2011 England riots riots as a role model to be applied to their political activities in Germany as well. The riots were described by one journalist as "the worst disturbances of their kind since the 1995 Brixton riots". Commentators likened the riots to the Broadwater Farm riot of 1985, during which a police officer, Keith Blakelock, was murdered. The disturbances were preceded by calls for better oversight of the Metropolitan Police, repeating observations which go back to the death of Stephen Lawrence and the New Cross Fire. In April 2011 there was a large nonviolent march to Scotland Yard as a result of
Broadwater Farm Castle, approximately 547 yards (500 m) from the centre of Tottenham, and 1.2 miles (2 km) from Wood Green. Until the opening of the nearby Bruce Grove railway station on 22 July 1872 the area was still rural, although close in proximity to London and the growing suburb of Tottenham. Aside from a small group of buildings clustered around neighbouring Bruce Castle, the only buildings in the area were the farmhouse and outbuildings of Broadwater Farm, then still a working farm. Following construction of the railways to Tottenham and Wood Green, suburban residential development in the surrounding area took place