The Brixton Riots, 1981 (AQA GCSE History)

Summary

From the 1960s onwards, there were attempts to provide people with legal protection from prejudice and discrimination. However, it was argued that this had failed when rioting erupted in Brixton and then other areas of British cities where there were large immigrant communities. 

Enquiries into the police actions after the riots found evidence of black and immigrant communities being unfairly targeted by the police. There was also evidence of institutional racism within London’s Metropolitan Police Force.

Causes of the Brixton Riots

Long-term causes

• By the end of the 1970s, immigrant communities were well-established in most British cities

• Members of these communities experienced widespread racism and discrimination

Race relation acts

• As a result, the government passed the Race Relations Act of 1965

  • The act made racial discrimination illegal 

  • It made hatred based on colour, race, ethnic or national origins a legal offence

• Further Race Relations Acts were passed in 1968 and 1976 

  • They attempted to stop discrimination in employment and housing 

  • They also outlawed indirect discrimination

• These acts failed to stop discrimination or openly racist behaviour

Medium-term causes

Battle of Lewisham

• When around 500 members of the National Front marched through the London borough of Lewisham in 1977, its immigrant communities erupted in anger

• They believed the police should have stopped the openly racist National Front from marching

  • Around 4,000 people assembled to confront the National Front marchers and events became violent

  • By the time the fighting stopped, 56 police officers had been injured and over 200 people had been arrested

  • The level of violence led to the event being called the Battle of Lewisham

Short-term causes

Stop and search

• The acts also failed to stop police from discriminating against immigrant communities when using stop-and-search powers

  • Widely known as the ‘sus law’, it gave the police the right to stop and search people if they believed they were acting suspiciously

  • Black people were found to be eight times more likely to be stopped by the police than white people 

  • Young black people felt especially targeted by the police

Recession

• Britain experienced an economic recession in the late 1970s 

  • This led to an increase in unemployment

• Higher unemployment led to an increase in crime, including in Brixton, which had a large immigrant community

  • Before the recession, the Brixton community already suffered from higher rates of unemployment, lower rates of pay, poorer quality housing and worse job security than other communities

Brixton

• To reduce street crime in Brixton, the police launched Operation Swamp 81

  • This placed large numbers of plain-clothes officers in the area and over 1,000 residents of Brixton were stopped and searched in just six days

  • This increased tension as many black youths felt unfairly targeted by the police in their own community

Events of the Brixton Riots

• In April 1981, the tension which had built up in Brixton exploded into three days of rioting

• False rumours began to spread that a young black man named Michael Bailey had been arrested and killed in custody

• A police officer was then injured when a brick was thrown at their car

• This quickly escalated into police vans being set on fire, shops being looted and widespread rioting

• Brixton was flooded with over 1,000 police officers to restore order

  • By the time the rioting stopped, hundreds of police officers had been injured, over 100 vehicles destroyed, 150 buildings damaged and 82 people arrested

• Rioting also spread to other immigrant communities in other major British cities including Handsworth in Birmingham, Toxteth in Liverpool and Moss Side in Manchester

The Scarman Report

• The government ordered an inquiry into the riots

  • The enquiry was led by Judge Lord Scarman

• The report concluded that: 

  • The riot was caused by “complex political, social and economic factors” 

  • Institutional racism did not exist within the Metropolitan Police Force

• However, it did also conclude that the stop and search ‘sus law’ was unfairly used to target Black men

  • The police force had lost the support of the communities 

Impact of the Scarman Report

•  The Scarman Report led to the Independent Police Complaints Authority being set up and new codes of behaviour for the police

• The ‘sus law’ was repealed in August 1981

• The Scarman Report was criticised by some for being too critical of the police who were operating in difficult conditions

• It was criticised by others for not going far enough in addressing racism within the police

Further investigation into the Metropolitan Police

• The Metropolitan Police faced another inquiry after the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993

• Stephen was a young black man who had been murdered in a racially motivated attack in South London

  • The police investigation failed to convict the five suspects who were arrested

• The murder of Stephen Lawrence led to the Macpherson Inquiry 

  • The inquiry concluded that the failure to investigate the murder properly was because the Metropolitan Police was institutionally racist

• Its recommendations included:

  • Creating a more ethnically diverse police force

  • Extending the number of offences considered to be racist