Video: Police move in as Brixton celebrates Thatcher’s death
Police moved in last night to forcibly break up a spur-of-the-moment street party in Brixton celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher.
In scenes reminiscent of the 1981 and 1985 riots in Brixton, police wearing riot gear waded into the crowd to break up the party following news of the former prime minister's death.
Several masked youths scaled the local cinema to spell out the words "MARGARET THATCHERS DEAD – LOL", replacing the names of films being shown.
"Last night police dealt with a group of approximately 100 people in Brixton who caused low level disorder including throwing missiles at officers," the Metropolitan police said in a statement.
"In order to protect the community and to ensure the highways remained clear extra officers were deployed."
The disorder did not result in the sort of widespread rioting which tested Thatcher in her premiership in the area.
In 1981 poor relations between police and black immigrants in the area eventually boiled over into disorder in which 280 police officers and 45 members of the public were injured.
But the Met said a shop front had been smashed last night and two women were arrested on suspicion of burglary after being found inside.
The crowd was finally dispersed by around 01:45 this morning.
Much of the disorder was captured by Kevin Paterson, who uploaded a video of the incident to YouTube last night.
"Yes, she was a mighty, bulldog battle-axe, who controversially changed the face of Britain, but that was then, this is now," he wrote. "Why this madness?!"
