Handsworth riots

Handsworth has suffered several riots due to civil and racial unrest, and community discontentment.

• 1981
  Characterised as "copycat riots" after the Brixton riots in London and around the time of the Toxteth riots in Liverpool and Moss Side riots in Manchester. The most common reasons for the riots reported by participants were unemployment, boredom and the imitation of events elsewhere
• 1985
  Reportedly sparked by the arrest of a man in Lozells and a police raid on a pub in the same area; the first of a series of similar riots across the country during the autumn
• 1991
  Sparked by a power cut which was followed by a looting spree of shops and houses
• 2005
  Allegedly caused by a gang rape of a teenage black girl by a group of South Asian men, which was not substantiated