Peter Tatchell Arrested - Outrageous

[Everanewbie]

AIBU to be outraged my Peter Tatchell's latest arrest?

For those who have not heard, the famous campaigner attended a recent Gaza protest. He held a placard that demanded Israel stop the genocide, and that Hamas are a shameful, and reiterated their official terrorist status for the torture an execution of a Palestinian man that attended an anti-Hamas demonstration in Gaza. He was arrested on the basis of inciting racial and religious hatred. The police have since apologised indicating that they believed him to be part of a counter-protest. He spent 5 hours in a cell.

Has anyone found out the current views of 14-year old "Lee" whose words are hosted on PT's website? I remember reading those quotes from PT when I was 14, so Lee has got to be at least my age now. Does he still think he wasn't exploited and abused?

Peter Tatchel has the means - experience, financial, political, legal, and connections, to look after himself.

As for agreeing with him - stopped clocks and all that.

He's utterly reptilian. I don't care.

I believe that mothers have a very important role to play in their childrens lives, which, other things being equal, means I would go a little easier on mothers (because imprisoning is to also punish the child) than I would fathers or other adults.

I strongly disagree with the idea that mothers (or women more generally) should not go to prison because they are not normally a threat - I believe that prison should be a deterrent and punishment for all criminals.

But doesn’t that amount to the same thing? You are saying it was obviously going to inflame the marchers to be anti-Hamas.

That’s practically the same as saying it was obviously a march in sympathy with Hamas. Which would have been illegal.

It’s perfectly possible to be pro-Palestine and anti-Hamas, and PT was entitled to express that position without arrest.

who Says I’m not? Is this some shitbag line you trot out to people that care about the destruction of an entire people? Shame on you.

I used to admire him for his political beliefs until I found he was an active supporter of PIE, (the paedophile network that swapped images of children and tips on how to groom and control them). He tried to play his connection down, but he allowed them to hold meetings in his flat. He knew exactly what they were doing and commented himself that children were sexual creatures. Now I can't get too incensed about him getting targeted by police. There are people far more deserving of my sympathy and support.

His placard could be taken either way, that's why he was asked to move over the road.

I'm unclear if you mean it was legitimate for the police to remove the placard, but if so then I strongly disagree.

It's legitimate to separate protest and counter-protest, as that's the framework we have in place for protests, but it's utterly illegitimate and bizarre for the police to decide that opposition to Hamas is opposition to the Palestinian cause, and to arrest and detain on that basis. Or even to remove a placard on that basis!

It's illegal to express support for Hamas in this country. It cannot possibly be the police's role to shield Hamas from criticism, even if (especially if?) the officer thinks he's reflecting the public mood.

He wasn’t arrested for stating his views though. If you’re going to moan, get your facts right.

It's in the news story what happened. I don't have the eloquence you require.

If I were you and I really didn’t know that Tatchell was a pervert, I’d do my research now and be utterly mortified that I’d started this thread. None of the issues you raise can be discussed appropriately in the context of that man.

Wellllll helooo bunny
Its nice to meet the real you.🙄

Object to the UK police carrying out an arrest and yet be willing to carry out mass murder people for the "sin" of living in a conflict zone. 👏👏👏

A law for me but not for thee is always the best option 🤪

Irony at its best.

Hmmmm, while I have no love for Tatchell for all the reasons PPs give upthread, I don't think we should conflate those reasons with the overstepping of police actions in arresting him for what I think (IANAL) is legal protest.

Imagine if, for example, Posie Parker were arrested for something unrelated to her work in exposing gender extremist ideology. All the TRAs say, "Good, she should be in prison anyway. It doesn't matter that X was legal & she shouldn't have been arrested." How would that feel?

We really need to be prepared to take it, as well as dish it out.

You accuse people of having distorted priorities for not focusing on Palestine, yet dismiss the destruction of other entire peoples?

what are you talking about?

I get you, but I’d fully expect TRAs to be delighted at her arrest for any reason and wouldn’t object, of course they’d think like that. Plus I don’t agree with Posie on everything.

But I am not engaging on the content of what he’s been arrested for, at all. My point is, when you realise you’ve accidentally made a thread about someone who promotes sex between adults and children, about ANY topic, you can’t just gloss over that fact.

you’ve accidentally made a thread about someone who promotes sex between adults and children, about ANY topic, you can’t just gloss over that fact.

Agreed.

But I don't think that justifies crowing over him being arrested & imprisoned (even if only for 5 hours) for something else entirely. We, of all people, need to be very clear about the right to protest and police not locking us up for, I don't know, stickering or speaking.

Peter Tatchell is someone who is occasionally right, often wrong, frequently horrifically wrong. It is essential that he has the right to say what he thinks so that the rest of us can point out how and why he is wrong.

That's how a free society works.

It's not for the police to decide what placards are acceptable.

But the arrest isn't punishment. They presumably took him in on the basis of the behaviour they observed (which may have involved more than just a placard), questioned him and concluded that they had no grounds to detain him further. They did not charge him, let alone punish him.

Perhaps the police should examine his hard drive.

Also, i think that we have to be very careful of saying "if you agree with him on one thing you are his ally and agree with everything he says"

Generally I agree with this and have been vehemently arguing this for years - I.e. Trump is horrific but I agree that men shouldn’t be in women’s sports.

But - if you’re an advocate for sex with children you’re scum, and I don’t care about the rest of your opinions.

Absolutely @Brefugee

And what I've said throughout this thread: that just because he has some obnoxious views & activities, doesn't mean that this specific arrest was justified. Lock him up if those obnoxious activities are illegal - but his obnoxious views are not illegal.

I used to admire him for his political beliefs until I found he was an active supporter of PIE, (the paedophile network that swapped images of children and tips on how to groom and control them). He tried to play his connection down, but he allowed them to hold meetings in his flat. He knew exactly what they were doing and commented himself that children were sexual creatures. Now I can't get too incensed about him getting targeted by police. There are people far more deserving of my sympathy and support.

That was my initial response, @RedBeech , but having been present when a police officer tore down banners I'd made while telling us he was impartial and he was taking them down because they might cause offence: someone made a meme out of his reaction: https://x.com/Brendathemighty/status/1778855115425751068
my overriding concern is about freedom of speech and policing. Much as I dislike him, Tatchell deserves to be able to speak and protest freely, just as the group I am involved in should have been allowed to display our banners.

In a healthy society all voices should be heard. I am one of those women who has fought for years against No Debate. I'd be a hypocrite if I wanted free speech for me but not for people I don't approve of.