Health and Safety Rules Keep London Residents From Cleaning Up Damage After Riots

A group of residents from London and beyond have organized on Twitter to clean up their city in response to savage riots that left the Tottenham area of the city in flames and destroyed. However, when the group of 20 arrived with dustpans and brushes on hand to help clean up the tattered small businesses, they were turned away by authorities because of health and safety issues reports the Telegraph:

"The clean-up operation had been expected to begin at 1pm after police dealt with the crime scene. But officers told the volunteers that the decision had been made for the clean-up to be done by the council.

Asked why, an officer said: 'Health and safety mainly. There's lots of broken glass around.'"

Residents disgusted by the destruction have organized across the city via Twitter using hashtags like #londoncleanup and #riotcleanup to organize themselves.

The Mirror reported that the group says they now plan to help out in the side streets that have not been cordoned off by police.

"James Walker, who is helping coordinate the clean-up, told the crowd: 'Even if we can't to do the glory jobs we can still contribute to our community.'

A spokeswoman for Camden Borough Council said the clean-up operation was already well under way there."

Amateur video on Youtube of the group ready to clean shows the crowds in strong support of police as they drive by:

Over the last few days Londoners have established pages on Facebook such as "Post riot clean-up: let's help London," which has already attracted over 16,000 supporters, and 59,000 have liked "Not rioting in London, because I'm not a degenerate scumbag."