The Battle Of Edmonton
Well, back home now, but it looks like I wasn't the only one having a bad night of it last night....
Twenty or more years ago, it was the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham, North London. In the early hours of this morning, disturbances in nearby Edmonton left one guy stabbed, several people mugged before getting to the checkout, many injuries and casualties probably higher than the published figure, car parking chaos - no, not just another day in Edmonton, this was something special. It wasn't intended to be war - one news editor has gone with the headline "The Battle Of Edmonton". But if you saw another headline that said "The Battle Of Ikea", you would know it was for the opening of a new Ikea store...
The store was due to open at midnight on Thursday 10th February, for a 24-hour all day store. Ikea staff planned for 2,000 visitors, and got three times that number before the store had even opened. The car park could not cope (as it does pretty much every weekend at their Brent Park branch...) and they opened for between 30 and 40 minutes (depending on your choice of rag) before shutting up shop. Apparently, the crush was so great, that the fire brigade were called, took one look, and drove off again. One person who had secured one of the elusive £45 sofas didn't quite get it, as reported to The Sun..."My friend put her hands on a sofa and a man took a mallet from his jacket and threatened to hit her if she didn't let go. I was pushed over and twisted my ankle. People were fighting and security couldn't cope."Another woman told how she managed to grab a sofa, only to be MUGGED for it by three girls. They pushed her over and took the item to the checkout...
After the store was closed, people started trying to break down the glass to get in, and some of the security staff then legged it. Shouldn't the guards be able to cope? Well, not according to this store guard who spoke to the Sun... Guard Gerard Visagie was punched and kicked. He said: "I felt my life was threatened. A friend's jaw was broken."
Twenty or more years ago, it was the Broadwater Farm riots in Tottenham, North London. In the early hours of this morning, disturbances in nearby Edmonton left one guy stabbed, several people mugged before getting to the checkout, many injuries and casualties probably higher than the published figure, car parking chaos - no, not just another day in Edmonton, this was something special. It wasn't intended to be war - one news editor has gone with the headline "The Battle Of Edmonton". But if you saw another headline that said "The Battle Of Ikea", you would know it was for the opening of a new Ikea store...
The store was due to open at midnight on Thursday 10th February, for a 24-hour all day store. Ikea staff planned for 2,000 visitors, and got three times that number before the store had even opened. The car park could not cope (as it does pretty much every weekend at their Brent Park branch...) and they opened for between 30 and 40 minutes (depending on your choice of rag) before shutting up shop. Apparently, the crush was so great, that the fire brigade were called, took one look, and drove off again. One person who had secured one of the elusive £45 sofas didn't quite get it, as reported to The Sun..."My friend put her hands on a sofa and a man took a mallet from his jacket and threatened to hit her if she didn't let go. I was pushed over and twisted my ankle. People were fighting and security couldn't cope."Another woman told how she managed to grab a sofa, only to be MUGGED for it by three girls. They pushed her over and took the item to the checkout...
After the store was closed, people started trying to break down the glass to get in, and some of the security staff then legged it. Shouldn't the guards be able to cope? Well, not according to this store guard who spoke to the Sun... Guard Gerard Visagie was punched and kicked. He said: "I felt my life was threatened. A friend's jaw was broken."
Six people were taken to A&E - three to Whipps Cross Hospital (lucky sods) and another three to the closer North Middlesex Hospital... where I was in A&E once for just over six hours, and it then took another 11hrs to be admitted, back in November 2001... If they didn't have patience to wait for a sofa, then they won't get on here either!
This is not a million miles from Southgate (where I used to live in North London), but the unusual bit is there are currently over TWO HUNDRED online news sources with news on the farce. The Sun (go right to the end of the page)
has done a good cartoon graphic about needing heeled shoes (to stand on someone's head!!!), a knife (to swish as you head to the checkout!!!), a mallet, and a fist, to secure your Ikea bargains....
From The Scotsman article
Dominic Abrams, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, said that in crowds the size of the one at IKEA, without some single rallying point, the behaviour becomes "uninhibited". "People co-ordinate their behaviour in relation to others in crowds," he said. "In large groups, people tend to lose their sense of individuality and become less inhibited. You usually see this at football matches and protests, but there is a single focus for their behaviour, supporting the team or whatever. "But when people are there for very individual reasons, they tend to act in a very uninhibited, chaotic way, and that can end up with this sort of incident."
A stampede occurred as 6,000 people tried to enter the store at the midnight opening, with fights breaking out inside, leading to six people being admitted to hospital. A stabbing, which was initially linked to the Ikea incident, is now believed to be part of an unconnected gang problem.
David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham and Parliamentary under secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs, slammed the store's marketing tactics for creating too much demand among the area's hard-up inhabitants and intends to question Ikea's chief executive about the company's planning. "If you went down to Tottenham and Seven Sisters, you will see countless posters advertising this and there was a leaflet drop too. It was clear to me that countless people would descend on the store," Lammy said.
Ikea is now reviewing its store opening policy. John Olie, Ikea's deputy country manager for the UK, said: "We are really, really sorry. I've been involved with all our other 12 store openings in the UK, when we have had similar offers, and we have only ever had about 2,000 people turning up."'
David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham and Parliamentary under secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs, slammed the store's marketing tactics for creating too much demand among the area's hard-up inhabitants and intends to question Ikea's chief executive about the company's planning. "If you went down to Tottenham and Seven Sisters, you will see countless posters advertising this and there was a leaflet drop too. It was clear to me that countless people would descend on the store," Lammy said.
Ikea is now reviewing its store opening policy. John Olie, Ikea's deputy country manager for the UK, said: "We are really, really sorry. I've been involved with all our other 12 store openings in the UK, when we have had similar offers, and we have only ever had about 2,000 people turning up."'
Other stories worth looking at were on CNN and The Guardian. I had a quiet day at home recovering, popped out for a few things, and got ready for Friday. OMG!
posted by Suzy Scott @ 21:34
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home