1985 Handsworth riots 1500 police officers drafted into the area, about 45 shops looted and burnt, and a trail of damage running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. As well as racial tension, unemployment was seen as a major factor in the riots; by the time of the riots, fewer than 5% of the black population to have left school that summer had found employment. The riots were the first of a series of similar riots across the country during the autumn of 1985, notably the Broadwater Farm riot in London which also resulted in a fatality (the murder of policeman Keith Blakelock).
Broadwater Farm riot Letwin claimed it would not ameliorate the situation but would do little more than "subsidise Rastafarian arts and crafts workshops" stating that black "entrepreneurs will set up in the disco and drug trade". When the 1985 paper was released under the 30 years rule into the public record through the National Archives on 30 December 2015, a chastened Letwin apologised on the same day for "the offence caused". The memo argued that the riots were caused by bad behaviour not social conditions: Broadwater Farm riot The Broadwater Farm riot occurred around the Broadwater Farm estates area of Tottenham, North London,