Weds 1st April: G20 protests - discussion, reaction and chat

[lostexpectation]

1910 The BBC's Ben Brown near the Bank of England says: Protesters have set up barricades in the street and have lit a fire from which black smoke is billowing. Missiles are being thrown and the police have mounted a charge against protesters. There's some quite ferocious fighting going on.

 

[editor]

If those stupid fucking pumped up macho cops had just asked the people in Climate Camp to leave, and given them the courtesy of an explanation, I'd imagine most of them would have packed up their tents and left.

Yes, It. Was. That. Fluffy.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Should we all just have a mass put-on-ignore for these two twats?

I'm in

 

[cesare]

Keep getting short clips of the peeps at the BOE. They're all bopping about to a samba band

Are they? Good for them.

The OB won't put up with that for long though. If it looks as though they've just become resigned to their fate and are playing a waiting game, the OB will move into forcibly disperse and it'll all kick off again.

We need to get some doughnuts to the OB all nice and friendly like

 

[pk]

Then fuck off out of this thread and keep your ill-informed bullshit to yourself.

Naaa, let him have his say.

It's bovine cunts like this who scream the loudest when they lose.

This is why we fight!

 

[DotCommunist]

Great, so now they want to beast on the greeny-softies. Our Proud Polis

 

[lizzieloo]

BBC reports introduction of police dogs

 

[cesare]

If those stupid fucking pumped up macho cops had just asked the people in Climate Camp to leave, and given them the courtesy of an explanation, I'd imagine most of them would have packed up their tents and left.

Yes, It. Was. That. Fluffy.

Even the Climate Change twitter site was full of fluffy comments e.g. c'mon everyone, let's make sure that we leave Bishopsgate cleaner than when we arrived.

Kids and singing and fluffiness. Not one incident.

What. The. Fuck.

 

[SpookyFrank]

BBC reports introduction of police dogs

Not a clever thing to do in crowd control situations I'd have thought.

 

[paolo]

Are they? Good for them.

The OB won't put up with that for long though. If it looks as though they've just become resigned to their fate and are playing a waiting game, the OB will move into forcibly disperse and it'll all kick off again.

We need to get some doughnuts to the OB all nice and friendly like

Heh heh, like it. Keep having a good time, and give them treats. It turns the psychological tables of who has the upper hand.

I'm relatively pro-police most of the time, but these pen-ins stretch my faith. At the traffy square RTS years back, they said you can leave when you like, you just can't come back in. That seemed reasonable to me.

 

[pk]

Great, so now they want to beast on the greeny-softies. Our Proud Polis

Let them!!

You can bet a fair few will be going home with bloody noses and truncheon inflicted wounds to worried parents who work for the Daily Mail, it couldn't be better!

You and I and everyone here apart from a few simpletons know what the police are like in this situation, only now they have zero sympathy from the media - they are now a bigger problem than any black clad black bloc.

Let them escalate this harmless protest until it is denounced in the house of commons by all and sundry!

Let them try to pass laws against filming or photographing their unlawful acts of violence!

It is quite beautiful, this day.

 

[DotCommunist]

Let them!!

You can bet a fair few will be going home with bloody noses and truncheon inflicted wounds to worried parents who work for the Daily Mail, it couldn't be better!

You and I and everyone here apart from a few simpletons know what the police are like in this situation, only now they have zero sympathy from the media - they are now a bigger problem than any black clad black bloc.

Let them escalate this harmless protest until it is denounced in the house of commons by all and sundry!

Let them try to pass laws against filming or photographing their unlawful acts of violence!

It is quite beautiful, this day.

I see what you are saying-christ even the Beeb weren't happy with police actions.

But it still well annoys me. Who the fuck do they think they are?

 

[cesare]

8 o'clock news. Beeb just said PENNED IN again

 

[potential]

crusty olympics

 

[cesare]

wut?

 

[free spirit]

Because some of the many thousands of people can't be trusted not to cuase trouble. That's not the fault of the police.

is it not?

funny that the bank that got it's windows smashed wasn't boarded up, was surrounded by journalists rather than police, and had police waiting inside to nick people who got in through the windows.

It's yet another example of the grand mets tradition of leaving a target open as bait to suck in the smashy smashy crew, and give the police the justification they need to enact their kettles and go in hard with battons etc.

 

[paolo]

You have a very good point there PK. In the same way I was alluding to earlier, about the window smash thing not necessarily being good PR, by the same counterpoint, giving the Climate folk a hard time is a dumb "get people on our side" tactic for the police.

Hope it gets good coverage.

 

[_float_]

funny that the bank that got it's windows smashed wasn't boarded up, was surrounded by journalists rather than police, and had police waiting inside to nick people who got in through the windows.

