Here we go again Woman arrested for sitting on a bench.

[MercyBooth]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9130133/Police-told-fine-Covid-rule-breakers-just-ONE-verbal-warning.html

I am not sure what people are getting here, we are in the middle of a pandemic, People are dying in their thousands, people are catching it in their tens of thousands, the NHS is on its knees.
We all need to do everything we can to help. With the vaccine available , the end is in sight so there is no need to cause more trouble now.

Firstlu anything in the Daily Mail should not be viewed as fact, so best tyo get the information for a proper news source.

Treats cats rave. Agree.

Interestingly, there was no evidence of a particular increase as a consequence of the very, very much more populated BLM protests so one woman on a bench outside, even as a group, is not the priority.

The police and government need to focus their resources where it matters.

Tax drivers, health and care workers, teachers, taxi drivers etc have all been expected and told to work. Compared to these one woman on a park bench in the open air is completely and totally irrelevant.

All the people you describe are putting theor lives on the line, working hard to keep the country running during a deadly pandemic.

The woman sitting on a park bench was discrespecing all of the others, she was not working, not doing anything useful, she was putting others at risk and arguably inciting public disorder by being part of an illegal protest.

By not leaving or engaging in a compliant way with the police she was putting the health and safety of police officers at risk.

She is insignificant in relation to her contribution to the common good. In terms of the risks she presents to others she i highly significant.

Well @murbblurb she's got what she wants then - a voice and sympathy - and it's been completely counterproductive for the police.

You must have heard of the notion "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

Funny how OP just dropped the link then never came back. You are being played - by the DM clickbait and those with agendas.

Do the police actually have legal mandate to issue these fines?

@hoodathunkit hairdressers have hardly been vital to the national effort but have been among the most likely to contract and transmit Covid.

She was not charged with inciting public disorder.

And I cannot believe I now live in a country where somebody can say 'sitting on a park bench disrespecting all others'

I don't feel she was disrespecting me or putting others at risk.

I do think Dominic Cummings was taking the piss.

I do think as a teacher I have been put at risk by this goverment.

@2boysand1princess

She was probably seen just sitting there for a while and told to move on and decided to get clever about it. We need to be strict as the situation is dire for the nhs. Stay the fuck at home as much as you can. Only go out if absolutely necessary. Parking your backside on park bench in the middle of a pandemic isn’t necessary. Which bit of protect the nhs and save lives dont people get.

"Parking your backside on park bench in the middle of a pandemic isn’t necessary."

There speaks someone with fuck all experience of mobility issues while also having no money spare to have shit delivered and no family/friends to fetch for them.

I wasn't going to post anything but oh dear. Maybe stop to think that police are reacting to PUBLIC requests, people are repeatedly phoning complaining that people are out , say in the park not social distancing. So if there's no response, gen public is riled up - if there is a response (and in this example the woman refuses to give details and has her mate film it to mock the exchange) there's enforcement - gen public riled up again.
Also the daily mail as a source, smh. Half a story at best ...

I remember in the first lockdown i'd go out for my exercise and i'd be weary of stopping to even tie my shoelaces in case someone came over or I was bawled out for it.

It's over the top, but that's the kind of vigilence required right now quite frankly.

@nostaples

'The black young men of Brixton have been getting this treatment for decades. I’m sure the white fifty somethings of Bournemouth will live to fight another day.'

The most dreadful argument I've seen this year.

Let's get the police to treat everybody with extreme heavy handedness so we get a taste of police brutality against black people. Jesus!

No, I didn’t say that, did I?

It is striking, though, the way some people on this thread are completely losing their shit at the idea that a police officer might have the temerity to speak to them, the number of posters who are saying that they would stand on principle and refuse to give police their details if asked etc.

That betrays quite a lot of unacknowledged privilege that some of their fellow citizens never get to indulge.

I’m not saying we should start stopping and searching Dorset pensioners, as policy, to even things up. I’m just saying look at that privilege gap. It’s interesting.

hairdressers have hardly been vital to the national effort but have been among the most likely to contract and transmit Covid.

She was not charged with inciting public disorder.

No she was not. Had the police not clamped down on the protesters public order offences may have occurred. Maybe you missed the recent events in the US?

The problem with the police allowing a small protest to take place is that the protest has a risk of growing very quickly and turning nasty. I can definitely see the rationale behind nipping it in the bud.

