It was 30 years ago yesterday that a disturbance in Toxteth Liverpool over the arrest of a young black man would lead to three policemen being injured. The heavy handed arrest under the "sus laws" would ignite 9 nights of full scale rioting with 468 police officers being injured and 500 arrests taking place. It would also see the first use of C.S. Gas outside of Northern Ireland.
Police reinforcements came from as far afield as Cumbria and Devon.
A government report recognised the riots as a result of social problems [poverty and deprivation]. The findings led to the introduction of measures to improve trust between the police and ethnic minorities plus the government sent some flowers to Liverpool in the form of a Garden Festival.
This month sees a re-print of our 1981 Riots T-Shirt in Navy and Aqua Blue after the initial run sold out in a few days. Expect to see it on the website in the following few weeks.
The video is of Cook Da Books 'Piggie in The Middle 8' which references Toxteths Liverpool 8 postcode and was released in 1982
