The Police are Spoiling for a Fight (Anarchy in the UK)

Member Name: thevenerablebede

Product:	Anarchy in the UK
Date:	22/04/01 (219 review reads)
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Who can forget the image? It must remain in the minds of anyone who saw the TV news or the papers after the May Day ‘riot’ last year. The normally stern statue of Winston Churchill that stands in Parliament Square casting a humourless eye over our Parliament had been transformed. The great war leader sported a green mohican of turf and make-up of spray paint. It was on every front page, in every bulletin and the condemnation was universal. “Outrage,” screamed the headlines, “sacrilege, insult, vandalism, ANARCHY. How dare these dread-locked ruffians, crazed on drugs and anarchic fury, who want to rape our sisters and sodomise our brothers dare do this to the statue of Britain’s greatest hero?”

It all went over the top. I recall Winston Churchill’s grand daughter writing, I seem to recall in the Telegraph, that the people who defaced the statue were unworthy of Winston’s memory. They could not be compared to his greatness. How could they do this to the man who won the war? The press was calling for tear gas, water cannon and zero tolerance for protesters. Winston Churchill’s grand daughter was asking for the stiffest of penalties and retribution for the people who she perceived as scum.

This got me thinking. This was the year 2000. This is supposedly a free country. We have qualified freedom of expression, movement, association and belief. What we saw on that day was a manifestation of all those things. It also struck me that the man who had contributed the most to this freedom was the man who sported the green mohican. I may be wrong, but I think that Churchill might have been a little more forgiving than his extant family. Perhaps he would have celebrated, or at least tolerated, the mayhem. It was what he fought the war for. Demonstration, protest, dissent, free speech, free press, difference, minority views and peoples were all things the Nazi stood against. No doubt he would have deplo
red the violence and destruction (as we all do) but he would have approved of the fact that so many people were willing to stand up and be counted. He probably would have disapproved of the more extreme sentiments too but that’s the point: you may disagree, but if you believe in freedom of expression you must be ready to hear the views of those with whom you disagree.

The press too have inordinate freedom to print what they see fit and predictably they chose the most dramatic pictures and stories: the Macdonalds being trashed; he defacement of the Churchill Statue; the graffiti on the Cenotaph. What has been forgotten was the considerable majority that had a peaceful protest. Who recalls the entirely anodyne green activists planting trees on Parliament Square? What of the traditional singing , banners, shouting and entirely legitimate demonstration that occurred? That was rather forgotten. The press needed to demonise the anarchists. It was good copy. It filled column inches.

And again this year, the papers have pages to fill. This time around the press condemnation has been hard and vocal well in advance of the day. Even the Guardian expects more of the same. The Police have cancelled all leave there will be thousands of officers ready for the violence on the streets. Law-abiding citizens have been told to keep away. The Met are ardent that any association will be illegal. They have not (as they are required to do under the Criminal Justice Act 1996) authorised it. And moreover they will not be permitting it. Anyone, whatever their intentions, will be a criminal if they attempt to attend.

I have been to enough demos in my time (and I was arrested once too) to know that the vast majority of people who attend are just there to make the point be it a green point, a matter of principle or a exercise a right under threat. This kind of thing happens every day of the week whether it is poor farmers in Parliament Square or anti-hun
t protesters on Brighton seafront. But on Mayday the freedom of association, which is an ancient right with a pedigree that can be traced back to Magna Carta, will not exist in London on the May Day bank holiday. We will not as subjects be permitted to meet in the shadow of our parliament without the risk of arrest. I find this is an intolerable infringement of my freedom.

I have also been to enough demos to know when the Police are spoiling for a fight. Last week the officer in charge of containing the demo was on the TV news. His name escapes me but on the television he painted a picture of the demonstrators as anarchists, terrorists and criminals their uniform was one of boiler suits and balaclavas. He noted that unless people were unwilling to show their face then they were obvious there with dangerous intentions. Have you ever seen a policeman in riot gear? I have. They are anonymous warriors. Their numbers are covered, their faces shielded. Behind them, often elevated on podiums are cameramen filming the crowd in unmarked black boiler suits. The Police have nothing to be afraid of from a peaceful crowd and a peaceful will remain so. They will be well prepared for a violent crowd. But their readiness is for violence. They expect it. Perhaps they even want it. What I do know is that a threatening police presence can turn a peaceful crowd into a violent one because a row of police in full riot gear banging their batons on their shields is an intimidating and bellicose sight.

Our democracy and system of government is strong enough to handle demonstration and protest. It is a right which we are lucky to enjoy and which we must treasure by exercising it. We cannot and do not tolerate violence and criminal damage but we mustn’t put down demonstration because we disagree with the points being made and this is what is happening with the MayDay event. The farmers and hauliers held us to ransom last autumn. They almost brought the whole
nation to its knees but because it was a mainstream viewpoint it was allowed to persist with the minimum of attention and condemnation. Let us show that tolerance to the anti-capitalism people. They have a valid point to make. We have a duty to let them make it. The Police must have the strength to police the event calmly and only step in when they are needed. I doubt it will happen but we can but hope.

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