to think it is time for the army to step in

[AuntiePickleBottom]

can't belive a group of mindless thugs have taken over london.

what does this say to the rest of the world, especially with the olymics fast approching

I think it's bloody ridiculous. People are just selfish and feral in this county, yet everybody complains when stuff like this happens.

But don't forget that complaining about this kind of behaviour will just get you accused of reading the Daily Mail and being a fuddy duddy

This country is going to hell in a handbasket, but as long as people's civil liberties are protected, that's all that matters

"as long as people's civil liberties are protected, that's all that matters "

Protecting civil liberties is important, even now! The message from the Met earlier showed clear frustration at the gormless fuckwits who are standing around gawping, because they are only guilty of being stupid (rather than vicious), and are getting in the way.

I think they are doing worse than getting in the way, actually; I think they are shielding and condoning those who are being violent and looting. However, I still don't think the onlookers should be bundled up in a bigger, more violent confrontation? Protecting civilians is still a decent and honourable thing to the aiming for.

The army is no-go because they're not trained for urban riots. The police will be drafting in trained officers from elsewhere in the country. They'll be going through the CCTV footage and making a few early-morning house-calls. They'll be getting Blackberry to open up their closed communications sytems. And then it'll rain heavily and everyone will go back to dealing drugs, shooting each other and stabbing teenagers ...

Ah..... rain. Best Policeman in the world.

Thread here.

The Armed Forces are trained to deal with riots in urban areas, BTW. But they can only be called in if the police request their assistance. And I'm not sure there's anything they can do that the police can't. As I said on the other thread, if the police need more manpower, then they might have a role in eg protecting the other emergency services, or manning established cordons, in order to free up the police to do the policing.

If you have armed police and soldiers roaming the streets the riots would stop. The rioters clearly aren't afraid of the police and the consequences at the moment but if you put guys with guns out there they'll start to pucker and head home! This kind of thing would never be allowed to happen in the US. Yeah, I remember the LA riots but that ended quickly once the cops came out in force.

use it as a reason for bringing back afghan troops sooner

hiddenhome, noone will think like like

bring in the water cannons and tear gas I say, feral little fucks

Time to stop the gently gently approach. Anyone standing gawping should know they are putting themselves in danger.

Apparently all the water cannons are in N. Ireland - there are none on the UK mainland.

I live in a very millitary area in the West of England. It may be nothing but there has been a much higher than normal amount of millitary aircraft roaring over my house this morning. 4 or 5 Chinooks, a few Apaches and the odd Hercules. They all appear to be heading East...

As I said, may be nothing.

after just seeing an injured lad being mugged on the news get the army on the streets!

I didn't think I would ever agree with that. Using a country's army against it's own citizens is a big big deal.

But the time has come, and the army needs to be on standby tonight.

When is an announcement from COBRA expected?

I do think the army could play a valuable role in protecting fire and ambulance crew so they can get in quicker and limit damage to people and property. But I would not like to see soldiers actually taking on a policing role.

...and the water cannons are not licenced for use in UK, so it's not as easy as just bringing them back.

There is a Regiment very close to the 'action' right now who have just done Prison Riot training, like in the last few weeks. They could be on the streets in a matter of hours if the Home Office / COBRA called them in.

The best action at present would probably be to bring in the Army as protection for the Fire Service / other Emergency Services thus freeing up the Police from those areas.