Home secretary theresa May said that those arrested in the protesr March were "mindless thugs". Her words were matched by the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper who criticised the "few hundred mindless idiots and thugs"
Most of those arrested had peacefully occupied a grocer. Where is the thuggish behavior? TV crews and captured many examples of violence, mostly masked people throwing paint. Only 11 of those people were arresred oddly.
The Green MP Caroline Lucas said "That the majority of those arrested and charged on Saturday were not violent thugs posing a risk to others but participants in a peaceful sit-down protest betrays a serious failure of judgement."
I question the judgement of May and Cooper for describing peaceful protesters as thugs. Especially as they both represent parties that gave bombed large numbers of civilians in the last few years.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/why-did-police-charge-only-11-rioters-over-the-anticuts-protests-2256729.html
Gandhi said "an unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."
5 years ago
5 comments:
Adrian, although I guess I broadly agree, I would say that the march is the issue not the people turning shops into creative spaces and getting arrested or the obsession among bloggers with policing etc.
It was about 'ordinary' working people in fear for their futures. Those people sitting in shops getting arrested have again diverted all attention away from the real issues. Well done kids.
Why did the woman from UKuncut go on Newsnight at all? Her performance will have alienated so many people we need on our side. I would have said no to it. They are self-obsessed and doing everyone a disservice. They should have had their protest on a different day, as they have done before.
Cheers Steve. If you read the previous posts you will find I agree.
This post is about questioning the very poor judgement shown by senior Lab and Tory politicians.
"This post is about questioning the very poor judgement shown by senior Lab and Tory politicians."
Hey Adrian, you don't need my confirmation of that do you? What did you expect from them?
Hope you're getting some sleep and changing your share of the nappies!
Cheers Steve. Baby and Mum still in hospital, should come home tomorrow. All are doing well.
The police were using fake protestors to incite the crowd. In this BBC video a man in a hoodie approaches the police at 0:12 - they let him pass and pat him on the back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUUE0tRKmJ0
People in the crowd were pointing at the provocateurs, similar to this Canadian case (where they actually exposed some of them)
http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2010/07/police-state-canada
Shameful behaviour by the police.
"Those people sitting in shops getting arrested have again diverted all attention away from the real issues."
Those 'kids' were engaging in civil disobedience. While not everyone agrees civil disobedience is a useful method for creating change (worked pretty well for suffrage), the issues they raised are certainly 'real'.
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