Jewellers hit hard by third day of rioting

Jewellery and watch businesses became targets for looters and vandals as gangs took to streets in what the Metropolitan Police called “the worst [violence] in current memory.”

Among the businesses known to have been attacked in London include two jewellers in Hackney, from where much of the current wave of unrest began; one in Lewisham’s Lee South Road; one on Rye Lane in Peckham; one on Beckenham High Street; and another in Enfield, which eyewitnesses described as being “cleaned out” by “a plague of locusts.”

The disorder also spread outside of the capital, however, with incidents reported in Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham. Despite growing fears for the safety of the latter’s historic Jewellery Quarter, a representative of the area confirmed this morning that “everything is normal.”

Tottenham jeweller Steve Moore, who lost his shop in Friday’s violence, met with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg yesterday to assess the damage done to Tottenham High Road. “I’m devastated,” Mr Moore said. “It’s completely gone. My shop just doesn’t exist anymore.”

This afternoon, Jewellery Focus has heard that traders in Hatton Garden have been warned of potential rioting in the vicinity.

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