#London riots: Residents use twitter to rubbish false rumours

Tensions in London have been running high since rioting began on Saturday after peaceful protests over the death of Tottenham man Mark Duggan turned sour. Over the last few days, violence has spread through the city and the UK as the protests have turned into opportunistic vandalism, looting and arson. Concerned Londoners have been trying to keep each other up-to-date using social messaging platform Twitter, warning of current or impending trouble. But in their eagerness to understand what might be round the corner, both figuratively and literally, misinformation has spread as easily and swiftly as the truth. There has been no clearer example of how rumours spread than last night’s warnings of race riots in south east London.[caption id="attachment_58310" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="A boarded up window of a discount store in Peckham carries notes of peace on August 10, 2011 in London, England. Hundreds of positive messages have appeared on the board in the last 24 hours calling for peace and tolerance. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images"][/caption]We take a look at how the rumour developed and what you can do to tell fact from fiction.