Britain’s ‘broom army’ sweeps away vandalism

Using social networks, Britain's new local heroes got together to sweep away the piles of rubble and broken glass left behind in the trouble-hit inner cities.

FEATURE

by Anna Tomforde
LONDON: The broom, a sign of order and tidiness, has become the symbol of British opposition to the current wave of rioting, vandalism and destruction.

Middle-class housewives, equipped with dust-pans and rubber gloves, march fearlessly into the piles of rubble and broken glass left behind in the trouble spots of Britain’s inner cities.

Amidst the depressing sequence of violence and destruction, the emergence of the “broom army” has been universally welcomed as a positive by-product of chaos, anger and grief.

Ironically, the new local heroes – like the rioters – use social networks like Twitter to gather supporters.
They have gained praise from the highest places.

“We have seen the worst of Britain but I also believe we have seen some of the best of Britain: the million people who have signed up on Facebook to support the police; communities coming together in the clean-up operations,” said Prime Minister David Cameron.

“We have more broomsticks than Hogwarts,” is a phrase often heard in the upmarket London district of Clapham, which was hit by large-scale rioting and looting earlier this week.

When London Mayor Boris Johnson went to inspect the damage in Clapham, the crowd berated him for alleged police failures to “protect” their homes and businesses.

“Where’s your broom?” they shouted, pushing one into his hand.

Their example has been copied up and down the country, where the helpers, also known as the Riot Wombles, flood in at dawn to clean the streets.

Britain still Britain

The movement was – partly – born out of public anger with a perceived lack of police protection during the peak of rioting on Monday.

Campaign founders Dan Thompson and Sophie Collard said they were spurred into action by the fires and looting in Croydon, south London, where a large furniture store went up in flames.

“The most shocking thing was the TV footage of fires spreading across London,” said Thompson, a 37-year-old artist.

“The pictures of the furniture warehouse in Croydon burning was like something out of the Blitz,” he said, in a reference to the 1940-41 Nazi Luftwaffe attacks on London.

The response to the call had been amazing, Thompson told London’s Evening Standard. “I originally thought we might get 10 to 20, then photos came in of hundreds.”

Peter Dobson, whose cafe was vandalised, said: “Everyone is getting together, it’s not just a few people – it’s the whole community.”

In Liverpool, 16-year-old Anna Mason swept the streets. “I was sick of the senseless smashing up of our communities. It’s good to see there’s a real sense of community with people from all over
Liverpool – a vicar, mums and students – coming to help,” she told the BBC.

Lucy Inglis, a 34-year-old London-based historian, said she felt the broom was the “perfect symbol for the civilised majority”.

“It’s great to see so many people with brooms. It’s really ordinary and domestic and conjures up the sanctity of the home. A new broom sweeps clean what has gone before,” she said.

Times journalist Caitlin Moran says there’s something very British about the clean-up movement.
“We’ve gone from being terrified to being united. It’s a lovely sign that Britain is still Britain. People are making the best of it.”
dpa