what authorities are calling opportunistic crime.
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