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Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

cnbc.com

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Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#11

Post by marvin »

MichaelGG wrote: post #5

Odd/interesting that they don't mention motives. They give one example of using acid to commit a mugging. Yet[1] seems to state that acid attacks are mostly male-on-female violence for relationships/shame issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing#Epidemiology So it is a real threat to tourists? It's like when you hear about high crime in some area, but it's mostly gang members killing each other -- it's a s…

The link you're quoting is describing the situation internationally, and as of six months ago. This is no doubt still a terrible problem which must be attacked politically, but the acid attacks in London during the last few months have largely been muggings.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#12

Post by evgen »

zkms wrote: post #6

Does this represent a sui generis rise of violence or is this the result of substitution of weapons to commit crimes (like mugging, say) that were already happening?

The latter. After a "scourge" of knife crime that reached the level of almost one death a week (mostly gang-related) the city cracked down on knife crimes and arrests for possession of same. This is the substitution that carries with it a slight bit of anti-immigrant dog whistle given some previous high-profile cases of acid attacks being used in "honour" crimes against women.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#13

Post by topspin »

MichaelGG wrote: post #5

Odd/interesting that they don't mention motives. They give one example of using acid to commit a mugging. Yet[1] seems to state that acid attacks are mostly male-on-female violence for relationships/shame issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing#Epidemiology So it is a real threat to tourists? It's like when you hear about high crime in some area, but it's mostly gang members killing each other -- it's a s…

The Independent cites some figures from the Metropolitan Police. Most of the victims and suspects are male. Most are between 15 and 29 years of age and at least some of it is gang related.

https://goo.gl/sPgr7x

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#14

Post by krona »

zkms wrote: post #6

Does this represent a sui generis rise of violence or is this the result of substitution of weapons to commit crimes (like mugging, say) that were already happening?

Carrying a knife in a public area is generally illegal, whereas a bottle of something that looks like water in a casual inspection isn't sufficient grounds for concern. Also, the use of police stop and search powers have fallen dramatically in the past year because of a concern over ethic bias in the statistics.

An offensive weapon is any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, or intended by the person having it with him for such use by him or by some other person.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#15

Post by tombrossman »

gtirloni wrote: post #7
otp124 wrote: post #2

We recently moved to central-ish London (Zone 1), in a generally safe business area. A few weeks ago my wife & sister were walking home and a man started spraying them with a bottle, screaming "It's raining". Luckily it appeared to be just water. They we're annoyed that they were wet, but now I look at this statistic, and it scares me to think that my family could have been painfully maimed.

Apparently it's now popular to do weird/stupid stuff to foreigners in public places while recording their reactions then post it online for internet glory.

I wonder what percentage of these people end up recording themselves getting their asses kicked instead? Imagine you are in a foreign city and someone sprayed yourself or a loved one with an unknown substance. I'm not talking about a child with a squirt gun innocently playing around, I mean another adult behaving differently from social norms. I have to think the probability of a violent reaction is pretty high.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#17

Post by cm2187 »

tombrossman wrote: post #15
gtirloni wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently it's now popular to do weird/stupid stuff to foreigners in public places while recording their reactions then post it online for internet glory.

I wonder what percentage of these people end up recording themselves getting their asses kicked instead? Imagine you are in a foreign city and someone sprayed yourself or a loved one with an unknown substance. I'm not talking about a child with a squirt gun innocently playing around, I mean another adult behaving differently from social norms. I have to think the probability of a violent reaction is pretty high.

Agree. A violent reaction would be justified. It's like mugging someone with a fake gun. The victim has no way to tell whether the gun is fake or whether his life is at risk, and a violent reaction would be legitimate.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#18

Post by Brakenshire »

barrkel wrote: post #10
MichaelGG wrote: post #5

Odd/interesting that they don't mention motives. They give one example of using acid to commit a mugging. Yet[1] seems to state that acid attacks are mostly male-on-female violence for relationships/shame issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing#Epidemiology So it is a real threat to tourists? It's like when you hear about high crime in some area, but it's mostly gang members killing each other -- it's a s…

80% male, both perpetrators and victims: http://www.barkinganddagenhampost.co.uk/news/crime-court/eas... At this point it's mostly gang on gang, and probably driven by anti-knife enforcement. Scooter riders snatching phones are a bigger threat to tourists. The two have been combined recently though, using scooter + acid to hijack and steal other scooters and bikes. This in turn is driven by police not chasing two whe…

Would have thought at that point it'd be worthwhilr putting GPS devices somewhere internal.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#19

Post by tombrossman »

cm2187 wrote: post #17
tombrossman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what percentage of these people end up recording themselves getting their asses kicked instead? Imagine you are in a foreign city and someone sprayed yourself or a loved one with an unknown substance. I'm not talking about a child with a squirt gun innocently playing around, I mean another adult behaving differently from social norms. I have to think the probability of a violent reaction is pretty high.

Agree. A violent reaction would be justified. It's like mugging someone with a fake gun. The victim has no way to tell whether the gun is fake or whether his life is at risk, and a violent reaction would be legitimate.

Just to clarify, a violent reaction (in self defence) might be justified. It's not automatic, and would have to be proportional. For example, it might be enough to simply grab the person and hold them down on the ground until the police arrive unless it quickly became obvious that it was just a harmless prank. If they sprayed you with something harmful, or decide to resist being detained then yes, it may be necessary to use increasing physical force.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#20

Post by dagaci »

Acid attacks are mostly related to business disputes, sex, marriage, robbery and honor disputes. The stats and location's where the acid attacks take place:

https://www.statista.com/chart/10289/acid-attacks-in-london/

and

https://www.met.police.uk/globalassets/foi-media/disclosure_...

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