There is something very wrong in this country when six young people meeting to discuss politics in a Quaker Meeting House are arrested by the police after a mass (twenty officers) invasion of the building (armed with tasers).
The freedom to protest, or even the freedom to meet in a room to discuss current affairs, are central to a democracy... if this freedom is now compromised (further), as it seems to be, we are in a very bad place!
h/t @Thebratdragon
@Stevenheywood @ChrisMayLA6 @Thebratdragon
We've known for a long time that the MET has a deeply dysfunctional organisational culture - it really has to be broken up into much smaller forces with entirely new leaderships, drawn from elsewhere. The interaction of its existing chauvinist ethos with repressive protest legislation really is dangerous.
And there's another context to this police repression: their utter failure to deal with real crime, with detection and conviction rates at truly shocking, miniscule levels - hovering around 2% for serious crime like rape and burglary. The good are targeted, the criminals are laughing.
@GeofCox @Stevenheywood @ChrisMayLA6
ALL UK Police forces are the same.
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Steven Heywood
GeofCox
Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon
inpc