Mugabe spoke Tuesday at a military parade honoring Zimbabwe's armed forces. He said "London is burning," referring to three days of arson, crime and looting in the capital of the former colonial power. He also referred to recent financial upheavals in the United States as "problems" the country should attend to.

He insisted sanctions by Western nations have stalled training and modernization programs in the military. Economic restrictions on Mugabe and his party elite were imposed to protest human rights violations implicating the police and military in recent years.

Mugabe said, "We don't have any fires here. Please leave us alone."

Meanwhile, Robert Mugabe's loyalists and political analysts say the violence that has hit the United Kingdom is a slap in the face for a country that claims to be a champion of democracy and has exposed the total failure by the British government to uphold democratic principles.

Political analyst, Dr Tafataona Mahoso says the violent protests were expected as the British government, which claims to be a champion of democracy, is now forced to have a taste of its own medicine as the violence erupted in an area inhabited by neglected ethnic and social groups.

Dr Mahoso was quick to question the deliberate silence by the western media on the mass riots in Israel and latest developments in their own turf. 

Political scientist, Professor Jonathan Moyo said the violence that has hit London has exposed British authorities’ hypocrisy and double standards as they parade democratic principles by day yet they exhibits the opposite by night. 

“What is interesting is that the western press is quick to call for regime change when things go wrong in other countries like Libya, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, among others but are silent when faced with similar problems,” Dr Mahoso said.

Professor Moyo added that by rioting, British citizens are realising the weakness of the economic models of capitalism and neo-liberal capitalism. 

London is besieged by the protesters mainly the youth. 

Violence and looting started on Saturday in Tottenham, with hundreds of demonstrators taking to the streets in protest to the shooting to death of a 29 year old black man, Mark Duggan in a racially motivated police attack. 

While the western countries have been quick to criticise developing countries on human rights and racial discrimination, it remains to be seen whether the British authorities will facilitate justice for the benefit of the marginalised communities.

The extraordinary spectacle of anarchy, arson and looting on London’s streets resulted on Tuesday in some of the world’s most authoritarian regimes - including those of Iran, Libya and even Robert Mugabe - gloating over the 'failure’ of Britain’s liberal society.

Images of Monday night’s unprecedented chaos were broadcast around the world yesterday, doing untold damage to the UK’s international reputation less than a year before London plays host to the 2012 Olympic Games.

“We do not have any fire here and we do not want them to continue to create unnecessary problems in our country. We want peace, and the people of Zimbabwe want peace.”

China meanwhile observed that riot-swept Britain had tasted the “bitter fruit” of failure to introduce Chinese-style crack downs on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

“The West have been talking about supporting internet freedom, and oppose other countries’ government to control this kind of websites, now we can say they are tasting the bitter fruit [of their complacency] and they can’t complain about it,” wrote one commentator in the official Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily.

After months during which China has bridled over western lectures about its fierce repression of dissent in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, the country’s official media reported on the shaming scenes in Britain with a mixture of shock and schadenfreude.

China, fiercely proud of its smooth staging of the 2008 Olympic Games, which were preceded by a widespread and often indiscriminate security crackdown, yesterday wondered out loud if London was still a safe bet to hold the Games.

“After the riots, the image of London has been severely damaged, leaving the people sceptical and worried about the public security situation during the London Olympics,” noted a report on the state-run Xinhua news agency.

In Iran, newspapers close to the regime lost no opportunity to gloat, blaming the violence on everything from human rights violations and racism to the rise in student tuition fees and the phone hacking scandal.

The conservative Resalat newspaper, in a commentary headlined “unrest spread from Tottenham to Brixton”, called the protests the “worst possible news for David Cameron’s coalition government”.

“The violence and continued chaos in the UK are the result of factors like human rights violations in the country, prejudice against immigrants and coloured people, incidents like the Murdoch scandals and the country’s critical economic conditions,” the newspaper concluded.

The hardline Iran newspaper claimed that the violence was carried out by students who were forced to drop out of university because of the rise in university tuition fees.

Hojjatoleslam Hossein Ebrahimi, the vice-Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s foreign policy committee, demanded that British MPs allow Iran, a country noted for itsviolent suppression of opposition street protests, to send human right observers to London.

“The British government must provide the opportunity for a group of Iran’s human rights observers to visit and meet with political prisoners in the UK, to get their voices heard and prepare a report to be sent to the international community,” he said.

Libyan state-run Al-Jamahiriyah television ran an English language broadcast addressed to rioting inner city dwellers urging them to “defeat this British regime” which “killed their brothers” by leading Nato military operations to overthrow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Yusuf Shakir, the presenter of “Homeland’s Desire”, pledged that Col. Gaddafi would defend black people who “suffered racial discrimination” and that Libyans would hold demonstrations holding up pictures of Mark Duggan, the man shot by police in Tottenham.

In Pakistan, where seven people died in street violence in Karachi last night, the riots have been met with glee by anti-western Islamist fundamentalists.

“I want to condemn the self-ashamed behaviours of mental slaves of West,” wrote Abdullah Ansari wrote in The Pakistan Observer.

However, more damaging to tourism and Britain’s reputation abroad were widespread travel warnings yesterday from Britain’s closest international partners warning their citizens to “take extreme care when venturing” to London.

European Union “partner” countries, such as France, Latvia, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, issued advice yesterday warning their holidaying citizens to be vigilant while visiting Britain.

“It is strongly recommended that French nationals stay away from the crowds that can form in urban centres and should exercise extreme caution in the city’s nightlife,” said advice from the French embassy yesterday (TUES).

Britain’s closest international ally, the United States warned Americans that “the current situation remains fluid” after civil disturbances throughout the country.

“If you find yourself near any civil unrest, leave,” the US “citizens’ services” website warned. “Do not challenge debate or make unwise comments. This will only increase your chance of becoming a victim of violence.”

By AP