What caused the London riots? 5 theories

Mob violence and rampant looting in Britain have led to more than 1,000 arrests this week, as a rattled nation searches for answers

A man looks into a looted flower shop in west London.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Toby Melville)

While 16,000 police officers managed to keep London (mostly) calm Tuesday night, the riots and looting that have swept through England's capital since Saturday are now moving north to cities like Manchester. Britons are grappling with how a peaceful protest over the police killing of 29-year-old Mark Duggan, an Afro-Carribean resident of the London suburb Tottenham, turned into a nationwide rampage of firebombing and looting youths. What really sparked Britain's worst rioting in at least a generation? Here, five theories:

1. Social and economic inequality

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