A top Marks & Spencer boss has said that “something must be done” to save Oxford Street after social-media fuelled carnage this week.
Operations director Sacha Berendji says crime rates on Oxford Street are surging as what was once London’s top shopping district falls into disrepair.
In a letter to the Telegraph, Mr Berendji said the road had once been “the jewel in London’s shopping crown” but now had “empty shops, littered streets and fewer visitors”.
And he said that the shocking scenes on Wednesday – which saw police arrest nine people and issue 34 dispersal orders in a TikTok orchestrated attempted riot – are “another reminder of how bad things are”.
After shops shut as yobs tried to barge their way in Mr Berendji said: “The street was practically locked down by police to prevent major unrest planned on social media.
“Londoners know that something must be done to save Oxford Street.”
Oxford Street already faces major challenges as one of the biggest victims of UK high street struggles which are due to the rise of online shopping and compounded by the Covid crisis.
Crowds gathered in Oxford Street on Wednesday after posts circulated on TikTok and Snapchat urging users to rob JD Sports.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan had warned youngsters not to get sucked into the mayhem.
Mr Khan told the PA news agency: “I am worried about this nonsense we have seen on TikTok encouraging people to go to Oxford Street.
“The police understand why some people may be tempted to go to that part of London because of the TikTok.
“I’d encourage anybody who’s seen it not to go to Oxford Street.
“Do not allow yourself to be sucked into an area that could be high crime area.
“It won’t be (a high crime area) because the police work incredibly hard with the local community with the retailers in that part of London, and with those citizens who want to have a good day out on Oxford Street tomorrow rather than being worried about that sort of nonsense.”
Police slapped a dispersal order on the area which was in force until Thursday evening, which gave police officers the power to exclude people from the area for 48 hours and arrest those who did not comply.
In response to the chaos, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said thugs who looted stores in Oxford Street must be “hunted down and locked up” and that the UK must not be allowed to plunge into “lawlessness”.
Sharing a video of the Oxford Street arrests on X, formerly known as Twitter, Ms Braverman wrote: “We cannot allow the kind of lawlessness seen in some American cities to come to the streets of the UK.
“The police have my full backing to do whatever is necessary to ensure public order. Those responsible must be hunted down and locked up.”
Meanwhile fears of violence have spread to Southend after troublemakers urged copycats to “get lit” on the beach.
