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Original poster

London protest

440 replies

DogsSausages · 20/03/2021 16:17

Another anti lockdown protest in London, the police will be criticised if they arrest anyone, they cannot win. Why can't people just stay at home, haven't enough people died.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Dowser · 22/03/2021 20:48

@tangerinelollipop

Some quotes from the article you linked Dowser

Professional anarchists including one dubbed 'the most dangerous man in Britain' stirred up the protests into a shameful night of violence that saw police vehicles set on fire

There are many other gems for anyone who cares to read the full article

MercyBooth what you linked are allegations from 2009 published by the Guardian - impossible to believe any of that

And your point is?

I abhor violence as does everyone on here who supports a peaceful protest

The clue is in the word..peaceful.
Get it!
Got it!
Good!

As you were!

GetOffYourHighHorse · 22/03/2021 21:09

'The clue is in the word..peaceful.'

Lovely. You surely can't have missed that many so called 'peaceful' protests soon escalate? Of course they'll be the odd few that don't but many are a magnet for troublemakers so if they have to clear off by say, 5pm or be arrested well that's fine by me. Everyone's happy.

BonnieDundee · 22/03/2021 21:50

You think people should be arrested for being at a protest after 5pm even if they are not doing anything wrong?

PrincessNutNuts · 22/03/2021 21:52

What did the government think would be the logical consequence of voting to make peaceful protest unlawful?

GetOffYourHighHorse · 22/03/2021 21:54

@BonnieDundee

You think people should be arrested for being at a protest after 5pm even if they are not doing anything wrong?
Well no, but as we've all seen its always evening time they start with the graffiti and the violence, 6pm then.
User133847 · 22/03/2021 22:00

@BonnieDundee

You think people should be arrested for being at a protest after 5pm even if they are not doing anything wrong?
During a pandemic yes. You're not even allowed out at night in France.
Dowser · 23/03/2021 10:57

@BonnieDundee

You think people should be arrested for being at a protest after 5pm even if they are not doing anything wrong?
Two 71 year old ladies were arrested on Sunday morning in the parks. One was released when she revealed her ID details. The other used her right to remain silent and was taken to the police station and held for 2 hours. A nurse was called to check her over as she had no medication with her. She was released shortly after that..

One definitely was attending a Sunday morning stand in the park, where she did not hold hands and join in the dancing and kept the required two metres away from other people. This was the woman that was arrested.

Low hanging fruit

Xenia · 23/03/2021 11:02

The CV19 legislation is the moral wrong although I follow it.
there are some exceptions to CV19 legislation for some protests in the new rules - see www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/364/pdfs/uksi_20210364_en.pdf

rosetylersbiggun · 23/03/2021 11:56

Who exactly are you levelling that accusation rosetylersbiggun?

Did you mean to tag me? Because I have no idea what you're talking about.

I haven't "levelled any accusations" against anyone, I simply responded to a point a different poster (not you) made claiming these protests were organised by "citizens" and not "a group" when there is literally no difference - a group is literally just two or more "citizens" who have gotten together because they see an injustice and want something done.

There is no specific "group" or "groups" behind it.

There absolutely was! Of course there was. What do you think "group" means? Group can mean literally four ordinary members of the public who feel outraged at injustices of society, and decide to join forces to try to organise something. I've been to protests organised by a "group" that was literally half a dozen girls Zooming each other in their bedroom. Why do people think "group" means something sinister? It doesn't - necessarily. But yes global protests are certainly organised by a group or groups.

But to start suspecting a coordinating agenda of I don't know. Right wing terrorists? Left wing terrorists? that really is conspiracy theory.
Why on earth do you think "a grassroots group comprising members of the public organised a protest" = "ZOMG RIGHT WING TERRORISTS!!11!!? This clearly and undeniable was an organised worldwide protest - who do you think picked the date, created the posters announcing Worldwide Protest for Freedom, designed the graphics, promoted the Day on websites and social media, etc. etc. Yes once a ball starts rolling word of mouth makes it snowball, but someone has to come up with the idea and start the snowball in the first place.

rosetylersbiggun · 23/03/2021 11:57

Interesting article on how news about the 20th March protests was spread.

www.newsweek.com/qanon-march-20-vaccine-protest-1576454

FourTeaFallOut · 23/03/2021 12:01

This is what you said:

Where the hell were you when everyone was castigating the peaceful vigil for Sarah, on the grounds that two women (who were removed by police within the first few minutes) were from Sisters Uncut, a group of people ("citizens") who are apparently beyond the pale because they aren't anti-trans.

