The Hackney Pirates youth project have spoken out about the riots

After being evacuated during the riots last week, children at a Hackney youth centre have given  their views on the disturbances in a series of videos which have been uploaded onto YouTube.

Last Tuesday, children and teachers of the local youth project Hackney Pirates, an  education project for children from eight to 14, were evacuated from the Print House in Ashwin Street in Dalston, where they were doing a workshop, which led to the project leaders beginning a discussion with the children on what they thought had caused the riots. In the videos, the children call for better role models, more support from adults – and no holiday for David Cameron.

None of the children have been named. One of the girls said: “I think the main reason the rioting have been happening around the UK is because the youth just want to be heard out, to be honest, and the adults have not been doing much to talk about or do anything about that.”

Another girl said: “I think the reason that the riots are happening is not because they are poor it is because they don’t have proper role models, ” while a third girl said: “They could just have written a letter to the house of commons or someone famous like the prime minister.”

One of the boys said: “The government is decreasing taxes and the EMA and if David Cameron didn’t go on holiday this would never have happened. Everybody needs to have a fair share of the money and that there are support for the people who are poor and don’t have a home and the community centres are back on so the youth don’t get into trouble.”

A spokesperson for Hackney Pirates explained that they thought it was important to give the children “the space and freedom to express their thought and opinions.”

Hackney Pirates is an aimed at supplementing the local schools and focused on giving the children one to one attention, developing creativity and tackling illiteracy.

For more videos go to Hackney Pirates Youtube channel