Having seen the footage of the London police effectively murdering another passer-by, I feel ashamed to be living in this city. Something fundamental is wrong with the british society.
The reason I think it's reflective is that the behaviour shown was an example of other heavy handed policing approaches used at G20 and the Northholt climate camp. The fact that the general population tolerates this sort of policing and the general increase in police powers and abuse of the current laws regarding stop and search is reflective of an apathy and disregard for rights and liberties.
the use of heavy handed policing in these situations may be reflective of failings by the police in the past where less aggressive policing has resulted in large scale property damage - looking at it from the other side it is very difficult to decide what an appropriate level of force is
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Response pt1saturdays_boyApril 10 2009, 12:01:30 UTC
> it is important to realize that the police are not a single entity, the force is made up of individuals, > one clearly made a poor > choice on this occasion and unlike in many countries, this is now being investigated.
Of course the Police isn't a uniform unit of thuggishness. For instance the Met (which effects me directly) were measured as followed in 07/08 by the IPCC:
The proportions of allegation categories recorded remained fairly stable compared to last year. Across all forces, the Metropolitan police recorded the second highest proportion of allegation category 'Discriminatory Behaviour' (5%) and accounts for the highest proportion of allegations of 'Breach of Code A PACE on Stop and Search' (3%). I also think it is worth pointing out that it's almost impossible to find any coverage of the recent G20 policing or the Kingsnorth climate camp policing that suggests actions are from single individuals making poor choices rather than a general systemic change in policing. Abuse of terrorism powers particularly seems
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Re: point 2, don't forget they only did that after a massive press effort by the demonstrators and a video sent to the guardian. A video the police and ipcc then tried to get the guardian to withdraw by turning up at the offices and requesting a take down.
it is good to see opinions backed up with evidence and an acknowledgment that some of the sources may be biased, thanks for spending the time on it. for clarity, i dont think what happened was in any way 'right' but i also dont think it was murder or reflective of british society
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Re: correctedsaturdays_boyApril 10 2009, 20:35:57 UTC
I think it is safe to say that the low level of violence reflects the British mentality. If you look historically you'll find that at nearly all points in time when Europe is in the throws of political unrest and revoloution , the British were a bit ticked off and had a collective stamping of feet. It's not for no reason that we still have a monarch and the french are on their third(?) republic.
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> one clearly made a poor
> choice on this occasion and unlike in many countries, this is now being investigated.
Of course the Police isn't a uniform unit of thuggishness. For instance the Met (which effects me directly) were measured as followed in 07/08 by the IPCC:
The proportions of allegation categories recorded remained fairly stable compared to last year. Across all forces, the Metropolitan police recorded the second highest proportion of allegation category 'Discriminatory Behaviour' (5%) and accounts for the highest proportion of allegations of 'Breach of Code A PACE on Stop and Search' (3%). I also think it is worth pointing out that it's almost impossible to find any coverage of the recent G20 policing or the Kingsnorth climate camp policing that suggests actions are from single individuals making poor choices rather than a general systemic change in policing. Abuse of terrorism powers particularly seems ( ... )
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/apr/01/g20-protest?picture=345366782
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