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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder if there isn't, in fact, some government involvement in all this riot malarkey?

36 replies

solidgoldbrass · 09/08/2011 01:35

The legacy of Murdoch, Mandelson, Blair and Campbell is an ongoing demonstration of how easy and useful it is to manipulate the general public. So removing as many civil liberties as they fancy is going to be an awful lot easier when everyone is terrified of rioting yoot.Given that the policing of demonstrations has been getting heavier and heavier, it's funny that the police seem to have been doing basically bugger all when the riots kick off, and now everyone's being told that Calling IN THe Army is the way to go...

OP posts:

LineRunner · 09/08/2011 01:37

Nah.

GypsyMoth · 09/08/2011 01:38

i dont see 'the police doing bugger all'????

jade80 · 09/08/2011 01:40

Yeah, Cameron isn't really on holiday, he's in Croydon wearing a hoody setting a few fires

CogitoErgoSometimes · 09/08/2011 01:41

YABU. Policing has been very 'light touch' for a long time. Remember the criticism at the first student demos when so much damage was done to central London? I'd say it has been far too 'light touch' when it comes to London's gang culture... which we'll find is a big part of what's been going on the last few days. There will be a clean up after this and civil liberties will not be reduced in order to do it.

janelikesjam · 09/08/2011 01:41

I understand where you are coming from, SolidBrass, though I am not convinced the Powers-that-Be have such a grip on things. But yes, they may want to show Middle England how terrifying mob rule might be .... and it is, lets face it. But part of it is in our society already relates to this social mileau/cultural acceptance. But I am not convinced that its a set up; its a rum game to play.

madhattershouse · 09/08/2011 01:43

I really can't believe that our Govt are that cleaver tbh!! This is a direct result of youth feling like they do not belong! They are outside, away from the rules. This has been brewing for years, the tory govt's dealings have urged the problem on. When the rich are protected at times of hardship the "natives" get restless....they (the oxbridge a-holes)will never learn, ignorant and dangerous!

breadandbutterfly · 09/08/2011 01:43

Maybe.

Certainly makes a change from the student demos, doesn't it? Our brave policeman were quite happy to bully, beat up and attack innocent, intelligent, hard-working and unarmed students - but faced by a load of criminals actually doing damage that they're supposed to be protecting us from, where are all the hard men now? Either not there at all or running away, in the clips I've seen. Bloody useless.

breadandbutterfly · 09/08/2011 01:44

Why don't they just kettle all the rioters? I mean it worked so well in the student riots.

madhattershouse · 09/08/2011 01:45

They can't kettle as they are in small groups and moving around! Kettling works only when people behave!!

GypsyMoth · 09/08/2011 01:47

so the police are expected to arrest each and every one of the rioters? and then that officer spends 2 hours OFF THE STREET processing him down the police station.....assuming there is room in cells?

what would you like the police to do? they dont have the manpower to arrest each person one by one......they have one set of cuffs each......thats it. i know,i was a met officer myself!

EdithWeston · 09/08/2011 01:49

The was a huge erosion of civil liberties in the name of the war on terror.

This administration began by rolling some back (eg ID cards). They aren't pursuing an agenda of increasing central state control. Quite the opposite, really.

I have not seen a single statement from a politician advocating calling in the Army (plenty on here from MNers, though). The clearest statement so far of the need for a strong police response has come from Miliband.

Nihilisticbunny · 09/08/2011 01:49

It's all problem-reaction-solution . Seriously though it does seem odd to me that police are happily stood in lines, whilst people freely loot not far away . Why aren't they actually tackling it? They have never seemed to be shy in coming forward before .

I understand the logistical problems, but there seem to be very few police, and lets face it's a few hundred yobs, rather than hundreds of thousands of protestors. I'm suspicious tbh.

janelikesjam · 09/08/2011 01:50

here is one possible political motivation: let these rioters make people very angry - they wiill be very angry about the way their communities have been assaulted.

janelikesjam · 09/08/2011 01:51

Miliband! Pls.....

breadandbutterfly · 09/08/2011 01:53

The protesters are armed - but with bricks/pices of wood, whilst officers are in full riot gear. But not even going near them. There are hundreds of protesters not tens of thousands. When I was at the student protests there were several thousand police on the streets to 'defend' against the 'aggressive' students. Where are they all now then? There should be enough police to surround the protesters.

madhattershouse · 09/08/2011 01:55

This is a bigger problem than the police! You strip the police to the minimum through cuts, force them to spend hours on paperwork then shaft the poor!! Light touch-paper and retire!! The result its obvious.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 09/08/2011 01:55

The police are not 'stood in lines' but chasing looters off when they get there. However, the looters are moving fast, disappearing and popping up somewhere else. Given that CCTV is pretty universal, in the same way as during the student riots, there will be a lot of post event analysis of pictures and quite a few early morning house-calls in the next few weeks.

BTW.. if the police go in at all heavy-handed, then this will only add fuel to the riot apologists.

madhattershouse · 09/08/2011 01:57

In no way am I condoning the looting..I'm just a little surprised that it has taken this long for the hate in our society to spill over into mass unrest!

Nihilisticbunny · 09/08/2011 01:58

Hmm yes I do agree that the police will be castigated if they go in baton happy, I don't shagging know, the world has gone mental. I really hope this isn't just the start.

They have stop it though, hopefully it will just dwindle.

GhoulLasher · 09/08/2011 02:00

My friend in Clapham said he watched Debenhams get looted for two hours before anything was done....he also said that the yoot were gathering for a long time befre that....yes nothing was done and why???

debivamp · 09/08/2011 02:01

if this was happening in the USA they would have been shot.

GhoulLasher · 09/08/2011 02:02

As someone said...theyr'e moving in small groups...it's not rioting as much as anarchy.

GhoulLasher · 09/08/2011 02:03

No they wouldn't Debbi you're not suggesting thats what we should do is it?

fargate · 09/08/2011 02:03

Doh. The police are vastly out-numbered. Many aren't local - they are from kent, surrey, sussex,

This has been a long time coming - but so sudden.

EdithWeston · 09/08/2011 02:05

I thought the "clear the streets" warning to the general public was a hint about a change of tactics overnight. Dealing with myriad and disparate locations of groups of agile fire-raising criminals isn't remotely like dealing with a large demonstration on a predictable route which might spawn a few splinter groups who are intent on causing trouble.

I really must get some sleep, and find out in the morning if my hunch was right or not.

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