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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be shocked that this is happening in Britain in 2018?

542 replies

Spending2muchtimeonMN · 22/04/2018 00:38

Masked men try to prevent women from attending a lawful, public meeting to discuss the impact of proposed changes to the law on women's rights:

www.facebook.com/julie.bindel/videos/pcb.10160135970780316/10160135907955316

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 23/04/2018 16:14

"Where do you think these extra officers should have come From?"

From one of the two police cars parked 20 yards away?

PigeonStreet1 · 23/04/2018 16:26

Do you honestly think that situation could have been dealt with by 4 (more likely 2) officers? It can't.

The first protester refuses to move, then what? If he/she is arrested that's 2 officers gone on a trip to custody. What about the rest?

StealthPolarBear · 23/04/2018 16:27

So is response to crime now inversely proportional to the number of criminals?

CadyHeron · 23/04/2018 16:29

It wasn't a 'counter protest' because the women were not there for a protest they were there for a meeting.

Exactly. They were just attending a meeting. Which they were physically being stopped from attending.

PencilsInSpace · 23/04/2018 16:32

Well then they call for backup. It was hardly the poll tax riots was it?

It was a few protesters on a weekday evening. The problem was not the numbers there it was the fact they were blocking the stairwell endangering the safety of both attendees and themselves.

Honestly if the police in Bristol can't cope with a situation like this they have way bigger problems than your spurious 'what if's.

ginghamstarfish · 23/04/2018 16:41

Have not read the full thread but watched the videos ... what sad deluded tossers, male female or otherwise. Can't believe the police would not get involved, surely they need to answer for their lack of action. I thought that we lived in a country of free speech, what a scary thing it is to see that is not always true.

PigeonStreet1 · 23/04/2018 16:42

Well then they call for backup. It was hardly the poll tax riots was it?

Excellent. So what should the police not do whilst they're babysitting the middle classes? Missing people? Domestics? Assaults? Mental health jobs? Suicidal people? Which do you think should be left alone? There are no extra officers. There is no backup which can be brought in for a long protected protest

PigeonStreet1 · 23/04/2018 16:47

Or alternatively the organisers could have put their hand in their pocket and paid for security themselves rather than relying on the council tax payers...

Lilyyulelog · 23/04/2018 16:53

I am NOT a prominent or self declared TERF. My gosh. I think there is a lot of dissembling going on in sentpais posts

ShotsFired · 23/04/2018 17:09

@StealthPolarBear I do wonder what would have happened if she had tried to push past.

I firmly believe anyone trying to do so would "slip" of entirely their own accord. there would have been absolutely no proof of anyone who was on the stairs nudging, knocking, pushing or even touching any of the attendees. I expect there would probably be firm witnesses/"aliases" to the contrary in fact. Just a silly woman losing her footing and then blaming it on some poor innocent bystander.

OlennasWimple · 23/04/2018 17:16

I suspect that if a stern police officer had come and said "OK, you've made your point now move out of the way so that these people can get through the meeting", most of them would have moved. They might have thrown around some language about being "manhandled (personhandled?) by the pigs" on their twitter feed afterwards, but I doubt that any of them would have resisted to the point of arrest

PencilsInSpace · 23/04/2018 17:17

Excellent. So what should the police not do whilst they're babysitting the middle classes? Missing people? Domestics? Assaults? Mental health jobs? Suicidal people? Which do you think should be left alone? There are no extra officers. There is no backup which can be brought in for a long protected protest

Fucking hell Bristol must be up shit creek Grin

Or alternatively the organisers could have put their hand in their pocket and paid for security themselves rather than relying on the council tax payers...

Excellent idea! Send the bill to Misters Uncut.

NiceHotBath · 23/04/2018 17:37

I suspect that if a stern police officer had come and said "OK, you've made your point now move out of the way so that these people can get through the meeting", most of them would have moved. They might have thrown around some language about being "manhandled (personhandled?) by the pigs" on their twitter feed afterwards, but I doubt that any of them would have resisted to the point of arrest

At the Department of Health protest I heard protestors refusing to comply with a police officer asking them to allow people to enter the building. It was just one officer at that point, and he asked rather than told. I don't know what happened when more police officers arrived, or how it was resolved.

captainBligh · 23/04/2018 18:07

"Excellent idea! Send the bill to Misters Uncut."

I believe that at alt-right meetings, the speaker often has to foot the security bill.

smilethoyourheartisbreaking · 23/04/2018 18:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Allergictoironing · 23/04/2018 18:42

Hiring security guards, for a simple meeting of mostly middle-aged women? Why on earth should they even think they may need security. I don't see security guards being needed for e.g. the local WI meetings, or local political party fundraiser evenings, or (in the old days) anti-hunting meetings, or anything of that ilk.

What next - suggesting that all Muslims should hire private security for religious services because some nutter in a van drove some of them down while they went about their peaceful business? Small local dog shows having to hire private security just in case some animal rights activists decide to turn up out of the blue and disrupt the show?

yetanothertranswoman · 23/04/2018 19:05

The police should have arrested a couple of them. That often makes activists back down when it shows the police are serious about keeping the peace.

It doesn't look good if you have to tell a future employer you were arrested for trying to stop people meeting.

PigeonStreet1 · 23/04/2018 19:37

Hiring security guards, for a simple meeting of mostly middle-aged women? Why on earth should they even think they may need security

I'm honestly not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse, however posters here are berating the police for not having enough officers present to deal with the incident, and were supposed to use their powers of telepathy to realise it was likely to be fractious. However the organisers who are well aware of the ongoing high feelings between the two groups get a free pass? They should have hired security. It's a private event, held on private property, which I'm assuming was ticketed? The organisers should have paid for security. No one else gets a free pass.

The police should have arrested a couple of them

There wasn't enough police to do so.

PigeonStreet1 · 23/04/2018 19:38

As per my previous post if it was black lives matter they would have been arrested

No, in the same set of circumstances, they wouldn't.

PencilsInSpace · 23/04/2018 19:52

however posters here are berating the police for not having enough officers present to deal with the incident

No. Some of us are wondering why the police who were there didn't do their job.

The event and protest were heavily policed, with at least six cars and a dozen officers in attendance at its peak.

smilethoyourheartisbreaking · 23/04/2018 20:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rufustheconstantreindeer · 23/04/2018 20:10

Im certainly not berating the police

I dont think many people are

BiologyMatters · 23/04/2018 20:11

The organisers should have got security? How about the aggressive MEN in masks, hiding their faces for fear of actual consequences of their disgusting cowardly actions should have stayed at home in the interest of free speech and democracy?

Any handmaiden who defends them is just as bad.

NobodyToVoteForNow · 23/04/2018 20:13

Sent it definitely counts. Try doing that to someone in the street if you doubt it.

PigeonStreet1 · 23/04/2018 20:46

Yes they would have been arrested. Back up would have been called

So many public order tac ads on this thread! Remarkable. Just how many demonstrations have you policed?

The organisers should have got security? How about the aggressive MEN in masks, hiding their faces for fear of actual consequences of their disgusting cowardly actions should have stayed at home in the interest of free speech and democracy?

Completely agree. However do they not have the right to free speech also? The left have been doing this for years. It's interesting when it's their own political speech being shut down, how quickly they'll swing right, and become advocates for free speech. For some reason this meeting was controversial. The organisers know it, hence why with most of these events the venue isn't publicised. They should have got security in. They didn't and there was minor dramas. Blame the organisers, not the police.