I'd wager the majority of Hubski is American and so the London Riots may have been as well reported as it was over here. In England a shooting is a huge deal, our police do not normally carry guns and there have been only a number of occasions where a person was shot by police, the one in my memory is De Menezes but I'm sure there are a few more. That said, these are a handful of news cases rather than an epidemic.
Mark Duggan however, was a bigger story. London's police and particular boroughs do not get on particularly well, there's a LOT of racial issues at play as well as a poverty issue. Mark Duggan is shot, on the premise he had a weapon and was a danger to officers and others Police handle it particularly poorly, including waiting an entire day and a half to inform Mark's family. People of London start to protest peacefully until a sixteen year old girl throws a Rock/Leaflet/Champagne Bottle (No, seriously the different reports will make your head spin) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&... & http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/dec/07/tottenh...)
(Peaceful protests also have a bit of a shit quality to them in the UK, England had the largest anti-war rally in history (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15,_2003_anti-war_pro...) and it was completely unsuccessful. )
Regardless of how it started, London riots went into full swing. Police presence from all areas of the UK was called in with officers working extremely long shifts. Looting and general destruction went through sections of London, because if the police aren't there to protect them and they feel there's a poverty divide? Well, half of the people were generally angry and the rest realised there was a lot of free things to take (
).
After a few days, estimated losses of £100M in London and insurance agencies paid out £200M. Rich people complained that the police weren't using enough force to defend them, poorer people complained the riots were going to happen eventually anyway to defuse some of the tension between police and the public. Sociology students delighted with something new to use in essays.
Now that it's clear why the case is such a big deal in the UK, back to Mark Duggan. As I said, protests in the UK usually lead to nothing. Objectively, here is what is agreed to have happened.
Mark is in a taxi. Police stop the cab, Mark runs. Mark is shot twice and falls down. A police officer is also hit in the radio by a bullet identified to be police issue. A gun is found 10-14ft from the scene, on the other side of a fence, wrapped in a sock. No gunshot residue found on Mark. Mark's fingerprints not found on the gun or the sock.
"If you are sure that he did not have a gun in his hand, then tick the box 'unlawful killing'", Judge Cutler instructed.
Police are found to have acted lawfully.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/09/mark-du...
People aren't exactly happy.