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posted by martyb on Thursday July 27 2017, @05:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the looking-for-something-basic dept.

Acid attacks in the UK are becoming increasingly common. The reason is simple but the timing isn't. In the UK, guns are generally illegal and gun ownership is more of a touchy subject than in the US. I understand that criminals with guns receive a mandatory five year prison sentence. Strict gun control has pushed most criminals to knives. However, after mandatory sentences for knife ownership, criminals are now choosing to injure victims with acid.

Although gun and knife injuries may require extensive rehabilitation, partial recovery from acid attack may be more costly. One victim required 40 operations and continues to receive frequent, lifelong surgery to alleviate complications such as scar tissue on windpipe.

Attackers and victims have a wide variety of backgrounds. In a very English manner, two attackers who were obviously paid, said sorry before attacking one victim. One attacker was a very minor celebrity before and after attacking people in a nightclub and there have been numerous attacks in Scotland. Some incidents are "honor" attacks among immigrants who, for whatever reason, fail to assimilate. However, there has been an increase in acid attacks among ethnic minorities in East London.

The BBC reports that:

The Met Police is "seeing some links" between criminal gangs and the recent spike in acid attacks in London, a senior officer has said.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey said the force was "seeing a move across" to gang members using acid and corrosive fluids in attacks.

But he cautioned evidence was limited as "it's a small data set".

On Monday, MPs debated measures, including tougher sentences, for attacks involving corrosive substances.

The government has also proposed classifying such substances as dangerous weapons.

The deputy commissioner supported efforts to tackle the issue, saying some of the substances are "not even defined by law".

"The impact this sort of attack has on people is extraordinary," he said.

"Many of us have been unfortunate to see quite a bit in our services but acid attacks are really extraordinary and strike at something quite horrific in people's psyche."

Although many incidences are inter-gang attacks (or a brief campaign against food delivery), there are also incidences where acid attack occurs in conjunction with robbery. One pernicious trend is around moped and scooters which are relatively cheap, relatively fast and cut through traffic. They are relatively easy to steal and it is almost impossible to halt a theft in progress. Well, moped crime now occurs in conjunction with acid attack. Variants include using acid to steal a moped from a rider and using a moped to exit the scene of an acid attack.

London police now have 1000 anti-acid kits and every police car will carry 5 liters of water. Although this is useful for acid attacks against police, it does nothing to halt worsening injuries prior to emergency response. This is of particular concern when acceptable response time for emergency services is re-defined in response to failing targets. The most recent incident, which occurred within 100 metres of the local fire department, incurred a 20 minute response from police.

Although there is a strong political reaction that something must be done, these incidences overshadow a police pursuit death in the vicinity which has similarities to a death in 2011 which sparked rioting in multiple English cities.


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  • (Score: 2) by cafebabe on Thursday July 27 2017, @06:41PM (4 children)

    by cafebabe (894) on Thursday July 27 2017, @06:41PM (#545334) Journal

    Ignore the haters. I deliberately referenced the BBC rather than the Daily Mail to avoid inflamatory content. The BBC has historically been pro-Asian, in part due to the proximity of a large Asian communities to BBC studios. Indeed, the BBC has a radio station in the UK which broadcasts content predominantly English but also in major Asian languages [wikipedia.org]. Funding for this radio station come from the UK's television licence and therefore anyone receiving broadcast television is obliged to fund content which impedes Occidental cultural assimilation.

    Of the three recent acid attacks in London, demographic figures indicate that two of the attacks occurred in a region where approximately 10% of the population is Asian and one occurred where approximately 25% of the population is Asian. Therefore, in the first area, there would be a 19% chance that attacker or victim would be Asian and, in the second area, there would be a 44% chance that attacker or victim would be Asian. Most significantly, there is a 1.6% chance that all three incidences would involve Asians. Also, the probability that the man killed by police would be black is about 25%.

    Since writing this article, the Daily Mail reported that, in a different English city, a 15 year old girl was raped by an Asian man at a train station and then raped by another Asian man driving a car when she sought help [dailymail.co.uk]. This was relatively near to a town where Asian men sexually abused 1400 girls and authorities destroyed records to avert enthic tensions [wikipedia.org]. Some of the victims have been denied statutory criminal injury compensation despite statutory rape being proved to a criminal standard [independent.co.uk].

