London riots: Former Rotorua woman's account

Former Daily Post reporter Alanah Eriksen gives her first-hand account of panic setting in while driving home late from work in London amid a night of rioting. 
WHILE in the office I was watching the story unfold on television, reading the wires and fending off calls from worried residents.
I finished work at 3am, but the full extent of the damage was unclear so I thought I would be okay to drive home the usual way.
As I drove up Brixton Rd about 3.30am, police vans whizzed past me.
When I approached the high street, more than 15 helmet-wearing officers with riot shields and batons emerged from behind police tape.
The road and another one beside it were blocked by police vans and armed officers signalling for motorists to turn around.
They appeared to have the situation under control at that stage.
But I could still make out some of the mayhem behind them.
It looked as though bits of broken doors and glass were strewn across the road and lots of drunk people were walking around.
It was very intimidating driving around there in the early hours after seeing the violent scenes taking place in Tottenham earlier.
It usually takes about three minutes to get home from there, but I drove around for another hour, struggling to find a new way as several other roads were also blocked.
I was worried about leaving my car parked on the street when I got home in case the riots spread further down the road, but I had no choice.
As I lay in bed, every noise made me jump and I'd look out the window to make sure the trouble hadn't reached our house.
When I woke up, the main street was still closed and the tube station was shut.
Luckily I happened to be off work as it would have been a nightmare to get to. My flatmates needed to stock up on food but we obviously couldn't go into Brixton so we headed to a supermarket further away in Clapham. Everyone there was talking about the riots. Little did we know that later that day, metres from where we were standing, hundreds of masked youths would also start pilfering shops as the violence spread.
The mob were disgusting, opportunistic rioters, using the protests in Tottenham as an excuse to rob innocent shopowners.
The violence that erupted made me ashamed to live in Brixton. I don't want to be associated with this sick and twisted group of individuals who walked away with a new pair of sneakers or a laptop to sell.
I bet none of them actually know Mark Duggan or really understand what the initial protest was about.