Pickles: fresh riots can’t be ruled out

Published on 07/08/2012 01:56

A REPEAT of last summer’s riots in London and other English cities cannot be ruled out, a senior government minister has acknowledged.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said the chances of large-scale disturbances were now “slightly less likely” after communities had shown they wanted to take back their streets, but added that nobody was complacent.

“People are kind of reluctant to say it can never happen,” he said. “But we have looked towards dealing with some of the problems, and one of the reasons it is less likely to happen is things like closed-circuit television, which has ensured the rioters were being arrested.”

One year on from the riots, Mr Pickles said police had been unprepared for looting on such a wide scale.