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 government began to put pressure on Haringey London Borough Council to improve the area. Although the demographics of Broadwater Farm at the time were roughly 50% black and 50% white, the Tenants' Association was all white. It was regarded with increasing distrust by black residents and those whites who were not connected with the Association. In 1981, residents set up the rival "Youth Association". It was praised by many members of the local black community for challenging the Special Patrol Group's perceived harassment of local youths and of black residents of the estate. In 1983, the council gave the Tenants'