Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
It really wasn’t that clear cut.
An official vigil was planned and the organisers went to the high court when the police threatened to shut it down. The judge refused to rule on it and told the police and the organisers to sort it out amongst themselves. That’s when it went sideways - instead of accepting the judge’s recommendation to collaborate the Met dug its heels in and started threatening the organisers with £10,000 fines. They had no choice but to cancel the official event at that point, however by now it was so late in the day a lot of people had firm plans to be there anyway. So instead of an orderly event with stewards provided by the organisers the Met was left to deal with a disorganised crowd.
The Met’s response was cack-handed in the extreme and also inconsistent with its approach to other recent events in the capital. Other police forces around the UK were waiting for the Met to take the lead on this before deciding how to proceed but seem to have been so frustrated at its mule-headedness they generally just allowed protests in other cities to go ahead, with only light-touch policing where necessary.
I don’t know how high up the chain of command this went, but whichever idiot decided to continue threatening the organisers with maximum fines even after the judge advised them to collaborate, really needs a sound kicking. A stewarded event with civilians in high vis would have been a completely different prospect.
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And how would an "orderly" event have been any different. It would've have been even larger number and even more disorganised and aggressive by the protestors. