facking 'ell
I was unaware of that
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:02, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

yep
he tends to get forgotten about when people complain about modern day policing tactics regarding riots and crowd control
(Halfy By light alone, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:05, Reply)

Yeah, if he hadn't bitchslapped that woman he might have ended up macheted to death
By a load of stinking hippies with fuck all else better to do
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:07, Reply)

hehe
no because it was a "never again" scenario, from there and the other riots in London and the miners strikes, they basically over police and try and clamp down on any potential flare ups nowadays.

Still, compared to a whole lot of police forces around the world a swift smack in the leg with a baton is a pittance
(Halfy By light alone, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:12, Reply)

Well that makes it alright then
The police were out of order during the miners strike as well.
Police brutality was rife in the 80s. SO just as the police have 'long memories', maybe PC Blakelock was an innocent victim of people with long memories.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:15, Reply)

Oh that's alright then
as long the abuses of our rights to protest are the least of all the abuses in the world, then it's perfectly acceptable.
(Bazongaloid, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:17, Reply)

oh ffs
pretty much yes, bearing in mind hundreds or thousands of innocent people fill up NHS A&E wards every weekend because fucking dumb twats think its funny to glass / stab / punch / kick the shit out of people for no better reason than "looking at them funny" having a woman screaming abuse and using threatening behaviour in an already tense and potential powderkeg environmant was dealt with, not brutally or over violently, reasonable force was used. this woman and a diddums bruise screams daily mail look what labour have done, this middle class white woman is being oppressed by the evil scum nazi racist met police.

there will always be protestors that use "peaceful law abiding protest" as an excuse to fuck shit up and there will be the very very occasional police officer that uses excessive force but the monstrous over-reaction to it is ridiculous.

the next time a protest kicks off into a full blown riot because the police are terrified of being able to use force to control the situation everyone will scream and shout and say "why was this allowed to happen, the police are a shambles" so they are in a no win position from a large minority of the media no matter how they react or operate to any given crowd control operation so just give it a rest.

for every person who says "I have a right to peaceful protest" someone else will turn around and complain that that protest is a "breach of the peace"
(Halfy By light alone, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:38, Reply)

No, I won't "give it a rest"
Your logic is like telling people people living in shit bits of the UK to stop moaning as they've got it worse in rural Bangladesh. It has no relevance at all.

The police were roundly criticised for their actions in policing the protests at the G20, and yet despite basically admitting they got it wrong and they will change, nobody has actually been rebuked for anything they have done.

I'm coming back to the Ian Tomlinson fact again, but it is very important. A man, who had nothing to do with the protests, is dead because of a policeman going gung ho and lashing out for no reason, and rather than try and restore confidence in a system by showing that, when mistakes are made, the police will admit it and deal with the problem in a reasonable manner, they have done nothing at all and the CPS appears powerless to act.

And that is what is disgraceful about this situation.
(Bazongaloid, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:48, Reply)

You're right Al
It is wrong that the police are not held to account for individual actions. They are no longer public servants when they bash your head in, and their colleages should see to it that the reputation of the whole is maintained, not the reputation of the one.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 13:55, Reply)