London Riots: They did it because they could.

It seems that the "urban underclass" were hardly the only participants in the London Riots: "Chaos reigns" as courts struggle to process UK rioters

Courts around Britain were struggling on Thursday to cope with a huge influx of people arrested during this week's riots, including a millionaire's daughter, a charity worker and a woman who handed herself in after suffering pangs of guilt. . .

Courts in the capital and elsewhere have been sitting all night to deal with an unprecedented number of cases.

London police said that as of mid-day Thursday they had arrested 922 people in connection with violence, disorder and looting. Of those, 401 people have so far been charged.

One defendant, graduate Natasha Reid, 24, handed herself in because she was "unable to sleep" after looting a television from an electrical store. She was warned that despite her remorse, she could still face jail.

A millionaire's daughter, Laura Johnson, 19, was remanded in custody when she appeared in court in Bexley near London after being arrested behind the wheel of a car filled with stolen electrical goods and alcohol worth some 5,000 pounds ($7,500). . .

Charity worker Barry Naine, 42, was also refused bail when he appeared after being caught allegedly breaking into a clothing shop in Peckham in the south of the capital. . .

One of the first cases up was that of a second-year university law student accused of being part of a gang which ransacked cafes and restaurants in the upmarket area of St John's Wood in the north of the capital.

Marouane Rouhi, 21, was one of 16 people charged with violent disorder after the incident shortly after midnight on Wednesday. Magistrates heard that that his group "ransacked properties and terrorised customers" in the area.

Between 30 and 50 people were involved in the rioting before customers eventually chased the group off. Rouhi was remanded in custody.

Another example: Olympics girl is London 'riot yob'

An Olympics ambassador alleged to have hurled bricks at a police car was handed into cops by her mum.

Chelsea Ives, 18, also led an attack on a mobile phone shop during Sunday's riots, Westminster Magistrates' Court has heard.

She was allegedly filmed by the BBC throwing bricks at a cop car during the disturbances in Enfield, North London.

Her mum Adrienne, 47, spotted her on the news and immediately called the police, the court was told.

Ives, described as a "talented sportswoman" by her lawyer, is said to have boasted she had "the best day ever", magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Becky Owen said today that Ives had led an attack on a Vodafone store.

She said: "She was first to pick up masonry and hurl it at the window."

She also said Ives was involved in another mob attack on Phones4U.

Some interesting observations here: Gangland culture takes over where UK society leaves off.

After the march, widespread looting broke out, and youths suddenly realised that the police were too thinly stretched to control them. With the prime minister and the mayor of London on holiday, and the Metropolitan Police leaderless following a wave of resignations caused by the newspaper phone-hacking scandal, authority seemed to melt away. Young people lost their fear of the police.

So, in absence of any internal moral or external physical restraint, the rioters did it because they could. Does anyone here think the United States is immune from the same calculations in the minds of such people?

The only heroes of the rioting have been ethnic minorities who, while the middle classes have been glued to their televisions, stood up for their communities: the Turkish shopkeepers who defended their businesses in Enfield, the Sikhs who stood guard over their temple in Southall and, most of all, Tarik Jahan, a Birmingham man whose son was killed by a hit-and-run driver amid the looting on Tuesday night, and whose dignity and forbearance amid overwhelming grief touched the nation.

These people have put to shame the British elite, who have grown passive and rely unduly on the police. Questions are already being asked why, in a supposedly democratic society, the police are always being interviewed on television, not local politicians. . .

This will have to be done by each community. Over the past 30 years the state has failed in this task, and the time has passed when all problems can be outsourced to the state. Now it is up to each community to stand up and help themselves.

Yes.

Oh, by the way my readers, "Got militia?"