in thinking Anti war protesters should not have protested outside a memorial service today?

[mamazon]

went to an Armistace service today. my brother is in the sea cadets and so was marching but we go each year to pay our respects to both family members and those who we have never met but who have given us so much.

anyway i was so proud of DS. he asked lots of questions and he seemed to really take in why were there.

when we came out of teh church there were a group of about 20 anti war protestors, with plackards and banners.
they waited until the laying of wreaths before they started shouting and hollering.

I was utterly disgusted buy them. i was so angry i had tears in my eye. there were veterens there who were clearly upset by this display of ignorance.

I do not believe we shoudl still have troops in Iraq but today is not about War it is about respect for those who have given their lives in teh name of our country and all of us who live here.

im sorry but it really did make me so angry.

i would not find it appropriate to protest against terror attacks at a muslims funeral.

i wouldnt find it appropriate to protest about MMR vaccines outside an autistic school.

i would not feel it apropriate to demonstrate against gun culture at Rhyse Jones funeral.

in the same way i do not feel it appropriate to demonstrate outside a memorial service.

the people who attended were there to show respect to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
you mentioned in one of your posts about freedom of speech....you only have that because these fallen heroes fought for it.

i do not agree with the war in Iraq, i have already said that. im sure that most of the people at the service fell the war in Iraq is wrong also but this was not an apropriate place for a demonstration.

there is a time and a place for such demonstrations and this was not appropriate

I would be interested to know if you would feel this way if the subject of protest was different for example....

You are at a memorial service for loved ones who died in a car crash. Whilst you are remembering and mourning a group of protestors start yelling and shouting for tighter drink drive laws/lower speed limits etc etc.

Do you really expect me to believe that you would be happy for them to do this and you wouldn't feel at all upset that his bunch of insensitive protestors crashing your special rememberance ceromony.

Or does your point only stand when it involves the war?

Well maybe its about time these 'protesters' changed tact entirely, why did they think twenty people hollering at a memorial would have possibly helped their cause. It would have done more harm than good IMO and runs the risk of isolating them from people who sympathise with their cause but will not condone their behaviour.

mamazon
Your last post sums it up wonderfully.

I am off now to the shoe thread as this is making me and

jacqueline, if my relative had been run over by a drunk driver, I'd be in the front row of the protesters.

I'm struggling to understand what these people thought they would achieve?

but what did these protestors hope to achieve?

even if they had organised their demonstration at the epitaph today i could have understood it as it would have been witnessed by the politicians who actually have a say in whethere we as a country go to war.

all these people have done is cause upset to maybe 150 veterens and families.

what was the piont?

Mamazon, just because something is not tasteful in some people's opinions does not make it a bad thing to do. if everyone who believed deeply in someone stayed tightly constrained within the boundaries of 'good taste' women would not have the vote and black people would still be seen as second class citizens.

hell, I dunno mamazon, I wasnt there...get people talking about having more peace protests on remembrance day perhaps??

The eleventh day of the eleventh month. One day in a whole year - Rememberance Day. They can pick any or all of the rest of the days of the year to protest about war.

And don't forget that for some people the cenotaph is the only place they can physically go to remember their loved ones. No grave in this country or, for some, no grave at all.

I think people who protest in this way do it for their own sense of self worth.

not logical, saggars. people can remember any day of the year, too. for many people, remembering on its own is not enough. they want never to have to go through that again.

Veterans and familes were gathered there to remember people who were killed in battle. In a more sensitive and intelligent way, they are the very essence of anti war aren't they? They gather once a year, many are very old and frail. We only really think or hear about these veterans on this particular day. Why not let them have their day and protest outside downing street or something?

They know it won't change anything, but they just have to do something, they can't help themselves. Bet they all went away feeling very proud of themselves despite the fact that all they would have done is alienate themselves.

i'm not claiming it was well thought through or even particularly wise or helpful to their cause in hindsight. i just support people's right to protest where they personally feel is appropriate for raising awareness of their cause.

but Yummers i do not disagree with them protesting. i have said that i would galdy have joined forces with them IF it had been a worthwhile and logical act of protest.

there was no possible good to be achived here. there was no politicians present even the local MP was nowhere to be seen ()

all they could have hoped for was some local news coverage at best. was that really worth upsetting those who had come to mourn?

Well said saggar.

but it doesn't raise awareness does it? it makes them look like crackpots.

thats it though moonstruck, the two things are so close together, so why should it cause so much offence.

Getting a point accross (no matter how important) by upsetting innocent people whilst they're remembering the dead is disgusting, and to be honest with you I wouldn't be interested in anything someone willing to do that had to say.

Of course they remember every day. But the physical trip to the cenotaph is (for many) the equivalent of going to a graveside. And I wouldn't go yelling in the ear of someone doing that. And of course they never want to go through it again but on this day it should just be about remembering the dead.

I think if I'd seen the protestors described by Mamazon, I'd have been repelled, too.

But maybe there should have been a protest today about the serviceman disabled in Iraq who was told his presence wasn't required?

And as for protesting outside Downing Street, that is pretty pointless these days. We are literally barred from Downing Street by Thatcher's bloody gates. Shameful. We own the sodding road, after all! Protestors are corralled into a few feet on the opposite side of Whitehall - I doubt ministers even notice them, tbh.

When I was a little girl, my father took me to Downing Street and pointed out that our parents and grandparents had fought so we could live in a free country where we could, if we wished, go and throw tomatoes at the prime minister's door.

Not any more.

But yummers that's like suggesting a suffragette protest at Emily Davidsons funeral or a Civil rights protest at a rememberance service for Rosa Parks. Rather unnecessary, no?
I don't think that anyone here has claimed to be anti protesting but rather saddened at this one particular incident. I have been to more protest marches and tried to ignite revolution probably more than most people on here but I can see the point about an anti war protest at that particular time and place

It wasa a completely stupid and ill thought out way of making a point. Yes there is an arguement to be had, there have been extensive debates on here about the wearing of a poppy. But if you want to change opinion, if you want people to think outside of the box, don't alienate yourselves from the very people you are trying to reach.

Lest we forget.

Bent double,like old beggars under sacks,
Knock kneed,coughing like hags we cursed through the sludge,
Til on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge,
Men marched asleep.Many had lost their boots
But limped on,bloodshod.All went lame,all
blind
Drunk with fatigue,deaf even to the hoots
Of tired,outstripped Five Nines that dropped behind
Gas - GAS- Quick,boys- An ecstasy of fumbling
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams,before my helpless sight
He plunges at me,guttering,choking,drowning
If in smothering dreams I too could pace
Behind that wagon that they flung him in
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face
His hanging face,like a devil's sick of sin
If I could hear,at every jolt,the blood
Come gushing from those corrupted lungs
Obscene as cancer,bitter as the cud
Of vile,incurable sores on innocent tongues
My friend,you would not tell us with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory
The old lie-Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria more.