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).
Food riots in the Middle East the 1977 Egyptian Bread Riots. Egypt experienced food riots in 1977 and 1984. On Sunday, October 1, 1984 Egyptians in the Kfar el-Dewar industrial outside of Alexandria rioted and fought with police for eight hours. The rioters, who were said to number in the hundreds, "pelted police with stones, overturned carts in the town market, and smashed shop windows," according to one news report. The police reported that one person was killed, 13 people were injured, and 40 people (including police) were arrested. Food riots hit Jordan in 1989 and 1996. At the beginning of 1989, Jordan defaulted on debt