Inside the curfew zone, the British Army began a house-to-house search for weapons and demolished barricades and made arrests. At least 1,000 houses were searched. Any journalists who remained inside the curfew zone were arrested by the British Army. It is claimed that because the media was unable to watch their activities, the soldiers behaved "with reckless abandon". British Army log sheets reveal that the troops were ordered to "be aggressive". Hundreds of houses were forcibly searched and there were scores of complaints of soldiers hitting, threatening, insulting and humiliating residents. Pubs and businesses were also searched and it is claimed that several of them were looted by the soldiers. According to Mallie and Bishop's account: "The soldiers behaved with a new harshness... axeing down doors, ripping up floorboards, disembowelling chairs, sofas, beds, and smashing the garish plaster statues of the Madonna... which adorned the tiny front parlours".