Man-handling climate change protestors

[Leafyhouse]

Anyone else watch with horror as a climate change protestor was forcefully removed by Mark Field from the Mansion House speech? I mean, I'm no fan of political activism, 'direct action' and so on, but she wasn't presenting him with any direct threat, just shouting and being annoying. AIBU to think that his behaviour was totally unacceptable there?

I'm glad the person isn't pressing charges. It was NOT assault. It was a natural reaction to an unexpected event

So how come no other guest felt the need to react in this way? And how come the security guards were able to eject the others without seizing them by the neck and pushing them out?

Since when do you need a weapon to attack someone....

Right then. Tell us all what form this planned 'attack' was going to take.

Someone ought to be brought to book for the lack of security at the event. After Jo Cox, I have no sympathy for people who appear to threaten those in authority. There are too many nuts out there.

She may well have been carrying a weapon.

Which she'd managed to smuggle past stringent security? How?

Very easy to give someone a black eye, break a nose... Or slap someone, all forms of assult.

people who appear to threaten those in authority.

Firstly, as has been explained numerous times, she did not 'threaten' him.

Secondly, since when are MPs 'in authority'? They are there to represent the public, and are only there because the public chose them and can later unchoose them. What 'authority' do MPs hold?

Very easy to give someone a black eye, break a nose... Or slap someone, all forms of assult.

It's not actually 'very easy'. Especially when you're in a room full of people, with professional security officers seconds away. Unless someone poses an imminent threat - which you seem to be admitting she did not - Field's behaviour was not warranted.

This woman is no innocent, search her name and you can see she has been at several protests....

Since when did being at protests mean that you are "no innocent"? Has protesting become a crime? Oh dear, a few weeks ago, I went on the protest against SEN cuts, does that make me "no innocent" and give random men the right to seize me by the neck if they disapprove of any further protest I might feel the need to join?

Bloody hell, we're off again!

It's been a massive PR disaster for him, because the UK is soft as shite on crime.

He hardly touched her. Just frogmarched her out. Others were doing the same, but he was caught on camera, so he gets short shrift, and all MPs, including Jeremy Hunt are eaqer to criticise him.

This is why the blimp flyers felt free to abuse the Trump supporters. It's why criminals feel free to throw acid, mug people on motor bikes, stab people, shoot people, and rape women. They know nothing will happen to them.

What if the next lot who do something like this are armed to the teeth. I would have like to see this lot try to demonstrate at Royal Ascot. See how they would have got on there.

The Guardian have spoken to the protester: 'He shoved me outside on to the street and said, "This is what happens when people like you disturb our dinner."'

That doesn't sound to me like a man who thought he was facing a terrorist threat. It sounds like a misogynist bully.

And she could have drawn a knife and stabbed him

Hardly, having gone through security.

If Field genuinely thought she would do that, he wouldn't have gone near her.

He hardly touched her.

You can see he's got firm hold of her all the way out of the room.

Just frogmarched her out.

Educate yourself. That isn't frogmarching.

Others were doing the same

Only security men whose job it was, and who weren't ejecting them by seizing them by the neck and shoving them.

What if the next lot who do something like this are armed to the teeth.

They wouldn't get through security. And since when did Greenpeace supporters protest by being armed at all, let alone "to the teeth"?

Since when do you need a weapon to attack someone?

Good point, Field managed without one.

She knew what she was doing.
She went there to stir up trouble...
She knew it would be on the news.
She deliberately went towards Hammond.
She said he panicked,. Which means she knew he confused about her intent...
She is not innocent...

From my understanding there was no security.

If there had been they wouldn’t have got in the building let alone into the room

As Marina Hyde has pointed out, all those very same ministers sat and watched as a strange man - a potential security threat - approached Theresa May at her conference speech. Some of them also watched as a clearly aggressive man gatecrashed Esther McVey's launch. But a woman in an evening dress walks behinds a man's chair and suddenly she's slammed up against a pillar and grabbed by the neck? And all the time she's telling him that it's a peaceful protest, he's continuing to hurt her?

How can anyone be okay with this? My teenage daughter watched the video and gasped in shock when he grabbed her neck. That is the right reaction. Those of you defending Mark Field – what would you tell your daughters if they reacted in that way? That she had it coming to her? Children my daughter's age are protesting about climate change every week – do you want them to be bullied and assaulted by the Mark Fields of this world?

From my understanding there was no security.

Your 'understanding' is a misunderstanding.

There were security. I have seen videos of them dealing with other protesters. Also, everyone had to put themselves and their bags through security scanners on entrance.

She went there to stir up trouble

Did she, dear? What trouble did she go to stir up?

Why would the next lot not get through security. I am sure the security firm has done it's last job at Mansion House, and most likely won't get paid for this one.

It would be interesting to know who provides the security.

I also can't establish whether the Chancellor gets official protection, but if he does, they weren't on the ball either. They need Frank Farmer on the case.

If this lady had grabbed a knife from a table and proceeded towards Hammond, then you would all be saying how a crisis had been everted,. The circumstances would have been the same except for a weapon....

If this lady had grabbed a knife from a table and proceeded towards Hammond, then you would all be saying how a crisis had been everted

So if something which never happened had happened then we might say a "crisis" which never happened could have been 'everted'?

And a single woman carrying a table knife wouldn't have been all that much of a crisis in any case. Some posters here need to move away from the computer and take a lie down in a darkened room.

How can anyone be okay with this? My teenage daughter watched the video and gasped in shock when he grabbed her neck. That is the right reaction. Those of you defending Mark Field – what would you tell your daughters if they reacted in that way? That she had it coming to her? Children my daughter's age are protesting about climate change every week – do you want them to be bullied and assaulted by the Mark Fields of this world?

Yes - she did have it coming to her. You either start from a stance of "Law and Order", or start from a stance of "Anarchism is OK". Personally I prefer law and order.

If you don't have law and order, you can hardly complain about terrorism on the streets.

Rest assured, bag checks when flying, and at public events, and generally stronger screening will become stepped up as a result of this. The UK is once again a laughing stock for the world. IMO

What if she had a gun? or a knife? He didnt know who,or what she was.What gives her the right to just hi jack the conference..Another bloody feminist

GTH, you do realise just how horrendous the record is for crime, and violent crime in the USA is, right? Even with those harsh sentences, including the death penalty, that you no doubt salivate over?

You do realise just how seriously they are currently breaching basic human rights, and how law officials are actually murdering people with impunity over there, with little or no provocation? (Unless the law official is black).

Don't be so silly about saying 'he hardly touched her'. He had a sodding hard grip on her neck. If you've ever been treated to one of those grips, you know just how unpleasant it is. I'm darned certain if you were treated to one, you wouldn't be saying you'd hardly been touched. Don't minimise.

Obviously you're something of a trumpophile. Newsflash. This is nothing to do with Trump or America, and their current system is nothing for anyone to wish to emulate.