1981 Handsworth riots

{{Short description|1981 riot in Birmingham, England}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox civil conflict

| title=1981 Handsworth riots

| partof=the 1981 England riots

| image=

| caption=

| date= 10–12 July 1981

| place= Handsworth, Birmingham, England

| methods= Rioting

| casualties3=40 police officers injured
121 arrests made

| casualties_label=Reported injuries

}}

The 1981 Handsworth riots were three days of rioting that took place in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England in July 1981.{{cite book|last=Waddington|first=David P.|title=Contemporary issues in public disorder: a comparative and historical approach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=61XZdjCj9PMC&pg=PA90|year=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-415-07913-6|pages=90–91}} The major outbreak of violence took place on the night of Friday 10/11 July, with smaller disturbances on the following two nights.{{cite book|last=Southgate|first=Peter|editor=Field, Simon |editor2=Southgate, Peter|title=Public disorder: a review of research and a study in one inner city area|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ls_wAAAAIAAJ|series=Home Office Research Studies|year=1982|publisher=H.M.S.O.|location=London|isbn=0-11-340767-X|page=42|chapter= "Abstract: Disturbances of July 1981 in Handsworth, Birmingham - A Survey of the Views and Experiences of Male Residents}}

The riots were characterised by the Scarman report into the 1981 riots in England as "copycat riots" – taking place after the Brixton riots in London, and around the same time as the Toxteth riots in Liverpool and the Moss Side riots in Manchester – though some have argued that this is an oversimplification. The immediate flashpoint was an attack on a locally well-known Police Superintendent who was trying to calm rumours of an impending march by the right-wing National Front. The following disturbances resulted in 121 arrests and 40 injuries to police officers, alongside widespread damage to property.{{cite web|url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=84135|title=Abstract: Disturbances of July 1981 in Handsworth, Birmingham - A Survey of the Views and Experiences of Male Residents (From Public Disorder, pp. 41–73, 1982, by Simon Field and Peter Southgate)|work=National Criminal Justice Reference Service|publisher=U.S. Department of Justice}}

Before the riots Handsworth had been considered to be a good example of successful community policing, though local Black British youths later disputed the claim that relations between them and the police had been amicable: around 40% of them had been stopped and searched over the previous 12 months. Handsworth had a mixed population of white, black and Asian residents, but surveys after the riots showed little evidence of significant racial tension. A week before the riots, during the weekend that saw CS gas used against rioters for the first time on the British Mainland in Toxteth, Liverpool, a reporter from The Times had visited a festival in Handsworth Park and found "8,000 people, black and white" in "a spirit as amiable and peaceful as a rural village fete".{{cite news|first=Arthur|last=Osman|author2=Timmins, Nicholas|author3= Tendler, Stewart. |title=3am: Residents begin Toxteth evacuation Police use CS gas after admitting riot is out of control|work=The Times|publisher=Times Newspapers|page=1|date=6 July 1981}} The most common reasons for the riots reported by participants were unemployment, boredom and the imitation of events elsewhere.