With all the facts so far known about the London riots -- 700 people arrested, 16,000 police on the streets, unrest in half a dozen cities over four long nights -- it's surprising how little has yet to emerge about the rioters themselves: What are they after? What drove them into the streets, for four nights straight, to burn buses and shatter windows?
Earlier Tuesday, the BBC interviewed Darcus Howe, a 68-year-old radical West Indian writer and journalist from Brixton, where some of the most violent disturbances took place over the last couple of days. Faced with a stern and flummoxed interviewer, Howe offered a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the mind of the young people in the streets this week, describing the regular mistreatment exacted upon his sons and grandsons by the police.
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