Whatever happened, initially, to start off this sorry state of affairs, for sure, is not yet known by all, so speculation is .... just that.
My sympathies & thoughts go out to the family of the person who died but also, to those homeless, injured, hurt, afraid & also in whatever way, affected by all of this.

I would just like to add a personal "tuppence-worth" - to the comments in the media of, it's because people "have nothing/are poor/are on benefits/from a particular ethnic background/are from single-parent families/no father-figure" etc. - many people who come from low-income families/on benefits/living on council estates/have-not's/not as much as others, do not always commit crime - if they did then, I would be very unhappy of my own parenting of my 3 sons who have been through some hard times (along with myself) but who have never committed any crime.
Of course there will be some people from this (my) "background" who do and have committed crime but please, do not tar everyone with the same brush.
Even if you come from a background of dis-advantage, it is no excuse to cause disturbance, rob/steal, hurt etc.

My thoughts (along with many others) are that the majority of those involved in the troubles in Tottenham, Enfield & elsewhere are of the trouble-making, criminal element and most locals do not support the actions that took place over the past few days.

In an ideal world, these events would not happen; sadly, this is not an ideal world. The solution? Many have ideas, many have put them forward. The current justice system does not seem to work. What will? I do not know.
I am just sad that this kind of thing is still happening, many years after the Blackwater/Brixton riots

Sue