unhinged political obsessives firebomb councillors' cars in middlesborough

[Pickman's model]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/councillors-police-protection-150602796.html

who could they mean? who are these mysterious firebombers?

 

[Citizen66]

Fuck knows.

 

[Pickman's model]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-cars-are-targetted-by-arsonists-7876455.html

 

[FridgeMagnet]

They seem very coy about it.

 

[Pickman's model]

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/t...iven-protection-after-attacks-84229-31230958/

 

[Divisive Cotton]

maybe the lib dems are getting a bit desperate now?

 

[butchersapron]

A lead!

I believe there are a small number of people, who are connected to this town

 

[danny la rouge]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/councillors-police-protection-150602796.html

who could they mean? who are these mysterious firebombers?

I know nothing of the circumstances, but my immediate ill-informed reaction is to read into it that they suspect a cadre within the local Labour party of being behind it.

 

[articul8]

I've often said local Labour councillors need a bomb under them but didn't mean quite this literally

 

[danny la rouge]

I didn't think you were in Middlesborough, art8.

 

[articul8]

No, I'm not. I went there once. No desire to go back anytime this lifetime.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I notice that on the first page linked to on the thread, some people seem to be linking it to the EDL etc. However, I also note that it's a Yahoo News page, and Yahoo News is full of racists and fantasists and racist fantasists.

 

[elbows]

Planning & development department, so motivations may be economic rather than political. Any smouldering piers nearby?

 

[mrs quoad]

Mr Mallon, a former Cleveland Police senior detective who earned the nickname RoboCop for his tough stance on crime, said members of the council are now being given protection after he built up a criminal profile of the perpetrators and predicted where they will strike next.

I'm guessing his prediction is: 'the arsonist is someone with access to petrol and bottles, and he will next target another councillor's car.'

 

[danny la rouge]

No, I'm not. I went there once. No desire to go back anytime this lifetime.

I've been there a couple of times. I went for a folk festival once. A mate was playing. There was a flamenco troup and all sorts.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

There was a flamenco troup and all sorts.

That sounds suspiciously close to a samba band

 

[nino_savatte]

Mr Mallon admitted Middlesbrough Council has a volatile history. He said, prior to his election, there were serious internal tensions which resulted in some councillors beating each other up and others refusing to talk to colleagues for more than 20 years.

Local politics can be like that unfortunately, but Middlesbrough is a dump. I've been there a few times. I have to go there in the near future. Not looking forward to it.

 

[danny la rouge]

That sounds suspiciously close to a samba band

In that it shares an Iberian heritage, and a love of the phrygian mode, I suppose you're right.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

In that it shares an Iberian heritage, and a love of the phrygian mode, I suppose you're right.

But do they share the dangerous anarchist tendencies? That is the question.

 

[danny la rouge]

Local politics can be like that unfortunately, but Middlesbrough is a dump. I've been there a few times. I have to go there in the near future. Not looking forward to it.

It's not far from Whitby. Whitby's nice.

 

[danny la rouge]

But do they share the dangerous anarchist tendencies? That is the question.

Samba bands are usually liberals.

 

[Blagsta]

It's not far from Whitby. Whitby's nice.

pfffft

goth

 

[danny la rouge]

pfffft

goth

Do goths eat chips? I think not.

 

[articul8]

It's not far from Whitby. Whitby's nice.

It's quite far? Whitley Bay is nearer (grrr)

 

[two sheds]

There was a flamenco troup

Sounds suspiciously like code for 'we set fire to councillors' cars there'.

 

[danny la rouge]

It's quite far? Whitley Bay is nearer (grrr)

It depends on what you're used to in travelling. For city folks who never leave their own manor, I suppose it's the other end of the earth. But it's only 30 miles.

 

[Delroy Booth]

Mr Mallon believes radical "community-type activists" angry at the town's socio-economic problems are behind the spree

That's a quote from the Independent article linked above. My first thought was far-right nutjobs, but this suggests disaffected lefty's.

 

[1%er]

Samba bands are usually liberals.

 

[pogofish]

Planning & development department, so motivations may be economic rather than political. Any smouldering piers nearby?

Yup, my experience of stuff like this is that it most often happens when someone with a financial/commercial interest is not getting the "support" they expected from their pet councilors.

Likewise there have been five or six fires here in the last two weeks, all on sites due to have major planning applications heard in the next three months. The council don't seem to be raising many eyebrows either! Hmmmm....!

 

[ViolentPanda]

Copycats rather than political obsessives. Old-school German anti-authority schtick.