London boy here. I can completely empathize. My views on Rioting have been completely tainted by the looting and destruction that went on in 2011 over the shooting of Mike Duggan (Which I personally believe was 'justified' - the thug had a gun on him and was suspected to be on his way to commit a crime, but that's getting off point).

I saw the destruction caused, had 'friends' on social media (no longer, obviously) who were bragging about what they had looted. There was absolutely no aim or order to these riots, a lot of independent shops were trashed and looted, people lost livelihoods and for what.

I am acutely aware of my inherent distaste for rioting, I understand that was just one riot and they are not all the same, but it has given me a subconsciously dismissive attitude to riots as a criminal element abusing unrest to get away with robbery and assault.