“For a moment, the whole city was falling victim to violence”
A reporter has shared with readers how a need for butter to complete a cookie recipe led to her witnessing rioting across Liverpool.
Hannah Esnouf, a Jersey Evening Post reporter, told readers the first she realised something was up was when she got to her local shop to find it closed.
Writing in the Post, Hannah said: “Asking a shopkeeper why he was closed he told me, “I’d stay up there love [out of town], it’s getting violent” and that’s when I started running.
“When I read that over 30 more protests were planned for the weekend, I was fully aware that that number would include Liverpool.
“Yet, what it didn’t prepare me for was the feeling of rumbling tension and utter panic I would feel. This isn’t just on the TV anymore, I was in it. I didn’t know where these groups of rioters were going to go next but the shops shutting just a road away from my flat were a sign that, for a moment, the whole city was falling victim to violence.”
Hannah, a Jersey resident who had been studying at Liverpool John Moores University, added: “Liverpool is as multi-cultural as any other UK city and it is shameful that any sense of trust can so quickly be destroyed. What makes this more terrifying is that much of the disruption is caused by children, which is another grave issue itself.
“What the riots of this past weekend has made me also feel is a deep sense of homesickness. Jersey is incredibly privileged to have not been affected by this violence. As an Island of multiple faiths and communities it represents what seems to be an ideal of cohabitation and respect that the mainland does not have. On multiple occasions on Saturday, I wished I was there instead.”
You can read Hannah’s full story here.