And it's clearly my point, you only have to read the next sentence that followed the one you cut and paste. Here you go, here's the whole post:

Who exactly are you levelling that accusation at rosetylerbiggin? Because I am as concerned about the police intervention at the vigil as I am at those who would happily allow our right to protest to be diminished.

rosetylersbiggun · 23/03/2021 12:03

I mean, I literally quoted the poster I was replying to, so it's pretty clear who I was replying to?

rosetylersbiggun · 23/03/2021 12:07

I still think it's massively hypocritical that the threads about Clapham were overwhelmingly "awful women how dare they go outside and not do what men tell them lock 'em all up" when that was a peaceful vigil for a murdered woman with a tiny minority of protestors attending with an agenda, but threads about a well-organised global protest day attended by Neo-Nazis and anti-vaxxers, organised by groups with links to Q-Anon, are overwhelmingly "good for them hooray they're defending our freedom, no one organised them they just spontaneously happened no groups!!"

Sheer hypocrisy.

FourTeaFallOut · 23/03/2021 12:08

The quote you used made no reference to Sarah Everard or the vigil.

When you brought it up there was the possibility that you knew something of that particular poster's posting history or it could have been a general assumption made of all of the posters in favour of the protests. Which is why I asked.

FourTeaFallOut · 23/03/2021 12:15

Well, x-post. So did I correctly assume that you had already decided in advance that those in favour of the protests were not aghast at the police intervention at the vigil, without any evidence for that presumed hypocrisy?

rosetylersbiggun · 23/03/2021 12:49

If any of the people posting their ardent support and admiration of a protest attended by Neo Nazis and anti-vaxxers organised by people with links to Q-Anon were aghast at Mumsnet's majority hostile attitude towards the peaceful vigil they have certainly kept very very quiet about it.

FourTeaFallOut · 23/03/2021 12:57

I think it was fairly uncontroversial to say that the police were acting beyond their brief at the Everard vigil. It doesn't lend itself to much discussion, does it?

The only reason live posted more than once on this thread is because the disagreement lends itself to debate.

Fwiw, I'm on my arse this week and have more time mnetting and will do till my lungs are up and running again - so I'm not a great example but there's no hypocrisy on my account.

I'm not even in favour of the anti-lockdown movement, I just think there should be room for dissent and that includes all the voices.

rosetylersbiggun · 23/03/2021 13:07

I think it was fairly uncontroversial to say that the police were acting beyond their brief at the Everard vigil. It doesn't lend itself to much discussion, does it?

Then how come there's 40 pages of posts about how the women who attended the vigil were completely in the wrong and should all be locked up? Yes a minority of posters were defending the women, but the attitude on those three threads was mostly against the women and there were many posts defending the police actions and claiming they acted completely appropriately. Completely the opposite to the attitude on this thread.

It was the same thing last year. All the BLM threads were full of "ugh thugs spreading Covid" while the threads about the Neo-Nazi rally was full of "they're just defending freedom of speech!"

I'm not even in favour of the anti-lockdown movement, I just think there should be room for dissent and that includes all the voices.
Well so do I. But I don't think we should deny that this global protest had links to Q-Anon groups, or deny that there was a big difference in tone and attitude in this thread compared with the vigil threads.

FourTeaFallOut · 23/03/2021 13:18

I don't know, I only caught this thread because it's on the coronavirus board. I'm not sure why that passed without more comment on the behaviour of the police.

I absolutely agree that if a poster is clearly in favour of police action in one situation and not the other, then it's hugely hypocritical. But MN is an odd space with different and quite specific tribes on each board so I wouldn't be too quick to assume that that's the case.

Dowser · 23/03/2021 21:29

Good to see retired met police detective on the London rally on Saturday speaking out about the terrible policing he’s seen
Ex met police officer on the London rally on March 20 speaks out

www.facebook.com/513634127/posts/10160699510139128?sfns=mo

AcornAutumn · 26/03/2021 00:47

[quote MercyBooth]Oh dear.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/25/police-retract-claims-that-officers-suffered-broken-bones-at-bristol-protest[/quote]
Thank you for flagging this up.

FourTeaFallOut · 26/03/2021 05:56

So no broken bones and no punctured lung? These injuries were just fabricated for effect?

BelleHathor · 26/03/2021 07:10

@FourTeaFallOut

So no broken bones and no punctured lung? These injuries were just fabricated for effect?
Even more sinister, a more MPs were going to oppose the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. The reports of injured officers made them back down.