Witnessed fight and nobody did anything

[ComeOnNowww]

We live next to a quiet pub, but it's been much less quiet in recent weeks.

Went to window and there were 10 peole having a scrap in middle of road. In 40s and 50s. Irish (from their shouts) and probably from traveller community - i only say that as that affects how open they'd have been to police interference i guess?

They are all fighting and punches being thrown.Pretty chaotic. My husband is stood behind me also watching. For about 30 seconds, until I kick into action and call 999. A woman is dragged from the scrap and becomes clear it's all about one bloke against the woman. He manages to pin her up against the fence, (others trying to hold him back) and he headbuts her properly. I am narrating all of this to the police on the phone saynig i am witnessing a woman being hit and headbutted in the street.

Husband is behind me (we are by our front door) telling me to get off the phone and stay out of it!! a woman is being assulted in the street! After the headbut the other men manage to sit on the bloke and drag him away and once that guy is dragged away to further down the street - everything becomes calmer v quickly. I tell the police that the violence has stopped andwoman is crying and everyone is comforting her, the man can't be seen. Lots of shouting randomly and chaos still. think the bloke is some way down the stretet shouting things.

The call handler says "can i confirm the fight has dispersed" and i say yes - and then they say thank you for the report and of course no police appear at any point. Call handler ended call pretty quickly.

Both my own husband and the police seem remarkably unconcerned about the assult. I mean to be fair by the time they would have arrived - the people would have probably gone. I don't have a ring doorbell or anything.

I feel a bit dismayed at both my own husband the police. AIBU to expect more a response?

It’s a hard one actually. In principle yes your husband could’ve or should’ve done something.

however if they were from the traveller community, I wouldn’t. It’s uncomfortable to say that but I wouldn’t. A lot of them don’t give a shit and can be extremely violent to anyone who crosses them. I have spoken to many abused women from the travelling community and spoke to many victims of some of their violence. It’s why the police rarely do something about them. It’s fear. Remember the police officer they dragged to his death?

I like to think I would try and help in most situations like this but to be honest I would be too frightened of reprisals to help if it was the travelling community. I know that’s terrible but that’s the reality.

Especially when you’re at home. Call the police and let them come. If I thought they were travellers I wouldn’t have shown my face. As much as I would’ve wanted to help her.

I object, strongly, to it being called a ‘fight’. It was an attack on a woman that required several men to stop. He could have killed her had they not managed to sit in him.

ok we can note your objection and move on, thread wise, can’t we?

I was gonna say the same.

Was his reluctance due to them being travellers and you clearly being stood in the doorway of your home - so they know where you live.

I'd be disappointed by police - however, the woman is entitled to press charges at any point and will obviously have a good case if it was witnessed by so many.

He wanted you to get off the phone as he didnt want your house and family targeted. As much as I hate saying it, the safest thing to do is keep out of it and you have to do what is safe for your family

Do you mean ‘I’m sorry I downplayed an attack on a woman that could have killed by calling it a ‘fight, and thank you for your feedback’?

You are saying it’s not being downplayed whilst using language that downplays it.

I can move on but I would ask that you just pause and consider it before you do.

As a traveller myself, thanks for calling the police i hope she gets help

Have you any awareness of how women in the travelling community talk about these kind of attacks to anyone trying to get a prosecution on their behalf?

check it out, so you can understand what ‘ downplaying’ is.

i didn't want my husband to run out, but i was surprised by how he didn't want me calling the police. i do understand it's not a clear cut thing. but i would say both husband and police could be summed up as kind of shrugging shoulders - "ah it's dispersed now". people are right - i haven't ever seen a woman headbutted before - it was brutal - and i thought there would be more of a response. we live in countryside. no cctv.

The police try not to get involved with travellers, they were probably very relieved they did not have to attend.

Double post

No I don’t mean that because I don’t want or need your feedback. How supremely patronising. How do you get through life talking to people like that?!

Can we not make this about ethnicity please? A man beating up a woman in public in broad daylight was not due to being a traveller. It's no more acceptable on our culture than it is in yours.

I hope the woman finds the help she needs and you obviously did the right thing.

As unreasonable as it sounds I'm afraid I'm with your DH on this one, had he of interfered you'd probably be, at best, sat by him while he lay in hospital bed.

Domestic violence is endemic at even higher levels in travelling communities than the rest of the population. Let’s not ignore that, it needs to change.

I'd call the police, but depending on the situation, I might not be public about it, and maybe that's what your husband was thinking, too. Some people don't take kindly to the police being called, even under circumstances where it's called for. My instinct would probably be self-preservation, and part of that is not drawing unwanted attention to yourself from people who are already behaving like wild animals.

Threats of reprisals (and the fear of them) are however due to traveller culture - let's not downplay that.

It doesn’t matter. For years the culture in the U.K. was that it was ok to abuse women to keep them in line and get what you want. It was legal for a man to beat his wife with a stick no wider than his thumb until the mid 70s I think. Women accepted it and some supported it. Some women fought against the suffragette moment and agreed they shouldn’t have the vote. It’s internalised misogyny.

It doesn’t make it right. We shouldn’t dim our outrage as a result.

She didn’t want him to intervene directly from what I can glean. Just be supportive - or neutral even - about her calling the police.

Matching tone for tone.

Hope you are ok. Quite traumatising seeing that. Well done for trying to do something.

I wonder was you husband concerned that if the people attended the scene they may call to your house and this could cause issues. If this man was capable of headbutting a woman God knows what else he could do.