Omg the scenes from the London protests

[SistemaAddict]

I'm just watching the news and am finding it so frightening to see the crowds, the police, the tension, the horse bolting.
I understand the desire to protest but how is this the right way to do things? I know there will be thousands of peaceful protesters among the ones causing trouble.
I'm concerned about the covid risk to everyone there especially as BAME are more at risk of the virus.

I hate confrontation and get very anxious so wanted to chat to others about this. Yes, I could switch off but I think it's important to watch and learn and understand what and why is happening.

Whilst I agree that protesting presents too much of a COVID risk at the moment - there are lots of us who don't get within 2m of our families or anyone else. If I had wanted to join a local protest I would feel the risk was mine to take.

Don't know about the UK, but I can completely understand why the average younger African-American male would see trigger happy whites (police + civilians) as a bigger threat than Covid.

I don't understand why the police don't have PPE?

the lack of empathy and sheer racism / double standards and single vision on this thread is abhorrent

Totally agree. All this "but what about spreading it to other people? why arent they thinking of them?"

WTF have YOU done to help reduce racism in this country then? what have YOU done in your community to help others? Suddenly BAME people are expected to consider other people's needs when those people probably havent given a single fck or thought about anyone else pre-covid. I'd love to know how much "thinking about others" the people screaming at them now ever did prior to covid. My guess is- not very much at all. Hypocrites.

@mynameiscalypso

Maybe they think that centuries of systematic oppression of black people and the racism that permeates every inch of society is a worthy cause?

Until they give their vulnerable relatives coronavirus, and then it'll be the government's fault because they haven't handled the pandemic appropriately.

I assume they're already aware that the virus impacts the BAME communities considerably more than Caucasian individuals, so they must be happy to martyr themselves and their loved ones.

Would anybody on here he prepared to risk their own families lives for the cause?

I wouldn't. That doesn't mean I'm not outraged at what has happened to George Floyd and has been happening to black people for years.

It's ridiculous.

What they’re doing will change fuck all. They know this, the authorities know this. I don’t understand why they’ve leapt on this incident. When the unarmed black man was shot at by multiple American officers in a car with his family screaming asking the cops to stop shooting-couple of years ago? there was no massive protest over here, was there? Screaming Justice for a George into a (British) police officer’s face is pointless. All four officers have, I believe, been charged. There is the justice. Screaming for it on a London street will change nothing. Justice is apparently being done.

I was there in a London today. For a few hours from 1pm. Almost every person there was wearing a mask, and people were handing out free surgical masks and gloves to people who didn’t have them. People were offering hand sanitiser to anyone who wanted it. Yes, many people weren’t social distancing, but people were peaceful and for the most part, as careful as possible. Any problems with the police happened late in the day, after the main protest and march had happened.

@Thesispieces

the lack of empathy and sheer racism / double standards and single vision on this thread is abhorrent. I advise BAME individuals to limit their exposure on MN. Or your mental health may suffer. Oh to have the Privilege to worry about the R number; when the sheer existence of your children is under threat for yet another generation.

Racism where? BLM, but throwing missiles at horses and police is what thugs do.

The 'privilege' to worry about the R numbers really? How disgusting. Thousands have died and many of us have family working in the NHS and others with serious health conditions. Yet the 'protestors' are there filming themselves dancing and mocking the police.

@SomewhereEast whites? Do you mean ‘white people’ there?

I'm old enough to remember the poll tax riots, and what made me go home was police horses - a line of them advancing was bloody terrifying, and that is why they're used for crowd control...

The police just cannot do the job with PPE & it doesn’t matter how they handle it today - they will be ripped apart. I wonder if we will have anyone wanting to join the police force soon - then where will we be? it’s an utterly impossible task.

If people are going to ignore lockdown guidelines and demonstrate like this then it's going to be a fast route back to a stricter lockdown.

'Maybe you should “get off your high horse” and empathise with BAME people'
I've said twice now BLM, but so do those who are trying not to catch a deadly virus. Do you think throwing missiles at police and police horses is very helpful, or do you see they were just trying to cause trouble?

When people are more worried about a horse than 100's of years of oppression & inequality

Exactly @Thesispieces, racial inequality is so deeply entrenched in our society that people feel they are justified in refusing to see it.

Years ago I was in the met police myself and volunteered at the now closed Feltham riot training site

It was a cluster of abandoned houses on a few streets but we used real petrol bombs as the horses advanced and we had to run and hide so the riot squad (as we called them) hunted us down. It was the most terrifying thing ever!

Because horses are defenceless animals and lots of people care about them.