...and someone just happened to find a *massive* piece to metal, which noone could have brought with them, so it must have been nearby.

 

[dormouse]

Let them!!

You can bet a fair few will be going home with bloody noses and truncheon inflicted wounds to worried parents who work for the Daily Mail, it couldn't be better!

You and I and everyone here apart from a few simpletons know what the police are like in this situation, only now they have zero sympathy from the media - they are now a bigger problem than any black clad black bloc.

Let them escalate this harmless protest until it is denounced in the house of commons by all and sundry!

Let them try to pass laws against filming or photographing their unlawful acts of violence!

It is quite beautiful, this day.

pk the hopeless optimist!

would be nice if you were right, but...

 

[SpookyFrank]

It is quite beautiful, this day.

Steady on, there are people getting their heads kicked in out there you know.

I wouldn't hold out much hope for the public figuring out that the police are shower of cunts any time soon either tbh. There have been plenty of 'they've gone too fucking far this time' moments already, with plenty of press coverage, and lo and behold the public have failed to give a shit. Stuff like the new laws regarding taking photos of plod have not registered on most people's radar at all, despite the deeply scary implications...

 

[_float_]

Let them!!

You can bet a fair few will be going home with bloody noses and truncheon inflicted wounds to worried parents who work for the Daily Mail, it couldn't be better!

People's heads are not there to be smashed just for you to make a point, plus you are stereotyping the climate camp participants in the same way as enumbers/ultra-left or one of our right-wing trolls.

If you want someone's head to be smashed to make a point then let it be your own.

 

[pk]

Steady on, there are people getting their heads kicked in out there you know.

I wouldn't hold out much hope for the public figuring out that the police are shower of cunts any time soon either tbh. There have been plenty of 'they've gone too fucking far this time' moments already, with plenty of press coverage, and lo and behold the public have failed to give a shit. Stuff like the new laws regarding taking photos of plod have not registered on most people's radar at all, despite the deeply scary implications...

The meeja is a fickle beast, but the real power is in basic good guy/bad guy emotive reporting.

The tide has turned. Wait and see. Tomorrow's papers.
Questions in the house. Justice?

It's Obama time, remember?

 

[free spirit]

grrr... I so want to be there instead of having had to work today.

sure I saw one a girl I know getting smacked by a batton on the news earlier... bastards

 

[SpookyFrank]

If you want someone's head to be smashed to make a point then let it be your own.

Well quite.

 

[free spirit]

The meeja is a fickle beast, but the real power is in basic good guy/bad guy emotive reporting.

The tide has turned. Wait and see. Tomorrow's papers.
Questions in the house. Justice?

It's Obama time, remember?

hope you're right, but fear you're wrong

 

[SpookyFrank]

It's Obama time, remember?

Stuff like that makes me wish I was good enough at photoshop to quickly slap Obama's head onto a picture of MC Hammer

 

[editor]

Even the Climate Change twitter site was full of fluffy comments e.g. c'mon everyone, let's make sure that we leave Bishopsgate cleaner than when we arrived.

Kids and singing and fluffiness. Not one incident.

What. The. Fuck.

They'd brought along their own kitchen and toilet tents, and people were going around picking litter up. If the police have gone in with their size tens kicking, then there *has* to be an outcry.

 

[pk]

People's heads are not there to be smashed just for you to make a point, plus you are stereotyping the climate camp participants in the same way as enumbers/ultra-left or one of our right-wing trolls.

If you want someone's head to be smashed to make a point then let it be your own.

Nobody is going to get a smashed head for me to make a point.

Calm down, I know what I'm saying might not be of much comfort to those still PENNED IN but in essence, the cops lost today.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I thought that they had exactly the right idea - if you're worried about being kettled in and not being able to move around, why not take a tent and some food and make staying there the whole point?

Which is why I imagine they have to be stomped on, I suppose. Can't have people who don't mind it when the police "contain them for public order reasons".

 

[tangentlama]

Keep getting short clips of the peeps at the BOE. They're all bopping about to a samba band

Sounds like they're making the best of it then. And a heartfelt thanks to the Beeb for remaining in situ and the continuous, quality reportage. It's what I pay my licence fee for. ((((BBC)))


e2a: Everyone I've spoken to on my travels is VERY ANGRY with the Government, with the banks, with seeing the rising jobless, with the rising food prices, with MP's second homes, with the corruption of agencies, with the devolution of the welfare state, pensions, and so forth. Ordinary people - pensioners (majority), students, parents - my understanding is that ordinary people are very supportive of today's and tomorrow's protests and demonstrations.


There'll be more of these to come, I hope. One a month would be good.