Peter Tatchell Arrested - Outrageous

I think the point is that when you stand up for the rule of law you are standing up for everyone.

Anyway, it sounds like he might have been arrested for a more understandable, but still bad reason relating to breach of the peace.

He's an attention-seeking troll who cries victim when he gets the response he eagerly craves.

As for his arrest or an over-reach of police powers, I'm not particularly overly concerned that someone (anyone in fact) was held in police custody for just 5 hours whilst being questioned over an alleged offence. It happens day in, day out across the country. The police must act if they believe an offence has been committed or in anticipation of an offence being committed. People are often hauled in for questioning, often being kept overnight, over misunderstandings or complaints against them, whilst the police investigate the crime/misunderstanding or whatever. It's not the end of the world, really.

I expect the OP is pulling strings for the fun of watching Mumsnetters dance.

Who really gives a fuck about this wanker ? Tatchell is a complete twat on so many levels.

YABU for all the reasons already mentioned

Again, he was not arrested for his placard or his views. You know this yet still peddle it.

Met: “Mr Tatchell was initially detained after concerns were raised with officers by stewards from the Palestine Coalition protest. Officers spoke with him and, believing him to be a counter protester, directed him to join the counter protest in its designated area. When he attempted to rejoin the Palestine Coalition protest he was arrested on suspicion of breaching the conditions in place and to prevent a breach of the peace."

He was also removed from a Pride march at the weekend. As others have said, he loves the attention.

Nah. He's a professional attention seeker with a REALLY dodgy past and very iffy ethics. I agree with him that Hamas are a terrible organisation. I also suspect that his somewhat unexpected stance on that angle of a pro-Palestinian protest was entirely calculated and that he isn't actually all that bothered about what they do as a political and terrorist organisation. But I could be wrong and these are just my thoughts on the matter.

Very strange, indeed but not surprising.

He is a horrendous human being with some very dubious views but what he has been arrested for here is unfortunately not down to the views he SHOULD be arrested for.

You’re reaching there OP.

You need to read more about all he’s done to know that this wasn’t an accident by him but a deliberate publicity stunt that he orchestrated.

I'm still not arsed I'm afraid.

Theres far better people out there to bat for than him.

Just to be clear, I only posted his response to paedophilia on his website that he condemns it. I didn't know the full background or that newspaper clip (which I only saw after I posted his response). What was missing from that newspaper clip was him saying 'I disagree with it" which he included in his website response, so he hasn't been consistent just on that score.

If your concern is about whether the police should have and should be able to exercise their power to arrest and detain people then frame it as such.

Of course it is something that needs scrutiny but it is vital tool in law and order. The police have a central role in maintaining public safety. Sometimes to do that they have to remove people from a situation. That can be on the basis of a claim from a member or the public or situation they are witnessing.

For example the police can arrest and detain someone they believe committed domestic violence. They can do this based on an accusation or their own suspicions.

Sometimes individuals and groups of individuals are intent on fighting and arguing. They do in public. They need to be kept apart and stopped from fighting. The police sometimes need to be able to remove people and arresting them is a means to an end that is justified on public safety grounds.

The consequences of stripping the police of these powers would be catastrophic for many people and many vulnerable women.

Thank you. That appears to be a more credible explanation of what happened rather than the one sided bleating by PT on his website.

I agree both with PT being an odious man but also with the sentiment of this protest, and concerns with the actions of the police (not limited to this incident, of course).

However, PT is such an awful vehicle for any kind of protest thanks to his terrible views that have already been mentioned. But he thinks he’s on the side of the angels, he’s absolutely immune to any criticism and so he doesn’t know when to shut up,
doesn’t ever realise that his presence isn’t helping the cause.

Why are you outraged when you know what happened?

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Mr Tatchell was initially detained after concerns were raised with officers by stewards from the Palestine Coalition protest. Officers spoke with him and, believing him to be a counter protester, directed him to join the counter protest in its designated area. When he attempted to rejoin the Palestine Coalition protest he was arrested on suspicion of breaching the conditions in place and to prevent a breach of the peace."

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/peter-tatchell-hamas-metropolitan-police-palestine-solidarity-campaign-palestine-b2753082.html

He had a right to protest, but after complaints by Palestinian protestors for his anti Hamas placard the police wrongly believed him to be part of the counter protest thus was in the wrong place.

That's it.

You are outraged over a misunderstanding?

If there is to be any outrage on this it's those from the Palestian protest who, offended by his anti Hamas placard, wanted rid of him.

As he defends paedophilia I’m afraid I don’t give a shit. He will have brought it on himself.

That is a really mealy-mouthed bunch of twaddle. "They said it and I just repeated it but don't agree with it..." Bullshit. What that comes down to is that he realised he had gone too far, couldn't climb down from stuff he had clearly said, so tried weasley-words to get around it.

I didn't know all that. I just know PT as the man who thinks the age of consent should be lowered to enable men to have sex with minors, which is bad enough.

Going back to the OPs original post. Yes, it's outrageous that someone can be arrested if they haven't committed a crime. But, men who think grooming children into sex should be in prison so I can't get upset about his arrest.

Given most of us think he should have been behind bars years ago, you can't really expect us to give a shiny shite if he has been inconvenienced for a few hours. Revolting man.