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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the police should’ve acted to stop this?

175 replies

OhhhPeee · 25/04/2020 14:57

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/police-hundreds-gather-manchester-funeral-18150043.amp

To sum up the article, a large group of mourners gathered for the funeral of a well-known local man in Manchester. Police did not stop them, despite them breaking the rules of lockdown, because “emotions were high.” Surely that’s the case at any funeral?

Amongst the mourners, an incident occurred where shots were fired and the shooter was subsequently stabbed in the face, perhaps suggesting that these particular mourners were a volatile bunch. AIBU to think that the police were simply too scared to stop these people? And that the message is that they are above the law?

It is particularly upsetting as so many law-abiding people are being forced to miss funerals at the moment.

OP posts:
Yesmate · 25/04/2020 14:58

A volatile bunch. That’s putting it mildly. He was a godfather and the Police made the right call.

Terralee · 25/04/2020 15:00

I will sadly be missing my uncles funeral.
I won't be able to see my Auntie let alone support her.
Pisses me right off that some people are above the law.

Yesmate · 25/04/2020 15:01

I don’t know where godfather came from?! Sorry!

DysonFury · 25/04/2020 15:07

As someone who lives near Manchester this has pissed me right off. They have given a green light for large social gatherings and can piss right off it they try to fine anyone. Wankers.

Toddlerteaplease · 25/04/2020 15:07

Blimey. It sounds like a powder keg. I think the police were right.

Comefromaway · 25/04/2020 15:18

I take it he was released early from jail then.

LastTrainEast · 25/04/2020 15:19

Not that I want a funeral disrupted, but the police have made calls like that before.

It is fine for an ordinary person to avoid confrontation at all costs, but dealing with crime is their job. What next? 'The mugger looked mean so we waited until he was gone before we helped his victim'

Come to think of it were they just paid to let it go on in this case? It's probably not even very expensive.

araiwa · 25/04/2020 15:57

I disagree

There were guns and knives anyway. If police had attempted to shut it down it couldve escalated in to something much worse.

Police were correct in what they did

ThisGunsForHire · 25/04/2020 16:24

How do you think the police should have stopped it?

succedaneum · 25/04/2020 16:55

I will sadly be missing my uncles funeral.
I won't be able to see my Auntie let alone support her.
Pisses me right off that some people are above the law.

Then go to your Uncle's funeral.

Throw him a wake in your house.

Go and support your Auntie.

Nobody is physically stopping you.

The people who went to that funeral and had their gatherings decided the benefits outweighed the risks.

You can decide that too, you know.

People need to stop getting pissed off that other people are choosing to take their own risks. Everyone out there who they'll have come into contact with, are choosing to take the risk too.

I'm glad the police didn't stop them and I suspect we will be seeing more and more of this. They didn't stop what happened at Westminster bridge either.

Nottherealslimshady · 25/04/2020 17:02

The more people that go against the instructions the more reason the government will have to take proper control of us. I dont want it to be enforced to have an app on my phone that the government can use, its optional atm, but they can easily make it required- like china. We've already given up loads of rights in this recent one that went through government after everyone went out one weekend.

Obviously they were wrong to have a mass gathering, and the police should have stopped it, but they were clearly scared that they had knives and guns.

KungFuPandaWorksOut20 · 25/04/2020 17:13

The police played it right. They would have caused a riot, they wanted police presence and it didn't happen. They blocked Stockport road and Hyde road. And there was a stabbing in the cemetery later on!

RhymingRabbit3 · 25/04/2020 17:18

I dont want it to be enforced to have an app on my phone that the government can use, its optional atm, but they can easily make it required- like china.
I dont think they can "easily" do anything of the sort. We have given up very few rights so far because the majority of regulations are still advisory and not law. I.e. you can't actually be fined or arrested for going too close to someone, or visiting a relative, or going to a funeral, or leaving your house more than once a day. Nobody is physically stopping you from doing those things.

Besides, surely the obvious answer to this dilemma if you really dont want to government tracking your phone is to keep it turned off or leave it at home if you're doing something you shouldnt be.

Dozer · 25/04/2020 17:20

‘ People need to stop getting pissed off that other people are choosing to take their own risks’

Their choices affect others’ risks.

Redglitter · 25/04/2020 17:27

I think they made the right call. There would have been a riot. Theyd have needed dozens & dozens of cops if theyd planned on breaking it up. I expect it would have got extremely violent.

They did the right thing

HeresMe · 25/04/2020 17:39

As far as I'm concerned now, people in Manchester should be able to have gatherings without the police interfering as the police have given people a green light.

Ruffins · 25/04/2020 17:42

Similar happened at a traveller funeral in Kent a couple weeks ago. A lad was killed being hit by a car.

Police try to not involve themselves in traveller gatherings.

Original poster
OhhhPeee · 25/04/2020 17:53

So by that logic, the police should only break up social gatherings as long as no one has a knife or a gun. If someone does have a knife or a gun, the police shouldn’t intervene and let them get on with it. I just find it astonishing that so many people think it’s too much hassle for the POLICE to stop people with knives and guns doing what ever they want. Isn’t the whole point of the police to stop people from doing whatever they want and make sure everyone follows the same rules?

OP posts:
fuckinghellthisshit · 25/04/2020 17:53

Do you really think the police would have stopped this event without the riot squad? How would hundreds of police pouring in with batons and riot shields helped the spread of an illness? The police took a pragmatic decision. I don’t envy any police working in longsight or Gorton.

MrsTerryPratchett · 25/04/2020 17:56

How would hundreds of police pouring in with batons and riot shields helped the spread of an illness?

Quite. It's risk assessment. And if it was a gathering of criminals, maybe the police aren't that bothered if they all catch it.

WorraLiberty · 25/04/2020 17:57

YANBU

They let them do whatever the hell they liked, in order to 'protect wider public safety'.

Errmm isn't that the police's job to protect the public?

araiwa · 25/04/2020 17:59

Errmm isn't that the police's job to protect the public?

Yes. Thats why they did what they did.

fuckinghellthisshit · 25/04/2020 18:00

Google the man who died and find out a bit about his family if you want to know why the police left them to it. They are notorious.

Thelnebriati · 25/04/2020 18:00

They did protect the public, by choosing the lesser of two evils.

FallonSwift · 25/04/2020 18:01

Under normal circumstances yes. But Gorton isn't the best of areas and this individual was well known - and as the police said, if they'd tried to stop the funeral from going ahead the fallout would have been horrendous.

I'm not saying it's right, but the police have taken a pragmatic view to avoid further trouble - as it is there was gunfire and a stabbing there.

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