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by n1 on Thursday July 27 2017, @07:01PM (3 children)

    by n1 (993) on Thursday July 27 2017, @07:01PM (#545342) Journal

    You are trying to find causation where there is some correlation, but it's not there. There is a high likelihood that 'immigrants' are involved in some of these attacks, but the contention by Runaway and apparently yourself that this is all about foreigners is factually incorrect as the quotes I posted above indicate.

    The victims being denied compensation has nothing to do with immigrant crime either, this applies regardless of the ethnic background of the victim or perpetrator.

    Just before reading your comment I came across this story; It has nothing to do with acid attacks in the same way that your 'raped by asian man' story does.

    Raymond Hodges was jailed for 25 years today after his decade-long campaign of abuse was revealed - including a string of child sex offences.

    The 71-year-old, from Barry, Wales, began abusing his victim, when she was only five.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sadistic-pensioner-raped-12-year-10883491 [mirror.co.uk]

    And we shouldn't forget either the police and governments ignoring child abusers like Jimmy Savile and Ian Watkins because of their 'status' and 'careers' that would be damaged by accusations.

    Immigrant crime and gangs do exist, and there are victims of these groups, but they are not the be all and end all of violence and crime in the UK or anywhere. As i've told Runaway before (on IRC) ... I grew up around immigrants, i've worked with and for people from all sorts of ethnic and religious backgrounds...

    The people who actually robbed me on the street? The people who have threatened violence against me unprovoked? The people who didn't pay me after I worked for them? All British born patriots.

    • (Score: 2) by cafebabe on Thursday July 27 2017, @09:54PM

      by cafebabe (894) on Thursday July 27 2017, @09:54PM (#545468) Journal

      I grew up around immigrants, i've worked with and for people from all sorts of ethnic and religious backgrounds...

      Likewise. I often mention ex-housemates and they've been extremely diverse. They include a professor from Beijing, Mauritians, Ghanans, a Zambian, Jamaiacans, a Russian, a Hungarian barista, a Pakistani, Portuguese pastors and numerous international students. (There was also a bus driver from somewhere in Central Africa. In addition to driving a bus, he had a road construction business which spanned three African countries.) Makerspaces tend to attract a fairly international membership. They also attract awkward and autistic people. So, any difficulties at makerspaces have been mostly medical rather than cultural. At work, I've found East Europeans to be technically formidable. (I am also indebted to an Australian and a New Zealander for art and science respectively.) The majority of my income has come from the hiring decisions of immigrants (and it irks me that my compatriots would overlook me). However, my concerns are not with people with who I've shared a desk or kitchen.

      The people who actually robbed me on the street? The people who have threatened violence against me unprovoked? The people who didn't pay me after I worked for them? All British born patriots.

      This may be a polarizing factor. My first-hand experience of crime is mixed but skewed towards immigrants. Late payment and non-payment for work has obviously been skewed by contractual parties. Random theft, physical assault and sexual assault has been distinctly skewed towards immigrants. If my direct experience was similar to yours then I presume that my opinion would also be very similar.

      I don't mind the foreign student who overstayed because he ran out of money and couldn't afford to leave. I don't object to socialized healthcare covering unexpected illness. However, I object to health tourism. I don't mind high skill experts travelling freely. However, I object to violent foreign criminals, dubious foreign driving licences and bigoted foreign medics which all create avoidable risk.

      Actually, I would prefer my nation state to apply more selective ingress filtering. This would create a more diverse and challenging work environment. In this scenario, I'd be competing against people with more education, more skills, more talent and more creativity. I've found that I advance fastest in such circumstances. I'd also have more safety outside of work.

      From your experience of native bigots, would this scenario also be beneficial to you?

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    • (Score: 2) by cafebabe on Saturday July 29 2017, @01:01AM (1 child)

      by cafebabe (894) on Saturday July 29 2017, @01:01AM (#546078) Journal

      I didn't expect this correlation to arise but:-

      Hackney and Newham are also the location of recent acid attacks.

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      • (Score: 2) by cafebabe on Saturday July 29 2017, @01:54AM

        by cafebabe (894) on Saturday July 29 2017, @01:54AM (#546100) Journal

        That should be Fri 28 Jul 2017.

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