Occasionally an event happens so spirit-sappingly depressing to make us wonder if those millenarian, "hell in a handcart", death knell-sounding types in the Mail's employ might actually have a point after all. Here's one: two cops are on sick leave following an attack by a mob in Croydon, after they had the temerity to ask a 15-year old girl to pick up her litter.
The mob, some 30 people strong and made up largely of teens, gathered when the girl became aggressive after being asked to pick up a fast food wrapper she had dropped. After the officers tried to take the girl away from the group to talk with her, violence broke out. Both men suffered a number of injuries, with one sustaining a bite wound, and local witnesses reported their "horror" at the level of violence used by the crowd. One officer told a local newspaper that he "feared for his life" during the attack. The girl was arrested and subsequently bailed, while two men aged 34 and 38 were arrested on charges of suspicion of assault and violent disorder.
There's really nothing more we can add to this senseless story, which sadly reminds us of a similarly nasty incident last year. We wonder, if this is the reaction Croydoners give to authority figures, what measures will they take should the proposed booze restrictions be introduced?
Image from Juror8's Flickrstream via the Londonist pool
