In the wake of destructive rioting that spanned four days and spread across London like wildfire, police, locals and onlookers struggle to comprehend the senseless nature of the events.

London’s Metropolitan police have described the riots, which began in Hackney then spread to Croydon, Clapham, Camden, Lewisham, Peckham, Newham, East Ham, Enfield, Woolwich, Ealing and Colliers, as “the worst” in its recent history. As gangs of hooded youth across London mobbed the city, leaving only a path of destruction and burning remains in their wake, residents in the leafy residential area of Ealing, in West London, could never have expected their own tranquil neck of the woods would be the next target, Andreiko Kerdemelidis tells.

After being awoken by a strange smell at around 12:30 am Monday night (8 August), Kerdemelidis, who has been living in London for four years, looked out his bedroom window to discover plumes of smoke, fire flickering against trees, and cars just fifty metres from his house being set alight by gangs of rioters. “Earlier that morning I’d jokingly said we were safe against the riots here because they’d never come all the way to Ealing,” Kerdemelidis said. However, the sight before him and updates on Twitter quickly confirmed that the riots had spread to yet another unsuspecting area.

“They were right next to our house,” Kerdemelidis said, adding, “I went outside to have a look and there were kids torching cars and stealing from cars; there were lots of nasty looking people on bikes mobbing in front of people’s houses”.

“As I walked around the block, a hundred people just mobbed around the alley,” Kerdemelidis said. “There were scouts on bikes, and then when I went the other way there was another, even bigger mob; it was looking pretty dangerous,” he added. Groups of hooded young people, ranging from thirteen to around nineteen-years-old, had begun gathering at street corners in Ealing from around 5 pm Monday, Kerdemelidis recalled.

“At the time I thought it was a bit strange to see people I didn’t know because it’s not an area where kids hang around on street corners, but it didn’t really register until after the event,” he said. Communicating through mobile phones using BBM (BlackBerry Messaging) the rioters descended on Ealing in packs, smashing shops, including a Tesco supermarket on the main street Ealing Broadway, and torching cars. “They torched a building and smashed up a whole row of cars on Windsor Road,” Kerdemelidis said.

“There was one burnt-out car and then a whole lot of other expensive cars with all the windows smashed in,” he added. While police arrived at the scene quickly and stationed CCTV vans in the area, their presence was only seen at Ealing Broadway, and nowhere in the suburbs, Kerdemelidis said. “It didn’t feel safe around midnight. These kids bashed up an old guy really badly when he was just trying to put out a fire in a bin; it was just really thuggish.” The mobs hung around until they heard police sirens and then ran further into the suburbs, on foot and on bikes, where they hid in numbers, Kerdemelidis said.

With power in numbers and an instant communication network, the senseless vandalism that has overthrown Britain’s capital, and spread to other areas of the country, including Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol and Liverpool, is unable to be stopped by police, Kerdemelidis said. “It might be over now but all they need to do is BBM if they want it to not be over; police can’t stop people standing on street corners,” he said. The distinguishing feature of these rioters – that has left both locals and international spectators stunned – is their total disregard for innocent bystanders. “In Greek riots it’s not unsafe for normal people,” Kerdemelidis pointed out.

“But this is just young punks and thugs smashing up property and anyone who gets in their way.” While the area of Ealing was cleaned up quickly in the following days Kerdemelidis said the suburb suffered significant destruction. “It’s amazing what they did in just a few hours.”