'I'm ashamed to be from Hackney'

A BRAVE woman from Hackney spoke out against 'yobs' (uncouth or thuggish working-class people) responsible for bringing devastation to her beloved area, in a passionate outburst Monday night.

The woman, thought to be Pauline Pearce, cursed the "copycat" criminals who had brought destruction to the east London borough, in a four-minute speech posted on YouTube.

Addressing the growing crowd in the middle of the night, she said: "Burning people's property and shops that they work so hard for ... they're working hard to make their business work and you lot want to go and burn it up? For what? Just to say you're warring and you're a bad man?"

In response to claims that the violence, which saw several buildings and shops damaged, was in protest of the shooting of a man by police in Tottenham, north London, last week, she responded: "This isn't about a man who got shot in Tottenham. This is about having fun on the road and busting up the place."

Impassioned speech

In her impassioned speech, she urged the rioters to stop their looting and damaging of innocent people's property.

"Do it for a cause. If you're fighting for a cause then fight for a (expletive) cause. You lot (expletive) me the (expletive) off. I'm ashamed to be a Hackney person."

Thousands of people have already posted comments under the YouTube video, which could also be located at www.voice-online.co.uk, commending her bravery.

One user, alicethecamel1, wrote:

"I have so much respect for this lady. There's no fighting of injustice in London, this is mindless, worthless anarchy. At least someone is brave enough to speak out against the action of the youths. Good on her."

Fb_Sallylevitt wrote: "Make this woman prime minister."

The woman, who is believed to be a mother of four, ventured out into the melee in Hackney Monday night, as violence swept through the capital and surrounding areas.

The disturbance in Hackney, which follows similar upheavals across the country, was sparked after a peaceful march in Tottenham, north London, protesting the death of a 29-year-old man gunned down by police last week,turned nasty.

Police cars and local shops were burned down after a peaceful protest calling for answers into the killing of Mark Duggan, which were not forthcoming.