It all started with the shooting by police of Mark Duggan, an alleged drug dealer and gangster, carrying an illegal weapon, but what has ensued on the streets of London and across many parts of England is not retaliation to racial discrimination by police. Instead, some opportunist members of society have taken cover under rioting and supposed anger at the killing and are perpetrating violence that is not known in recent memory in Europe, let alone England.

“Police patrol these streets every night of the week and we only get to riot every few years. They can’t come here laying down the law like they do all year round. People are rioting because the riot is finally here,” exclaims a rioter in an interview to The Guardian’s correspondent in Liverpool, Alexandra Topping.

As the world has watched London burn since Saturday last, there has been widespread criticism and disappointment over the role of the unarmed officers of the Metropolitan Police, who have done little in way of preventing looting and arson, despite anticipating what was to come. They have been overwhelmed with the numbers of rioters, experiencing disturbances like they have not known in their entire careers. After all, when has only a baton and shield-wielding police force scared off a mob intent on wrecking havoc and looting all that it can?

Us Pakistanis are quite used to the images of burning cars, buses and buildings and mass looting but such episodes were generally classified the world over as the behaviour of an uncivilised society. However, the London riots have discarded this theory. Some of the scenes we have seen in the last few days in London are worse than what Karachi experienced on 27th December 2007, May 12th 2008 and 28th December 2009.

While the inquest is underway and the Independent Police Complaints Commission has yet to definitely say whether Duggan really did shoot at the police officers, the events of the past week are totally unacceptable. Whatever grievances the black community may have against the police, this rioting is not in retaliation to that. It is part of a deeper problem Britain faces today; severe austerity measures in the face of growing unemployment.

Given these circumstances, London author and businessman, Neil Bowman, questions, “What is likely to be the response of a person or (some of) a group of people in terms of behaviour, if the society that entire group are within, Routinely and systematically prevents them getting past number 2 on the Maslow hierarchy of needs?” And it doesn’t have an easy answer.

Even though the rioters have wrecked havoc across high streets, high gloss items like gold jewellery, mobile phones, and high-end electronics have been the booty of choice. This leads one to believe that the criminality and violence was not entirely mindless but premeditated. If the anger was targeted towards the government or police, we did not see any government office or police station being attacked. Instead it is obviously frustrations of the most unprivileged segment of the populace one of the world’s most affluent cities being vented.

With social benefits in the UK being drastically cut in recent months, it was really only a matter of time that such events would happen. And quite obviously, it is not going to be an isolated occurrence. Just like the wave of revolution spread across the Middle East, it is quite possible that similar rioting can spread across other western nations in retaliation to ailing government policies tackling recession. Governments, henceforth will be cautioned that even a slight provocation can lead to similar events and should be prepared for such an eventuality.

Not only Londoners but everyone around the world is disappointed with the weak police response to the riots, which have exposed the Metropolitan Police’s inability and unpreparedness to tackle this level of civil obedience. They were seen to be utterly helpless in preventing loss of property of individuals and businesses.

With the 2012 Summer Olympics round the corner, questions are being raised whether the government proposal of cutting down the police force is really a wise move and whether the police could and/or should have taken a tougher stance towards the looters and arsonists by way of water canons and plastic bullets. Any kind of ‘tougher’ measure was quickly and categorically ruled out by the home secretary, Theresa May.

Order will surely be restored in London and other parts of the UK sooner or later, but this summer of discontent in England will not be forgotten by Londoners, and the world, any time soon.