Police have arrested 30 climate activists after a major bridge in central London was blocked by a sit-down protest.
Good, more for the jail cells. Hope they like porridge!
The bridge had been shut to traffic for a number of hours on Saturday by the sit-in, which initially involved up to 250 people who had marched from the Royal Courts of Justice.
Wait, 'a number of hours'..?
In the clip obtained by LBC, the animated male can be seen pleading with the eco-zealots to move out of the road on Vauxhall, London, telling them their method of protest was 'not right'. As his tone becomes more exasperated while he watches police officers stand idly by, the man repeats: 'Don't block the road! I need to get home to my child.
'I need to get home, please. You have to think about people as well.'
I guess it's not just the eco-nutters who aren't learning, it's the increasingly useless Met Police!
Gabriella Ditton, 27, an animator from Norwich, said she has been arrested six times with Insulate Britain, including once for breaking the injunction.
She said: 'I expect to go to prison at some point for at least six months because I am not going to be apologetic about this.
'I have known for a couple of years that the only thing that is going to serve us is civil resistance. I have faith in people coming together. Solutions to this crisis exist, we just need the political will to do it.'
If the police don't want to do the job they are paid for, might I suggest they just don't turn up next time? Then the working people of London can come together and show Gabriella some of that 'civil resistance' she clearly longs for...
I reckong someone, somewhere, is instructing the Police not to arrest these morons under the Public Order Act (action likely to cause harrassment, alarm, or distress), which leads to criminal convictions, instead of the Highways Act, which leads to immediate bail and their return to making a nuisance of themselves. Who this person is, I have no idea, but there must be a political agenda in this.
ReplyDeletePenseivat
"Solutions to this crisis exist..."
ReplyDeleteThere isn't a crisis. The problem is entirely fictitious. I suggest that you google the term "Useful Idiot" and see what comes up.
"In political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the cause's goals, and who is cynically used by the cause's leaders."
ReplyDeleteRegarding the suggestion that the plod just don't show up if they don't want to do their job, that's a non-starter. The plod are there to protect the protestors from public reprisals. Once the police are at the scene, any member of the public who dragged one of the protesters off the roadway would be promptly arrested - and probably given the 6 months in jail that Gabriella talks about. Gabriella herself has been arrested 6 times already with no jail time, so the odds look pretty promising for her. My thought experiment is about police showing up when climate activists block the roadway in front of a group of Travellers and their caravans.
ReplyDeleteAPL : I'd pay to see that! Unfortunately the fuzz would be so confused that they would stay in the coffee shop. Just how DO you deal with two opposing groups, each of which is above the law?
ReplyDeleteThe police long ago gave up on the tiresome and unpleasant work of actually dealing with crime and those oh so nasty criminal types. Better and easier to go after the law abiding who don't abuse you and pay the fines. Its the appearance of policing that is important now not the actual work of it all for goodness sake.
ReplyDeleteThe Canning Town (?) underground incident shows what happens when protestors pick the wrong people to irritate - they were quickly dragged off the train (& probably ended up a bit bruised).
ReplyDeleteThese presumably well-intentioned but gullible 'useful idiots' have achieved the opposite of their aims: the public are sick of the disruption and cannot understand the link between home insulation and blocking roads (spoiler - there isn't one).
If only they would annoy council jobsworths, especially those restricting home improvement grants, they would have massive public support!
"...someone, somewhere, is instructing the Police not to arrest these morons under the Public Order Act..."
ReplyDeleteQuite!
"My thought experiment is about police showing up when climate activists block the roadway in front of a group of Travellers and their caravans."
Channel 5 is already bidding for the viewing rights should that ever happen!
"Its the appearance of policing that is important now not the actual work of it all for goodness sake."
Hence the prevalence of the empty platitudes senior officers roll out at the slightest opportunity...
"The Canning Town (?) underground incident shows what happens when protestors pick the wrong people to irritate - they were quickly dragged off the train (& probably ended up a bit bruised)."
I need to see more of this happening. The police can't be everywhere but we, the public, can.