Smokingboot

If you had come to my front door, taken off your hoods and masks and shown your faces in the light of my porch, if you had knocked, and stood back so we could see you and your companions, all of you, so we could see you weren't a threat; and if you had said, 'We aren't here to hurt you or steal or set fire to the place, but my mate's broken his leg and he needs an ambulance.' We'd have phoned the ambulance for you. I might have come out, maybe checked that leg, maybe made you tea, or just made sure you weren't going into shock. We wouldn't demand loot off you to give you help, we wouldn't go through your rucksack to steal your stuff. Civilised people don't do that. The ambulance would arrive, the ambulance our taxes pay for would take you to treatment our taxes pay for. If your gang won the day the ambulance would never come because it doesn't exist if it isn't paid for, and we can't pay for it without tax that comes from business - the businesses you've been destroying. It's not a perfect system, we know there is corruption and greed that must be faced. But despite all that, the ambulance would come...if it could get through the streets your mates are tearing up.

But you didn't show your faces. You treated our property as though it was yours, trying to be action heroes, and because Die Hard isn't real life, one of you got badly hurt. You scrabbled at our back door like thieves. Perhaps you are thieves, I don't know. The good news is that the ambulance came and hopefully you'll be OK. The bad news for you is the police came with them. Gentlemen, you're nicked.

This is England.

Edited to add: We learn this morning that they were around 14/15 years old.