Pickles slams 'sub-culture' of vandals

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government

Eric Pickles has attacked the people who have caused chaos in cities across the country, branding them "a sub-culture".

The Communities and Local Government Secretary promised to stop London's streets being "taken over by a bunch of lawless criminals".

"If anybody suggested this is about bored youths, that's no excuse whatsoever. This is about a sub-culture of criminals who have decided not to rail against society, but to target the Currys and Booths and Dixons to take out valuable property to sell them," said Mr Pickles.

He rejected claims that the looters were making a political protest.

"These are people who are just about robbery and thievery. They are about going into shops, stripping them of mobile phones, stripping them of trainers, stripping them of designer goods.

"They're about people trying to make money out of this, not about confronting police," he said.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: "This is a city with a lot of surveillance cameras and it's all right putting your hoodie on now, but you're going to have to put your hoodie on for a long time to escape justice.

"That stuff you stole over the last few days is going to lead directly to your arrest."

Commenting on the spontaneous community clear ups that have been taking place across the capital, he said: "There have been some good things that have come out of this.

"The way in which the public have reacted, the way in which people turned up this morning determined to clean up their streets complete with brushes and mops is an indication that Londoners aren't prepared to be cowed by a sub-culture of criminals."

Copyright Press Association 2011