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.

Interesting interview with a man saying how those causing the disorder would undermine the protest and make people focus on the disorder and the people causing it instead and perpetuate the belief that black people are thugs and criminals. Paraphrasing there but that was the gist.

Absolutely @SoberCurious and I'm not sure that the 'sacrifices' that most people have made in lockdown really compare to those centuries of oppression either!

I think it's deeply disturbing and disgusting behaviour.

@Bercows Yes, but only because society is fundamentally racist in the first place.

Why should they care about the impact the protests will have on Covid - susceptible people when so many people ignore the systemic racism and oppression BAME people receive ffs

Yep- it really does come down to this in the end. WHY should BAME people consider others when NOONE has been considering them for years and years? The hypocrisy is absolutely mind boggling.
Its only when something gets near THEM and potentially puts their lives at risk that we hear white people screaming about selfishness isnt it? Where were their screams prior to covid for other people? for BAME people? then it was deadly silent.

Unbelievable.

@SoberCurious that's exactly what I was thinking!

Really please focus on the majority of the protest which was actually peaceful. There's been many trouble free protests up and down the country. In any mass protest there can potentially be elements of violence. The same happened in the tuition fee protests and to a certain degree the climate change protests too.

Couldn't believe the fuckers chucking bikes at the horses

@LudaMusser

Complete waste of time. All will be forgotten in a month. Just idiots with nothing better to do jumping on the band wagon

Good job other's didn't feel that way in the 1900's...you know those pesky suffragettes, middle class women with nothing better to do. Equality is so overrated...or is that somehow different??

[quote MexicanStyle]@RozHuntleysStump I don’t think your anger compares to the anger of the BAME community ffs[/quote]
It's not a fucking competition!

I was waiting in my car while dh took stuff to the charity shop

I hope you reported them, they arent allowed to open until the15th

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

Couldn't believe the fuckers chucking bikes at the horses

Yes but apparently if you point that out you're more bothered about horses than racism .

@bonsaidragon

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.

If that happens, I expect people will ignore it, and then there might be protests about lockdown (which I'm surprised haven't happened anyway, but that's another debate). Also, if the public gets the idea (with help from the media) that a stricter lockdown is there because of the protests, or that Boris has got sulky about the little people not playing nicely so he decides to use his power to hit back, then the red mist really will descend.

Are you advocating the use of violence there?

No. You know fighting for something doesn't have to involve fists right?

[quote MexicanStyle]@BovaryX Ffs, the ignorance is so blatantly obvious. The demonstrations are more than to protest against the death of George Floyd - it’s to campaign against systemic racism that puts BAME people at distinct disadvantages in life, preventing them from having equal opportunities in life compared to white people.[/quote]
Yup. And it's completely possible to be against the decision to gather in a pandemic on safety grounds whilst also taking time to understand what they're actually protesting about.

It's making me nervous sitting here watching as well, I dread to think what the next few weeks will bring. My kids have just gone back to school 2 days a week and I don't want that taken away from them again.

It just feels like all of demonstrations are a slap in the face to the NHS frontline workers.

Well this makes a change. For the past few weeks we've been debating people gathering on beaches etc.

1. Young people never die
2. Young people protest

Hopefully they're sensible and will observe social distancing etc when the protest is over.

Don't tell me I can't care abut BAME people dying of covid because of pervasive racism in society. Or are all white people lumped together and given the label of racist?

Every life matters and every life lost to covid matters.

I don't know the answer. The world is a tinder box at the moment and I expect this is why it has all erupted over George Floyd's death now.

Any mass protest peaceful or otherwise shouldn't be going ahead at the moment.

Fucking idiots or their family members will no doubt want hospital care in 2 weeks when they are Ill with covid.

My BIL is a police officer and it make me sick that he has to be policing the demonstrationsn in the middle of a pandemic.

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour by anyone who went along

Black lives do matter BUT the UK as a nation can go screw itself? It's disgraceful that this allowed. Firstly the death was in America not the UK. Secondly are the officers involved not now arrested?
What the Fuck do these protestors expect us to do now?

We are is the middle of a serious pandemic and they do not care about the elderly or the vulnerable here in the UK at this CRITICAL point. George Floyd died saying I can't breathe, yes this is a terrible terrible atrocity at the hands of a racist White American Police officer. Now how many elderly and vulnerable people will now repeat these words as they lay dying in UK hospitals unable to breathe due to Covid?
It's unlawful and an absolute disgrace.

I don't understand the point at all.

@ShutUpaYourFace

Black lives do matter BUT the UK as a nation can go screw itself? It's disgraceful that this allowed. Firstly the death was in America not the UK. Secondly are the officers involved not now arrested? What the Fuck do these protestors expect us to do now? We are is the middle of a serious pandemic and they do not care about the elderly or the vulnerable here in the UK at this CRITICAL point. George Floyd died saying I can't breathe, yes this is a terrible terrible atrocity at the hands of a racist White American Police officer. Now how many elderly and vulnerable people will now repeat these words as they lay dying in UK hospitals unable to breathe due to Covid? It's unlawful and an absolute disgrace.

Absolutely this

Right?! @mynameiscalypso 🤷🏻‍♀️