Time to re-review demonstrations’ policies!

Posted 28 Mar 2011 by Walaa Idris

Police

Unfortunately, again, what should have been a peaceful rally; a show of solidarity and an expression of unity have turned into mayhem with massive destruction to public and private property and an illegal sitting then ended with thousands of pounds worth of damages and alleged theft of goods from Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly.

Plus, in its wake Central London was an embattled graffiti covered rubbish tip!

Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s sideshow has distracted from the main protest. As someone who did not participate in the march and relied on media coverage and the web for my information, most of what I saw and read was ugly and negative with the exception for a few snapshots of the march itself (not including Ed Miliband’s speech which was simply tragic). Of course the destructions that took place were not the organisers’ fault however they are partly their responsibility.

Hooded and balaclava-covered thugs took centre stage and were given free reign on the streets of Mayfair and St James. While the outnumbered police looked on hopelessly shackled with political correctness and the inability to change tactics mid – operation unless it was part of their operation to mostly stand and watch regardless of what happens! That posture rendered them ineffective; they were unable to adequately protect the public, public or private property or even themselves from the ruthless thugs. They had ammonia filled light bulbs, buckets of paint, sticks, lead pipes and broken debris thrown at them and still did little besides being present.

Logic dictates that from this point on our police must be allowed to use some early intervention methods based on prior gathered intelligence and the history of these events, containment to surround some violent groups and having adequate back-up units and support on the ready close by. They should be properly equipped for the worst possible scenarios and be allowed to arrest hardcore troublemakers early on. For safety, I would even go as far as arresting known troublemakers before the event.

Particularly as now we have a Labour led union funded opposition, protest marches will become the norm during this parliament and scenes like Saturday’s will undoubtedly become a regular occurrence and be repeated many times all over the country in several cities. So will be the presence of the rogue violent element that accompanies such events. Going forward the police need to be allowed first to protect themselves so they can protect the public, however they can do neither properly with one hand behind their back.

1 comment(s)

Floyd Codlin

Floyd Codlin
29 Mar, 18:58

OMG..where to start on picking this too shreds..this is far too easy..has Christmas come early in this part of the world? Oh well, I’ll go easy and just pick out four points.

1)“Hooded and balaclava-covered thugs took centre stage and were given free reign on the streets of Mayfair and St James. While the outnumbered police looked on hopelessly shackled with political correctness”

Given the fact that of all the people injured most of them were not police, I would suggest that the only shackling going on was that of the cops slapping cuffs onto demonstrators. I will also add that in the F&M store, it was largley peaceful and Uk UnCut (whom I dont support btw)in negotiations with a female senior police officer agreed to leave so long as they were not arrested. As soon as they left the store they were jumped on, handcuffed, thrown into police vans, beaten up, denied access to lawyers (for some up to 24 hours).

The link below is to a newsnight story on Friday march 25th..ffw to 16.22 in the programme where there is an article (with proof) that the police are infiltrating groups such as this and acting as agent provocatuers. This also applys to what happened in Trafalgar Sq.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zw1g1#synopsis

2) “Logic dictates that from this point on our police must be allowed to use some early intervention methods based on prior gathered intelligence and the history of these events, containment to surround some violent groups and having adequate back-up units and support on the ready close by. They should be properly equipped for the worst possible scenarios and be allowed to arrest hardcore troublemakers early on. For safety, I would even go as far as arresting known troublemakers before the event”.

Funny, you should say that as I hear that both Eqypt and Yemen have recently both passed laws authorising such actions..so it’s nice to know that the Tory party wants the UK to become like two countries that have a human rights record written in blood.

3)“Of course the destructions that took place were not the organisers’ fault however they are partly their responsibility”.

This makes no sense what so ever, the violent events took place away from the main demo as you well know. Also the Black Block are not affiliated to the TUC or the Labour Party and it ill behoves you to suggest otherwise.

At least Boris Johnson in his bovine ersatz affability had the courage to state openly that Ed Miliband was “quietly satisfied” with the violence, rather than doing it by insinuation.

4)“Particularly as now we have a Labour led union funded opposition, protest marches will become the norm during this parliament and scenes like Saturday’s will undoubtedly become a regular occurrence and be repeated many times all over the country in several cities”.

Sigh..here we go smear by association, first of all it is not a ‘Labour led union funded opposition’. March 26 saw people from all walks of life take part, including by the way “Lib Dems Against the Cuts”, obviously trade unionists were there.

As were enviromental groups, pensioners, groups from over seas showing solidarity, youth groups. Just as important were the thousands and thousands of people men, women and kids with NO political affiliation who want to live in a civilised country in which dog eat dog is not the norm.

Do you know, now I think about it, thats what scares you and the Tory Party the most, the fact that so many ordinary, decent w/c people have seen through the lie that they have to pay for a crisis they did not create. Perhaps its not so strange then your longing for a polce state.

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