G20 Protests

Originally Posted by Sosha

Looked pretty much like it was started by the bloke who wanted to leave so he could find a toilet.



If he hadn't been going " but it's just me - I need to take a dump" repeatedly he wouldn't have got shoved. Then the harpie wouldn't have started up. Then she wouldn't have got decked. then the crowd wouldn't have got P*ssed.

Only way round this is court. Unlawful detention/ Human rights etc after the event.

Doesn't help those caught short though.

S'pose he could've yanked his troos down and squatted right there, but then he'd have been arrested... at least the cells have bogs I guess. People's bowels don't work in conjunction with police rules, unfortunately.

Makes....me.....sick.


But this works for the government nicely. People forget about police brutality, so this is a perfect whitewash to cover the fact that the British people demonstrated that their government were incompetent, and we have had enough. I just think I'm more terrified of DC.

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

So with the context of him having first pushed her away established, the bitch-slap and baton wielding are now acceptable?

Right..............

I actually do think they are acceptable. That woman refused to take a direct order from a member of the police. She was told to 'go away' in no uncertain terms and knew that she was antagonising the situation by repeating her attempts to approach the copper.

She should count herself lucky that she only got a slap and a baton to the legs. I thnk I might have punched her lights out.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Ping

S'pose he could've yanked his troos down and squatted right there, but then he'd have been arrested... at least the cells have bogs I guess. People's bowels don't work in conjunction with police rules, unfortunately.

Well, that's one of the central ideas of kettling isn't it, you drive protestors into doing something they wouldn't have done otherwise, then arrest them for it Though funnily enough, in this case exactly the opposite happened- they tried to stir up the mob, then reacted themselves. Oops.

Oh, nobody's mentioned that the officer in question has hidden his numbers. I'll mention it then

Whos trying to say this protest was 'peaceful' obviously is watching this video without the sound.

Think how you would react in that situation, you can't pass judgement until you have actually been in that exact same situation.

[northwind]

But you have to remember, again, that it's a crowd that's been kettled- they're not just protesting, they're being kept there against their will and refused the right to leave (as demonstrated about 30 seconds before the attack, by the guy who wants to take a crap). What would you do? Everyone says "Oh, the police get so much provocation" and it's true, but the exact same goes for the protestors.

And yes, you absolutely CAN pass judgement, the man has a job to do and he's not doing it. The other cops around him manage to do it- they're in the exact same situation as him. In fact there's some really first class policing shown in that video, in the full version.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by northwind

But you have to remember, again, that it's a crowd that's been kettled- they're not just protesting, they're being kept there against their will and refused the right to leave (as demonstrated about 30 seconds before the attack, by the guy who wants to take a crap). What would you do? Everyone says "Oh, the police get so much provocation" and it's true, but the exact same goes for the protestors.

Lozzo is obviously far too clever to ever be there, and presumably, far too intelligent to need to $hit.

Originally Posted by northwind

And yes, you absolutely CAN pass judgement, the man has a job to do and he's not doing it. The other cops around him manage to do it- they're in the exact same situation as him. In fact there's some really first class policing shown in that video, in the full version.

Absolutely; some people seem to forget that the whole justice system is based upon people who weren't present passing judgement on somebody else, based on evidence presented.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by saoralba

Whos trying to say this protest was 'peaceful' obviously is watching this video without the sound.

Think how you would react in that situation, you can't pass judgement until you have actually been in that exact same situation.

I understood the police to be acting unlawfully which put the protesters in that position but I spoke to another forummer earlier who's fellas a cop and she said it is legal so not sure what I think of it.

Originally Posted by unknown source

It's worth putting the video of this ruckus in context of what's going on around them.

If you watch the video on YouTube from the start, you'll see that everyone is standing around peacefully exercising their right to protest. The police have been instructed to form a line and prevent anyone passing. They will keep this up from lunchtime to evening - "you can have your protest but you cannot have access to food, water or toilets; you cannot leave for any reason whatsoever; anyone arriving will be intimidated into leaving".

Later in the day they will start letting people leave one by one - each must provide their full address (the law only allows the police to ask for names, but they threaten to arrest anyone who does not provide their address and DOB) and be photographed.

They are then entered on a police database of protesters which, until recently, the police denied even existed (liars).

These tactics are the source of much controversy. Here Tom Brake MP describes his 5 hours being detained by the police in this way:

It is not surprising that under such conditions an otherwise overwhelmingly relaxed and peaceful crowd can become agitated, then angry, and then violent. The tactic proved misguided and counter-productive. It served to alienate a whole mass of peaceful protesters.

My team and I escorted one protester with a broken arm to a police cordon. Not even his friend was allowed to accompany the injured man as he left the kettle. Journalistic freedom of speech was curtailed too — I filmed a journalist flanked by police, prevented from leaving despite legitimate credentials and contact information for the police to use.

Like the many wholly innocent prisoners around me, I resigned myself to being trapped for the long haul. I had five hours inside the kettle as pressure built to think about how things could have been handled; but also to question when our hard-fought liberties were lost, when containment became not about containing the mood of the crowd, but about physically penning them in.

So in the video you can see the police starting this tactic - they prevent anyone passing them towards the camera, but allow people inwards. You see people patiently explaining why they want to pass. When they get frustrated they get shoved back.

The woman appears to be questioning this (I'm assuming from her pointing) - and rightly so!

After being slapped she says "You hit a woman!". She is mainly upset about being slapped and presents no danger to anyone. This is enough to get her assaulted with a baton.

She most certainly does not "deserve" such an assault.

I'm undecided about the baton thing but the slap seemed a bit sly and malicious so I'm guessing his actions with the baton were probably influenced by the earlier encounter.

She was being an árse and like daimo said earlier you do know the type but to see such a big bloke (in a position of 'trust'?) hit a woman so unnecessarily quite shocked me. it's argued that she could have been a threat to him and was acting aggressively but I think in reality everyone knows all she was going to do was moan at him about being kettle and then as she looked away to point (so seemingly not expecting any violent conduct) he smacked her with the baton. Granted the officer was in a horrible postion but I still think what he did was shameful.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Lozzo is obviously far too clever to ever be there, and presumably, far too intelligent to need to $hit.

Correct on the first, incorrect on the second.

I don't agree with mass protest, I think it's a waste of time and inevitably leads to violent situations. The government won't be swayed by it, so why bother, unless you're going looking for trouble.