UK starts evicting looters from free or subsidised homes

Within days of unprecedented street violence, the British government today began a punitive campaign against the looters to kick them and their families out of their government subsidised homes.

Coming up with a new way of punishing the vandals who rampaged through many of the country's cities and towns, the government has laid out a controversial plan to make much broader use of existing powers to evict not only the rioters, but also their families from their free or rent-subsidised accommodations, that provide millions with cradle-to-grave homes.

The new measure would probably be the most punitive of the sanctions the British government is considering in response to the worst civil disorder in a generation. More than 10 million Britons, about one in six, live in public housing, the Daily Mail reported.

The paper said in the first case of its kind, Daniel Sartain-Clarke, 18, and his mother have been served with an eviction notice as council bosses sought to turf them out of their 225,000 Pound Sterling taxpayer-subsidised flat.

The youth is charged with violent disorder and attempting to steal electronic goods from a store in Clapham Junction, South London, on Monday night.

The punitive actions on the looters followed Prime Minister David Cameron appearance on television yesterday night and his declaration that the "fightback" was against the rioters.

Labelling the rioting as "criminality, pure and simple," with no excuse in social deprivation, Cameron said, "For too long we have taken a soft attitude towards people that loot and pillage their own community."

"If you do that, you should lose your right to the sort of housing that you have had at subsidised rates", the Prime Minister told BBC.

He said that evictions "might help break up some of the criminal networks on some housing estates, if some of these people are thrown out of their houses."

His Communities Minister, Eric Pickles, was blunter still saying it was not the time to "pussyfoot around" with the lawbreakers and declared that the government was in favour of a broader measure that would allow for a similar punishment, wherever the offences were committed.

Sensing widespread backing for a harsher crackdown on the rioters, Cameron has put his full support behind the speedy justice that has hastened hundreds of suspects through round-the-clock courts, some of them drawing stiff prison sentences for ever minor cases of looting.

While conservative-led councils in London, Nottingham and Salford, an outline district of Manchester, have already begun eviction procedures, the Opposition Labour held areas are still dragging their feet.

The government has said it will maintain emergency policing levels in London and other areas through the weekend, and beyond if necessary.

Some 16,000 police officers have been in the metropolis including reinforcements drawn from police forces across the country. Similar precautions remained in force in cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.