Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2011. This short news item was written on 11 August 2011, during the riots that broke out in London that month.
It’s curious to see which products have seen their sales rise in online shops during the London riots. According to RT and comparative data from Amazon, sales of aluminium baseball bats have risen by 2,000% in recent days, while sales of batons similar to those used by the police have increased by 5,000%, climbing from 5,622nd place to 110th among the site’s best-selling products.
The total number of units sold isn’t shown, but judging by the jump in orders, the situation is worrying. This one statistic gives us a rough idea that there is no intention of giving up the vandalism. Quite the opposite: it looks as though people are preparing to carry on the fight, only better equipped, since nothing suggests there has been a surge of interest in baseball in London.
Featured image: GeorgeRexTA [at gmail [dot] com], CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
