Germans warned to exercise 'special caution' Latvians told to get health and life insurance Sweden, Denmark and Finland also issue safety adviceThe world’s media reacted with shock and horror to the riots that have swept Britain, with London portrayed as ‘a lawless city’.The story made front pages around the globe, and was among the top items on TV news shows in dozens of countries.Germany led the way, with Der Spiegel magazine comparing London to the capital of Somalia.Burning down: Several foreign governments have started issuing advice to their citizens thinking about visiting the UK
Embarrassing: The Portuguese Jornal de Noticias (left) and the Belgian De Standaard (right) both put photographs of the London riots on their front pages
The television images dominating screens this week could be right out of Mogadishu,’ it wrote.
‘As difficult to imagine as it might be, the pictures aren’t from Somalia, but from London, right in the centre of Europe. And they will never be forgotten.’
In newspapers, TZ in Munich asked: ‘What has gone wrong with Britain? Like the Sex Pistols said, it truly is anarchy in the UK.’
The tabloid Bild summed up the feelings of many with the headline: ‘Chaos reigns in London!’
On its website, other stories were titled ‘England in flames’ and ‘London’s night of horror’.
Many looked ahead to next summer, with the respected Süddeutsche Zeitung warning that ‘fears are concentrated on the Olympics’.
Countries including Canada and Australia were left stunned that the kind of unrest seen in Greece and France had befallen Britain.
Headline news: Dutch newspaper Het Parool (left) and the Argentinian paper Clarín (right) both led on the London riots
In the U.S., cars burning across the English capital featured prominently even as Washington and Wall Street struggled amid the debt crisis.
The New York Times called the riots ‘the worst outbreak of social unrest in Britain in 25 years’.
Online, the Huffington Post news website ran the headline ‘London’s Burning’ while one contributor to the venerable Wall Street Journal wrote: ‘These people are welcome to march and protest, but when they start robbing and destroying others’ property then I’m all for declaring them targets for target practice.’
An editorial in Le Monde, one of France’s leading newspapers, said the UK was asking itself: ‘How to put an end to the destruction, which has in three days devastated whole neighbourhoods in London and its suburbs, as well as the cities of Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool?’
The riots also led every TV bulletin in Spain, with laSexta describing ‘a lawless city’
Foreign news: Spanish newspaper El País (left) and Austrian newspaper Voralberger Nachrichten (right) have both published in-depth coverage of the riots.
The Coalition Government’s response came in for criticism as well, following the belated decisions of senior politicians – including Prime Minister David Cameron – to return from their holidays.
'These people are welcome to march and protest, but when they start robbing and destroying other's property, then I'm all for declaring them targets for target practice.'
- Wall St Journal contributor
Yesterday, it was announced that Parliament would be recalled tomorrow from its summer recess.
The Spanish newspaper El País said: ‘Far from reacting quickly, the Government was missing during the crucial hours and has responded with a vagueness which has failed to calm the violence.
Cameron’s credibility has suffered a new reverse in these days of fury.’
El Mundo blamed the riots on an unintegrated immigrant population living in poverty.
Warning: The editor of India's Lonely Planet magazine Vardhan Kondvikar told his Twitter followers to avoid coming to the UK at all.
It said: ‘That is why the British authorities – in fact, you could say all of Europe – should bend over backwards to stop these violent outbreaks which, if they get worse, would have unforeseeable consequences.’
Demonstrating the extent of the devastation, newspapers in Syria compared the situation to trouble within its own borders.
Embarrassing: The Portuguese Jornal de Noticias (left) and the Belgian De Standaard (right) both put photographs of the London riots on their front pages
