Night of horror relived

LONDON: It’s drizzling,but the road outside Clapham Junction is abuzz with activity. As you walk down the street, you see curious onlookers outside shops that bear a sticker, ‘We are open.’ You can feel the unnerving silence as you move on. All you can hear are the occasional murmurs of onlookers.
Across the Debenhams store, which was smashed by thugs on Monday night, some people are getting the damages of a store surveyed.It was a shop selling liquor, tobacco, snacks, magazines, beverages and grocery. All that remains now is a pile of damaged bottles and a rack of untouched magazines.The rest has been looted by a mob of 10 to 15 goons.
Twenty-two-year-old British Indian Manish Patel (name changed),who works in the shop owned by a Sri Lankan national, recalls the night of horror. “It was around 8.30 pm when I heard a lot of noise. Before I could gather myself, I saw a mob attacking the Debenhams store. They were all young people in their teens, with their faces covered. They were smashing the glass and shouting.” Patel thought the cops would come and things would be sorted out but there was no sign of any help coming. “Before I could react, some thugs entered my shop. I could not even move. In a matter of minutes, they looted the booze, picked up almost all the cigarettes, took some soft drink cans and damaged the racks.
They also picked some cash and ran out.While eight to 10 people were looting at will, others from the gang broke the glasses of the shop,” he recalled.