It’s become the iconic image of the London riots: A woman, black against a background of flames, leaps from a burning building and into the arms of a faceless throng of people. Now, the photographer behind the dramatic picture has revealed the story behind it.
Amy Weston, who works for the WENN photo agency, was driving to the scene in Croydon just outside of London when she heard screams.
“There were six or seven people screaming and crying outside, and they looked like they lived at the flats that were burning. The flats were above small independent shops,” Weston said in an interview with The Guardian.
“A man in a white shirt was screaming that a girl was at the window and that she was ready to jump. He ran towards her but riot police had appeared and pulled him back, and they went to her instead.
“As soon as she dropped, the crowds pushed back and there was no way to see what happened to her. I remember hearing people screaming that there were more people in the building. The crowds started getting angry with each other, with one group blaming another group for starting the fire.
“There were warnings of gas cylinders being fired into the crowd from riot police so I got out of there. I couldn’t get to my car so I had to walk, wrapping my camera in my clothes to avoid being mugged.”
Weston’s photograph was used on the front page of at least five national newspapers on Tuesday morning and has since become one of the defining images of the disastrous riots. The photo is already being compared to the famous kiss captured during the Vancouver riots earlier this year, in which a young couple locked lips amidst a surging battalion of riot police.