The disorder we’ve seen on two evenings on the streets of Clapham this week is utterly appalling and unacceptable.

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Setting off fireworks, assaulting emergency service workers, and looting shops and restaurants, the young people involved have shown blatant disregard not just for the law, but for their fellow Londoners.

Looking back on the last few days, my first thoughts are with the victims of these attacks: the families with terrified children barricaded inside shops and restaurants, and the retail and hospitality workers left in fear for simply trying to do their jobs.

The kind of mindless criminality we’ve witnessed in Birmingham and Clapham is deeply corrosive for communities. It eats away at the foundations of the unwritten but precious social contract, undermining the mutual respect we have for one another and for the rules which keep us all safe.

I know Londoners will join me in condemning those responsible in the strongest possible terms, and I can assure you that they will face the full force of the law.

My first priority as Mayor is to keep Londoners safe, and I’ve done everything in my power to be........

© LBC