‘Simply wanting to belong to something’: why did children take part in the English riots?

Court proceedings have suggested that very few of the young people involved shared openly racist views. Judges were told youths saw the unrest as a social event

• What the data tells us about the 2024 UK rioters

The footage played in court lasted only seconds. A 16-year-old boy, dressed all in black with his face covered, hurled a rock towards riot police from the steps of Bolton's cenotaph. Around him people chanted: Allah! Allah! Who the fuck is Allah?"

Little over two weeks later the teenager stood, bewildered, in the glass dock of Manchester youth court, with a conviction for violent disorder.