Nice weekend for a fire...

[Hondo]

So the great London, Unions against everybody and their brother march, protest, sing-a-long, hoe down, hoot nanny happens this coming weekend. Y'all gonna go ahead and start destroying the olympic village now or wait until the games are closer?

[Hondo]

Looking at the videos, that's a pretty pathetic group of rioters and looters you've come up with for such a gala event.

[gloomyDAY]

They're a tad bit upset, but you can imagine that you'd be as well.
Higher taxes and a decrease in services via the government.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/962323--london-shops-attacked-as-250-000-protest-spending-cuts

Are they justified in burning tish up and destroying property? No, but it sure looks like a lot of fun.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Anarchists signal the end of capitalism as they break into a branch of Santander and push some leaflets about savings accounts onto the floor! :eek:

[Hondo]

They looked more like a group of fancy lads out for a lark after having their first ever pint.

[GridGirl]

I watched the first part of the Andrew Marr show which was aired immediately after the Grand Prix this morning. I had to laugh at how Colonel Gaddafi is using video footage of the riots as part of his own political agenda. Although, I have to admit I haven't verified the substance behind Andrew Marrs comments.

[BDunnell]

I watched the first part of the Andrew Marr show which was aired immediately after the Grand Prix this morning. I had to laugh at how Colonel Gaddafi is using video footage of the riots as part of his own political agenda. Although, I have to admit I haven't verified the substance behind Andrew Marrs comments.

It's been reported by the BBC today that they used that footage to claim that everyone was marching against the current campaign in Libya! You can't fault the regime for imagination.

[christophulus]

Shame really, once again a peaceful demonstration has been ruined by a few mindless idiots. I doubt they're going to allow many more protests in the centre of London as they always seem to get hijacked.

Interesting aside in that article:


The British public is divided over the planned cuts, according to a Guardian/ICM poll of 1,014 people published Saturday.
Of those surveyed, 35 per cent said the cuts go too far compared with 28 per cent who said they strike the right balance and 29 per cent who believe they do not go far enough.


More people in favour of the cuts than against? No wonder the government's in no rush to change their mind.

[Hondo]

The police and the media say the information on where and what time the more violence prone folks need to meet is spread on Twitter, etc. Maybe for your next big shindig you should try sending out a time and the address of one of the larger police stations just to see how many fools show up, ready to paint.

[Mark]

Shame really, once again a peaceful demonstration has been ruined by a few mindless idiots. I doubt they're going to allow many more protests in the centre of London as they always seem to get hijacked.
.

Yes, and that's a shame as London is where you want the protests to happen as it's the seat of government, and yet there's always a few who use it as an excuse to kick off, which totally undermines everything, as the message gets completely overshadowed by coverage of the damage.

[Hondo]

Shame really, once again a peaceful demonstration has been ruined by a few mindless idiots. I doubt they're going to allow many more protests in the centre of London as they always seem to get hijacked.

Interesting aside in that article:





More people in favour of the cuts than against? No wonder the government's in no rush to change their mind.

To be even more fair, even a complete idiot knows that organizing a protest that large is going to spin off some violence and damage and should be held 50% responsible for the costs of the damages. He, she, or it may then pursue those that actually caused the damage through the civil courts to try to recover their costs.

[ArrowsFA1]

Two months before the general election, Nick Clegg warned there would be “riots” on the streets if the Conservatives introduced extreme cuts.

To describe these as "riots" is to do a disservice to the tens of thousands of people who exercised their right to protest peacefully. As a friend of mine who was there said: "it was peaceful. Marchers were nurses, teachers, union members who all pay taxes but want them used properly." That was her experience.

When you see that 201 arrests were made (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12876705) and then learn that 138 of those were peacefully protesting in a tea shop then you do wonder about the media coverage and the "angle" that is put on these kind of events.

When you have a government saying it is listening to people who are voicing concerns & opposition about the effect of cuts, and in the same breath saying that policy will not change you can understand why people get frustrated and angry.

A tiny minority allowed the media and government to highlight acts of vandalism, as always tends to be the case, rather than the real issues which they would rather not get to much airtime and were voiced by the vast majority.

Credit to the government for one thing. Within a year of coming to power there have been major protests against their policies from a normally fairly apathetic electorate.

Nick Clegg was right.

[christophulus]

A tiny minority allowed the media and government to highlight acts of vandalism

Exactly, they make it too easy for the media to put a negative spin on the day. They're only hurting their own cause, as to any outsiders it appears that people who are against the cuts are only interested in mindless vandalism.

[ArrowsFA1]

Footage filmed at the anti-cuts protest was shot by Green & Black Cross legal observers and handed to UK Uncut, which passed it on to the Guardian. It shows a police chief inspector telling demonstrators inside the Fortnum & Mason store they would be allowed to leave. After being led outside, the footage appears to show the protesters being kettled and then arrested.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2011/mar/28/fortnum-mason-protesters-uk-uncut-video?CMP=twt_gu

[Garry Walker]

Anarchists signal the end of capitalism as they break into a branch of Santander and push some leaflets about savings accounts onto the floor! :eek:
Anarchists are about the biggest group of idiots ever.


Two months before the general election, Nick Clegg warned there would be “riots” on the streets if the Conservatives introduced extreme cuts.

That is the result of the long period of labour rule (or terror, as I would rather put it), where non-existant money was spent in the way people of such political views often do. Every idiot knows cuts are necessary, even someone of obviously limited intelligence such as nick clegg.