Rotherham Riots: Shocking scenes in aftermath of violence in Wath
Wath residents and people from further afield have come together as an act of defiance and to help clear up the mess.
Transcript
00:00The sun may be shining today but yesterday this place here in Wath-upon-Dern was the place where the riots came to Rotherham.
00:12You can hear people scraping up the debris from the road as the clean up begins at Holiday Inn Express here in Wath-upon-Dern.
00:25We've just helped clean up. It's an absolute disgrace for what's happened to this area but we can't leave it like this.
00:35We can't let the right wing win. They're never going to beat us. We're always going to be stronger and better than they are.
00:43And how did that make you feel yesterday?
00:46It's horrific. It's absolutely horrific to see people who look like they will kill other people.
00:54It's a serious crime. There can't be any justification for it at all. I don't know what your motive is. That isn't protesting, that's rioting.
01:04There's just no excuse for it whatsoever.
01:07How do you feel like the community can recover now?
01:11I think it's going to take a lot of time. I can't see that there's going to be any way in which this hotel is ever going to be able to be used either as a normal hotel or a hostel or a refugee hut. I think it's too far gone from that now.
01:24What would be your message to people who were part of the riot or thinking of being part of a riot?
01:30I'd be absolutely ashamed of myself. You talk about standing up for our country. Well, I don't want to be part of our country.
01:37I'd take a 10,000 refugees any day over somebody who thinks it's acceptable to throw missiles at police officers, to set buildings on fire, to trash local communities.
01:47You're the people that are not welcome here. We don't want you.
01:50Absolutely agree.
01:52Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has condemned this violent act of thuggery.
01:57South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has said that this was a brutal act of thuggery against some of society's most vulnerable people.
02:09Sophie Malan-Malin reporting from South Yorkshire.