To think Michael Gove wasn’t just out for a stroll through Victoria station last night

[Everythingnotsavedwillbelost73]

So Michael Gove just ‘happened’ to be strolling through Victoria station last night right through the middle of a pro- palestine sit in 🙄 How fucking stupid do they think people are?

Deflects nicely from Suella & right wing Tommy Robinson mob doesn’t it. The palestine March was mostly peaceful given the huge numbers but you always get a few dickheads on any March. The right wing mob however we’re fighting with police at the cenotaph. The state of this country.

I am not a Tory politician but I didn't go into London yesterday because of crowds and the unpredictability of a protest march that had been headline news all week.

For a Tory politician to get out of a ministerial car to walk to his home(?) or wherever he was going in the area of the protest march is being deliberately provocative. If he had sought police advice they would have advised him to avoid the area at that time. He knew the crowd wouldn't just ignore his presence. He could have travelled earlier or later in the day but chose not to.

Banning free speech and protest is a very rocky road that doesn’t lead anywhere good in a democratic free country.

I used to be sympathetic towards Jews who said antisemitism was really rife but I felt that they were, understandably, oversensitive and seeing it where it wasn't.

After the Hamas attack, though, with people but-but-buting even while it was happening, and even now calling it things "payment for crimes" and basically saying it was sort of ok - murder, rape and abduction of civilians, women and children, remember - plus the most disgusting overtly antisemitic posts on here, many of which MNHQ didn't remove, nor did it ban antisemitic posters, well...

I certainly agree that criticising Israel isn't antisemitic but I now think when it comes to not seeing Hamas for what it is - and the fact that it blatantly wanted this war, because its hatred of Jews outweighs its regard for its own people - the simplest explanation probably is the correct one. Everyone denies it because overt racism is frowned on these days but I don't know who these people think they're fooling.

Michael Gove can walk anywhere he wants, it's a free country, just as Corbyn can walk at the front of a protest march.

Is it stoking hate though?? Personally as a British Jew I’m on the receiving end of so much hate right now that I have been working from home. The marches should have been banned this weekend for respectful reasons. Then continued next weekend ect. I would say the police are to blame tbh if the marches had been banned then the far right groups would not of turned up, pretty simple.

Do you not think the views of many on the main march (excusing the events of 7th October, pro Hamas, "from the river to the sea", call for global jihad, etc) is the hate that has stirred up a disgusted response from average people? The fact a few knuckle draggers took advantage of the situation for a scrap with police should not distract from the main issue,or the fact of the different police tactics for different protesters,which some also think worth discussing.

For a Tory politician to get out of a ministerial car to walk to his home(?) or wherever he was going in the area of the protest march is being deliberately provocative.

There shouldn't be anywhere that can be considered deliberately provocative to go to though. That place straight into the hands of the far-right narrative of no-go zones.

The traffic was unspeakable yesterday. We set off for a family trip out, miscalculated and literally abandoned (parked) our car half a mile away and walked home. We need to collect it today.

Because the DM needed a suitably dog whistle headline, obviously.

Well there’s a surprise. Honestly. I despair at the state of this corrupt, self-serving lot and the fuckers that keep them in power. I can’t remember ever feeling this depressed by the state of the UK.

It’s very depressing that a U.K. politician can’t walk through a major London train station where he works trying to get home without being subject to abuse! And I can’t believe people are blaming him for being there. Why should he change his plans?
what about people just let him go about his business instead. Then he wouldn’t be on the front page taking the limelight from the hamas supporting and cenotaph storming idiots.
Keir got a load of abuse from pro Palestine supporters the other day too. Was he also courting it? No of course not

Meaning exactly what the quote says. Do you need me to explain it to you, in simpler terms? I thought it was easy to understand as it is. Basically, you are wasting your time arguing with an idiot.
I can think of many, many answers. See above why it is futile to give them.

Yes, I’m sure tax payer funded driver is his more usual form of transportation.

Who made the mob react as they did?

The idea that Michael Gove is a victim of anything and not an unspeakable villain is a hoot. He is a Machiavellian Tory.

Even Guardian readers will get the headline

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/11/michael-gove-mobbed-by-pro-palestinian-protesters-in-victoria-station

And the protestors took the bait

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/11/michael-gove-mobbed-by-pro-palestinian-protesters-in-victoria-station
Even Stephen Flynn the SNP Westminster leader supported Gove's right to walk through a station without being harassed. Have we forgotten Jo Cox and David Amess? Whatever you think about Gove, he is an elected MP and should be able to walk about in public safely

Why wouldn’t it be, if all these people are supposedly peace loving and as sensible as they claim to be?

Suella Braverman's husband has family who work for the IDF which she has recently spoken about in a DM article.

They're divorced

The idea that Michael Gove is a victim of anything and not an unspeakable villain is a hoot. He is a Machiavellian Tory.

@DarkDarkNight quite. As all of them are and people just fall for it over and over again. Apparently Steve Bannon has been giving media training- says it all.

I am so sorry that you are in this situation .
I agree that the marches should have been banned this weekend.
I also think Michael Gove should have been able to walk where he wanted after all we are repeatedly told that the marches are peaceful !

So in your view threats and mob abuse are fair go?

How far is it ok to go if it’s a politician you don’t like, we’ve had some extreme events to show where it can go

Everythingnotsavedwillbelost73
this sums it up [Guardian Editorial]

The Guardian's Editorial last year - quite happy to criticise the Met Police:

counterproductive
vindictive
absurd
heavy-handed
clumsy
aggressive...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/12/the-guardian-view-on-policing-protest-the-wrong-approach