And I cannot believe I now live in a country where somebody can say 'sitting on a park bench disrespecting all others'

Except nobody said that.

Being at an anti-lockdown protest (unless she was an innocent bystander caught up in the protest) is disrespecting others.

It is disrespecting all the hard working people who put their lives on the line to keep the country going.

It is disrespecting all the people who would love to go and meet up with their friends but who don't because they care about the greater good.

It is disrespecting all the people who are vulnerable to severe covid disease and who may have no choice but to breathe in their potentially infected air as they scream "Choose your side!"

I do think Dominic Cummings was taking the piss.
I suggest that you will struggle to find anyone who disagrees with this statement :)

I do think as a teacher I have been put at risk by this goverment.

Of course teachers have been put at risk. Anyone in a public facing job has been put at serious risk.

This is one of the main reasons why it is not OK to attend anti-lockdown protests when it is dangerous to do so.

Is it just me or does anyone else find the stupidity exhibited on this thread rather depressing

Oh totally!! The people on this thread who think it is possible for Covid to travel up your arse through thick winter clothes from a bench are the same people who would have been insisting that you can catch HIV/AIDS from a knife/fork/cup toilet seat etc if this was the early to mid 1980s.

'Only go out if it is necessary'

Unless you're Dominic Cummings. In which case different rules apply.

Or unless you're being told to eat out to help out.

Or unless you're being used by the government as a care worker, teacher, health worker etc.

Or indeed construction workers.

Or working packing stuff for Amazon to further line Jeff Bezos's pockets.

Scapegoating an individual or two is a distraction from the incompetence, hypocrisy and unfairness of this government and embedded in our society.

'Had the police not clamped down on the protesters public order offences may have occurred.'

This is ridiculous. Pure hysteria.

'And I cannot believe I now live in a country where somebody can say 'sitting on a park bench disrespecting all others'

Except nobody said that.

Eh?

That's exactly what @hoodathunkit said,

'The woman sitting on a park bench was discrespecing all of the others, she was not working, not doing anything useful, she was putting others at risk and arguably inciting public disorder by being part of an illegal protest.'

Weird

Here we go again, someone not checking their facts.

Over first lockdown two of my friends, who are disabled, were harassed by police for briefly pausing to rest on the way home from the supermarket. They physically were not capable of walking the entire way home without resting. They got called "argumentative" and told the harassment was their fault too

This is why I'm worried for my own disabled DS, who walks to the shops once a week - except he wouldn't even be able to argue; he'd just be terrified
A visiting carer tells me they've already been rudely accosted, even though they carry paperwork to say what they're doing, and I just wonder when it'll be his turn

Oh, and this is DS whose address the police mistook for someone else and threatened to break down his door if he didn't answer at 11.30pm ... the neighbours had to get involved in that one, but was there any apology when they realised their mistake? Was there hell

FWIW I don't blame the entire police force for what these idiots did - but I blame them, though a fat lot of good it'll ever do me

It is not 'disrespecting' others to protest.

There is such utter and complete nonsense.

@SerenityFlowers You might not have a life outside of MN but i do.

That's exactly what @hoodathunkit said,

except that it was the bit about her being at an illegal protest and not complying with polite requests from the cops that was disrespecting others.

The bit about her sitting on the bench was simply the terms I used to identify her

As I'm sure you must be aware

'I do think Dominic Cummings was taking the piss.
I suggest that you will struggle to find anyone who disagrees with this statement smile'

But he got away with it!!!!

We cannot have a country where the law is applied to vulnerable ordinary people but not powerful people who are supposed to be upholding, creating and modelling it.

That is what you should be focusing your energy on.

Cummings had a much bigger impact on people's adherence to the rules than this woman could ever have. This has been widely documented.

Focus your anger there.

Do the police have the legal mandate to issue fines for these behaviours? Any legal bods know?

Oh totally!! The people on this thread who think it is possible for Covid to travel up your arse through thick winter clothes from a bench are the same people who would have been insisting that you can catch HIV/AIDS from a knife/fork/cup toilet seat etc if this was the early to mid 1980s.

false equivalence

Sitting on a bench is potentially risky as the virus can be passed on via surfaces (passive vectors / formites). A persons's hand or clothing touches an infected bench and they can get infected if they then touch their clothing and then / or their face.

This is a real risk.

The weirdness about the virus travelling from the bench up someone's arse is bizarre.