Metropolitan Police - Oh dear, not good!

[EvilNed]

I don't know about you, but if I found myself in front of a line of advancing riot police, I'd be getting the heck out of the way ... quickly. Unless I wanted some kind of confrontation with them. Or unless you knew you had a heart condition and had to take it calm and easy...

[strayrider]

Or unless you knew you had a heart condition and had to take it calm and easy... In which case I would stay away from "exciting" events. -stray-

[MinionZombie]

why was nothing said about the conduct of the police during the countryside march a couple of years back in which they battered a lot of people senseless during which was a largely peaceful protest by farmers & country folk! Class war dude, simple as. Pathetic. ... There's been an interesting shift - far from huge, mind you - since that utter scumbag Damian McBride (can you believe he's in his mid 30's?!?! ) got shafted - that the media (and especially MPs who've suffered at the hands of McBride) either coming forward to speak freely, or looking to discuss the issues in a more free manner. It definitely feels different, not sure if it's just me or not, but there has been a change now that McBride is out on his arse - mind you, there's still plenty of bias getting slung around, still plenty of pissing contests going on, and still a hugely silly 24 hour news culture in this country (just watch Charlie Brooker's Newswipe to see what I mean). Anyway, where was I? Indeed - over the years the news has become more and more selective and salacious - focussing on violence instead of debate, and picking one major story to beat to death, rather than providing a balanced and wide-ranging view of all sorts of news occurring. The world doesn't stop spinning because a kid has gone missing, or because an MP fell over or something - by all means report it - but don't go on and on and on and on about it filling the airwaves with pointless talk about nothing happening all day long - cover all sorts of news that's going on, and spread it out more too. So - speaking of the selective nature of the news - there you go. They're focussing on violence this time, whereas back then they were probably focussing on the class war elements (pointless and pathetic war of jealousy, condescention and spite, quite frankly) ... ... actually, Tony Benn made a good point (as referenced on Newswipe last night), why weren't the news agencies covering the speeches being made by the various protest leaders? We got bugger all of that, we basially have no idea about what happened except that some morons bashed a window in, a bunch of bad eggs ruined the whole thing, and anti-capitalists are wankers who scrawl bollocks like "money is for loozers" on the Bank of England, such people being up-and-down-and-all-over hypocrites, quite frankly. And if you truly don't like it, sod off to North Korea. *sigh* Rant over.

[EvilNed]

In which case I would stay away from "exciting" events. -stray- Well, there are a number of instances of why he could have gotten there. First off, he probably wanted to check it out, but when he got in the hot zone he probably realized his heart started beating. So he tried to take it calm. And by the way, have you seen the video? If you can accept THAT as acceptable police behavior, then I pray to the non-existant god that you never become a chief of police!

[Yojimbo]

If you can accept THAT as acceptable police behavior, then I pray to the non-existant god that you never become a chief of police! I can tell you that based on LAPD standards, this would have been a bozo no-no. As I previously mentioned, the city has recently paid out large cash settlements to claimants for exactly this sort of overreaction.

[MinionZombie]

Well, there are a number of instances of why he could have gotten there. First off, he probably wanted to check it out, but when he got in the hot zone he probably realized his heart started beating. So he tried to take it calm. And by the way, have you seen the video? If you can accept THAT as acceptable police behavior, then I pray to the non-existant god that you never become a chief of police! If memory serves, he was walking home from work (a newspaper salesman at a stand), but found his route blocked once or twice, so was trying to find his way back home - during his attempt to find his way around the chaos, he was assaulted by that copper for no good reason, and then died.

[strayrider]

Well, there are a number of instances of why he could have gotten there. First off, he probably wanted to check it out, but when he got in the hot zone he probably realized his heart started beating. So he tried to take it calm. One of the articles did say he was a sports fan. Perhaps he was hoping to see a brawl, or two? And by the way, have you seen the video? If you can accept THAT as acceptable police behavior, then I pray to the non-existant god that you never become a chief of police! Yes, I did see the video. Pretty mild bit of "brutality" there, compared to: Or this: Also: Or: I consider all of the above vids to be excessive use of force by police against citizens, however, I do not consider EVERY police action to be so. I've already stated my opinion of the Thomlinson vid and will not do so again. -stray- ps -- (BTW, Ned, I have no desire to become "Chief of Police", anywhere, at any time.)

[Yojimbo]

One of the articles did say he was a sports fan. Perhaps he was hoping to see a brawl, or two? Yes, I did see the video. Pretty mild bit of "brutality" there, compared to: Or this: Also: Or: I consider all of the above vids to be excessive use of force by police against citizens, however, I do not consider EVERY police action to be so. I've already stated my opinion of the Thomlinson vid and will not do so again. -stray- ps -- (BTW, Ned, I have no desire to become "Chief of Police", anywhere, at any time.) Might be mild in comparison to the beatings you have shown, but still an example of excessive force all the same. But I agree that not every police action is an incident of excessive force. Sometimes the police - who have a very difficult job - have to get rough in order to get their job done.