They Arranged a Riot on Facebook, But Nobody Turned Up
By David Rowe
15 August 2011
In the middle of the riots in London, the Midlands and the North of England, someone in my home town tried to organise a South Western version via Facebook.
The event, called “PLYMOUTH RIOT SAVE ARE ENGLAND FROM THE GOVERMENT!”, was convened for 1am on the 9th August outside the local Poundland, a chain of shops in which everything costs £1 (sterling). A simultaneous gathering was arranged for nearby Torquay, a small seaside town best known as the setting for the enduring British comedy Fawlty Towers.
The Facebook page set out the justification for the riot:
“LETS TAKE BACK ARE ENGLAND WE CANNOT GET JOBS WE CANT GO COLLEGE WE CANT EVEN LIVE ANYMORE BECAUSE IT COST TO MUCH TO BUY FOOD! NOW LETS GET DOWN TO FIGHTING FOR PLYMOUTH.
LONDON DID IT BIRMINGHAM ARE DOING BRISTOL HAVE NOW STARTED NOW ITS PLYMOUTH TURN SAVE ENGLAND!”
The event organiser called for 400 people to turn up to save England, and 11 said that they would. But nobody did, apart from a small number of police, and there was no reported looting of items from the Poundland product range, such as Haribo Jelly Beans and 5-Pack Weight Watchers® Cheese Flavoured Puffs.
Three days later, a 24-year-old man and 54-year-old woman from neighbouring Buckfastleigh (pop. 3,661) were arrested on suspicion of incitement to riot. Buckfastleigh is best known as the location of its Butterfly (opens in a new window)Farm and Otter (opens in a new window)Sanctuary and also Buckfast Abbey (opens in a new window), where its suspiciously French-originating Benedictine Monks make the renowned Buckfast Tonic Wine. Originally marketed in the late 19th century using the slogan “Three small glasses a day, for good health and lively blood”, the contribution of Buckfast Tonic Wine to the planning of the Plymouth and Torquay riots is currently unknown.
At the time of writing, despite the visit of the notorious Millwall Football Club (main chant “No one likes us, we don’t care”) to play Plymouth Argyle (main chant indecipherable) on Tuesday night, Plymouth remains calm but under close police surveillance. Meanwhile, ‘Are England’ and the ‘Government’ are in peace talks under the aegis of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Sydney has offered to take the 2012 Olympics off London’s hands.
David Rowe is Professor of Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney, and author of the forthcoming Riotous Disassemblage: The Grocer’s Apostrophe Fire Bombed (Plymouth: Scrumpy Press, 2020).
Image Credit (opens in a new window): John Foulston’s Town Hall, Column and Library in Devonport, Devon, UK.