This week

This post aims to provide an overview of the events that happened at the start of this week, and the work the Council and other have been doing since that point to help Hackney pull together and move forward.

Disturbances at the start of this week

As you'll be aware, disturbances on Monday night focused on the areas surrounding Mare Street and the Pembury Estate. That night there were attempts to break into shops on Kingsland Road but no shops were actually entered, though there had been a break in at the Kingsland Shopping Centre the previous evening.

Police have informed us that there were no disturbances in Hackney on Tuesday night or any of the following days this week. As you have probably seen there the police have worked hard on long shifts throughout the week. Those involved included officers from the Met, including our own De Beauvoir Safer Neighbourhoods Team, and those brought to London from elsewhere.

De Beauvoir was one of the least affected areas of Hackney on Monday night, but there were unfortunately still a limited number of incidents that occurred in our area. 

We have spoken to the police about the assault that took place on De Beauvoir Square on Monday evening and it is currently being thoroughly investigated and they are hopefully that they will be able to bring the perpertrators to justice in the near future. If you have any information on this please contact Crimestoppers or the De Beauvoir Safer Neighbourhoods Team.

There were just two other incidents in De Beauvoir ward on Monday night: a mugging on Kingland Road, and a brick put through an office window on Orsman Road.

What is happening now

Both the Police and the Council are focusing on ensuring those involved in breaking the law on Monday evening are brought to justice. The Council's CCTV team, working with the police, are currently working through all the relevant footage in order to inform the investigations. Across London, the Police have now arrested more than 1,200 people in connection with these events, and they are providing ongoing update here.

The people of Hackney have showed amazing community spirit in coming together to ensure that we work together as whole to move forward from what has happened this week, and the Council is supporting these efforts wherever it can.

From 3am on Monday morning the Council's street cleaning teams worked to clear Mare Street, Clarence Road and other affected areas - most areas were clear by 5am, with streets then being washed down which was completed by half past seven. It was great to see so many people turn up to help with the clean up on Monday morning – as part of the RiotCleanUp twitter campaign - but there was nothing left for them to do!

Fifteen businesses were damaged in the Hackney Central area and 5 in Dalston. Seven of these are locally owned ones.  The Council has been visiting businesses in the town centre on a daily basis and has distributed advice sheets from the Police, advising on safety measures, and helping with the clear up.

The most affected shop was Siva Kandiah's on Clarence Road which lost stock worth a total of £50,000. Mr Kandiah is a long standing and valued member of the community in that area, and a collection has been started to raise money to help him re-open and if you wish to donate you can do so here. The appeal has already raised more than £10,000.

A range of community responses have been planned or are already occurring – some of you may have attended the community prayer vigil at St John’s Hackney on Wednesday – and we’ll have more about those on this blog in the coming days.