Two days in a row now I have seen a massive disturbance on the corner of Saulton Road and Rattray Road in Brixton. Is this the new hot spot for crazy happenings?
The first incident was when I was walking down to the high street and found a young guy pushed over a car bonnet by a police officer with his arm pulled high behind his back. A group of young girls were shouting and pushing at the police and a whole load of chaos was breaking out! As I continued down Saulton Road 4 police cars (a little excessive I thought as these were pretty much kiddies – although knives, guns etc… I guess you never know!!) went shooting past to help out. What I did find amusing was this guy was obviously in pain with his arm held in a restraint position, however the girls continued pushing the police which was adding pressure to the arm lock!
Last night at around 0030 there were 3 police cars and about 8 guys all shouting at the police (“You got beef wit’ me bruv?! and such like). This was quickly resolved however and the disturbance lasted no longer than 10-15 mins.
There has definitely been a stronger police presence in Brixton over the past few months and a lot of the drug dealers have been moved on. I just hope the area isn’t turned into too much of a straight-laced environment as half the attraction to Brixton is it’s rough and ready edge. Obviously this is not to say that I want to live in a dangerous area and it is important that people are safe on the streets. Although I still have my fingers crossed it doesn’t eliminate what makes Brixton Brixton.