Britain orders inquiry into rioting in Brixton

April 14, 1981

The British government ordered a public inquiry by a senior judge into race riots that erupted in London's Brixton district over the weekend. Home Secretary William Whitelaw, saying that police "will maintain the law on the streets of London," told Parliament that property losses from burning and looting were huge. He said the inquiry into the rioting in Brixton, where tens of thousands of blacks of West Indian o rigin live, would be headed by Lord Scarman a judge.