The way my brain works [or does not?] combined with the “TWAW - no debate!” means I cannot help but similarly interpret all the things. So to those who argue TWA[C]M: Trans Pride Is Shame; Trans Joy Is Despair; & trans people [in the Global North] are overwhelmingly a protected, privileged & powerful class - not one at risk of genocide.
As PPs have pointed out, trans people - as they of course should! - enjoy the freedom to assemble en masse with the support & protection of the state & its agents. Groups the state wishes to extinguish are not granted that - & members of such groups cannot casually publicly threaten violence. Women’s “opposition” takes the form of individuals holding signs about their rights. That will of course get them assaulted. In fairness, you can have been at the Stonewall Riots & helped start Pride itself but if you now hold a sign about women’s rights in the wrong place you’ll get battered, I don’t want anyone to think I’m suggesting this is purely misogyny &/or VAWG.
TRAs’ shameless harassment & intimidation of women seeking to gather & speak about things like FGM, experiences of life in prison/as a refugee/as an asylum seeker, access to abortion, & umpteen other topics going unpunished has absolutely emboldened them. Police services across the UK (with, perhaps, the exception of PSNI) have allowed women to be: barred from entering venues they’ve hired; subjected to mobs beating on the windows of rooms in which they’re assembled; assaulted in a range of ways (including racially aggravated assault); & on top of that have made a holy show of themselves over ribbons & stickers while being slow to move on explicit threats to women.
Incitement hasn’t been an offence in for about 15 years - one can now be charged with encouraging &/or assisting others in criminal acts, whether or not they take place. It requires that the person being charged believed that the offence would be committed. Baker heard that roar of approval & made no attempt to ensure it was understood they were not in earnest/violence is not acceptable/it’s important to be be the better person [& not punch women]; so that test is met. As for what the potential outcome would be; the sentencing is matched to the offence the individual encouraged. The CPS can also charge an individual with encouraging multiple offences. Given it’s so well-known that a single punch can kill, I wonder if, given the size of that enthusiastically cheering crowd, the CPS could go for encouraging manslaughter as well as “just” encouraging assault. (NB NAL/PO so one may need to check my work there.)
Will be very interesting to see what happens next: the Met have had the video evidence sent to them multiple times on Twitter & hopefully people have used the right reporting mechanism (111 online form) too to ensure they act on the reports. Will TRAs try to brush it all under the carpet? Will they try to claim it’s all transphobia; or will Baker find out that apparently they’re not really trans because no trans person would advocate such violence; will it be a return to prison for breaching licence conditions; will there be an indictment for encouraging - & if so, what? Moreover, would a Hate Crime enhancement be sought, given “TERF” has been established, legally, to be a slur used against holders of a protected belief (who are of course free to use it as an act of reclamation eg JK Rowling’s “Merry TERFmas x” tweet).
The rates of VAWG in the UK are dreadful. Truly shameful. For someone who claims to be a woman to advocate for more of it is disgusting. Really hope that the police & CPS will finally act to stem this particular source of it.