'We have been told to stay indoors'

"They're burning buildings just for the fun of it, ruining people's livelihoods. It's shocking behaviour."That was the verdict of a Mullingar native living at the epicentre of some of the worst riots witnessed in London for decades.As Britain teetered on the brink of anarchy on Tuesday, Orla Archbold, a native of Ardilaun Green, Mullingar, could not leave her Ealing home "out of fear" on Monday night, as rioters and looters tore up areas of west, south and north London.Orla, who works as a credit analyst with a City of London law firm, lives in the west London borough with her fiancé Paul Murphy, a native of Castlepollard.The violence kicked off in the north London area of Tottenham on Saturday night, but escalated on Monday evening, spreading to other parts of London, as well as the cities of Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol."It all kicked off around 8pm," Orla told the Westmeath Examiner late on Monday. "We had several stores and pubs damaged, cars burned out, and now they're kicking in the doors of residential areas."We have been told to stay indoors. It's such a scary experience. I didn't think it would reach us but it literally happened right out of the blue."Orla and Paul live in one of the main roads leading to Ealing Broadway, Ealing's main shopping area, which was a veritable warzone on Monday night."As far as we know it's teenagers out vandalising for kicks now," Orla said. "Nothing more has been mentioned about the guy who was shot to kickstart it all, it's now just about hooligans out terrorising people."With Ealing Tube Station at the centre of the violence, Orla said she wasn't sure how she'd get to and from work on Tuesday; Paul, meanwhile, works as a carpenter in Brixton, one of the main areas hit by rioting."The riots tend to get worse in the evenings," she said.On Tuesday morning, Orla contacted us again with a further update.With the safety of residential areas threatened, the London Metropolitan Police deployed armoured vehicles to the streets of Ealing overnight, and police helicopters flew overhead. Fires burned in cars and buildings."I was kept up till 5am. It got as far as 600 metres from our house."Just looking at the devastation now, it's scary to think it was literally happening outside," she said. Aaron Conlon, a native of Ballinabrackey on the far side of Kinnegad, also lives and works in the Ealing area.He works in a gym off Ealing Broadway, where some 38 businesses, including a massive supermarket, were destroyed on Monday night."I got out of work at about 9.45pm on Monday," Aaron said on Tuesday morning. "I could see youths hanging around in groups, and they were getting excited, and seemed to be waiting for a call."Most of them were in their mid-teens. I got my bus home on time."Aaron described the situation in London as "anarchy", and said that police resources were stretched to the limit.To illustrate just how lawless the UK capital was on Monday night, early on Tuesday morning, the Westmeath Examiner contacted an Ealing-based newspaper for a photo of the devastation.We were told that their photographer had been beaten up by rioters during the night, and his camera stolen.Meanwhile, Blizzards frontman and Mullingar native, Niall Breslin, told Millands 103 news on Tuesday morning that the rioters were "zombies".Niall, who lives near to the outbreak of lawlessness, said that he was shocked by the violence, which appears to be "organised". He said that the violence was akin to something out of the zombie movie, Shaun of the Dead.