Terror Kid Read Online Free

raised taxes on fuel and goods in shops. Household taxes were raised too, but as homelessness increased, cuts were made to the money spent on charities, youth clubs, art centres, services for the disabled, libraries and schools, whilst at the same time the fees that university students had to pay were raised. So as unemployment rose, people took to the streets. Those who were educated, connected and organised began to plan marches and demonstrations. Those who were not, simply went out and vented their anger on the streets in any way they could. Sometimes that meant occupying banks and churches, sometimes it meant burning and looting.
    In the weeks and months following the riots in Britain, the government ordered the courts to open late into the night and at weekends. They requested that, where possible, judges give out maximum sentences to make examples of the offenders, and to administer judgement swiftly. Tired judges and lawyers struggled to keep up with the numbers of young people being taken into custody, and most newspaper reports failed to question why such riots would happen in the first place, simply portraying all the rioters as mindless thugs.
    Karima and her friends were treated leniently because of their age. They were sentenced to one month in youth custody. They were warned that any appearance in front of the courts in the future would attract much longer sentences. They were lucky. One fourteen-year-old was sentenced to four years for sending a text message to his friends telling them to take to the streets. His friends didn’t take to the streets, and nor did he, but the judge said: ‘It’s the thought that counts.’
    Rico was angry. He watched what was happening around the world, frustrated that he couldn’t do anything about it. He watched television programmes about how the rich lived and how the poor lived, and how people lived divided all over the planet. Everything he saw made him realise that people all over the world could have much better lives if they had more of a say in the way their lives were governed. He believed in the power of the people. His problem was, he just didn’t know many people. He didn’t know anybody like him: people who weren’t rioting but who wanted to do something. He had nowhere to go to find like-minded people. He had tried to start debating groups at school but there had been no interest. He had tried to organise a group of kids at school to go on a demonstration supporting his mother and her trade union when they were on strike, but no one turned up. He went on his own to demonstrations organised by university students who were protesting about the rise in their fees. The first student protest he went on was with his sister when she was a student, but he felt so strongly about issues concerning young people that even when Lola had left home he went on other demonstrations. On these demonstrations he would not chant or sing, he would just walk silently. He just wanted to be counted.

 

Chapter 6
More Work, More Pay
    The day after the riots, Rico went to work as he always did. There were still small pockets of unrest and there were noticeably fewer people around than usual, so business in the shop was slow. The newspapers, the television and the Internet were covering news of the troubles. Students from all over the West Midlands were going to march through the city centre protesting against increases in university fees. The police had told them not to, but the student union insisted that the march would go ahead. It had been planned months in advance, and they were not going to reschedule. Rico wanted to go on that march and, just like the student union, he’d be stopped by nothing. He had to show his solidarity. He knew the issues, and he wasn’t going to wait until he was a student before he started caring.
    With so few customers visiting the shop, Rico was allowed to leave work early. He walked the short distance to Digbeth,