Scotland Yard chief calls for calm in a riot area

July 17, 1981

The chief of Scotland Yard appealed strongly for calm in London's simmering Brixton district, where violence exploded again Thursday. Blacks angry at police ransacking of 11 homes built flaming street barricades and rampaged in violence, which injured 10 officers and resulted in six arrests. The Brixton outburst, on a smaller scale than previous incidents in 11 nights of urban violence ranging across the country from Southampton to Scotland, broke a two-day lull in youth rampages. Quiet held elsewhere across Britain.