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Waterstone’s branches in Enfield and Walthamstow have been closed to trading today after a wave of looting swept London over the weekend.
A spokeswoman said police had cordoned off the area to shoppers after the unrest, which began in Tottenham on Saturday following a peaceful protest outside a police station over the fatal shooting by police of local resident Mark Duggan on Thursday. Trouble spread through Wood Green, Enfield, Walthamstow, Oxford Circus and Brixton on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for WH Smith said its Brixton branch was closed this morning but all other stores were trading as normal today. However, it closed branches in Wood Green and Enfield yesterday as the violence began to erupt.
Independent booksellers in the affected areas have avoided being damaged by the rioting. However, Gay’s the Word on Marchmont Street, London, had its main front window smashed and pelted with eggs at around 12.30am this morning.
Writing on his blog, Simon Key, co-owner of The Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, said: “(The people responsible) have used a controversial and tragic incident and turned it into an excuse to steal things and smash things and ruin things. They have no interest in anything other than what they can gain from this situation and I am furious.”