The library closed early due to riot activity starting around New Street again, so my coworker and I left sooner than we'd even planned to. More black hoods were wandering on our way home, waiting in their silent joy for the "fun" to start. We passed a kid laughing with his equally hooded friend about the post office closing early.
The Arcadian Centre was locked up again and most restaurants, stores, etc. have already closed for the day. There have been 130 Birmingham arrests so far.
The sun hasn't set but there's lots of activity below and plenty of sirens sounding around the city in the distance and nearby. Vanloads of cops are stopping gathered groups of hoodlums, sending them scattering or jumping out to question them and scare them off. Cops and helicopters have been patrolling and keeping watch over public spaces all day.
This afternoon, my coworker and I watched a group of young thugs, dressed in black, as they strutted through Chamberlain Square, past the cops, the ringleader rapping loud, high on a sense of power perhaps fueled by the knowledge that the cops couldn't do a thing to them though it seemed rather clear that they were flaunting their involvement in the riots.
We watched the rioters getting ready, some with masks and gloves already in place, roving as they anticipated the planned vandalism of the evening. A fire broke out a block or two away. We later discovered it was a torched vehicle.
It's fairly loud surrounding the hotel with cars speeding and squealing, blasting music from cars, sounds of things being beaten sporadically, sirens, a helicopter above, yelling, and the easy, prideful cackle of the lawless brood scattered about in the streets around us. It's escalating already and the sky is still quite lit.
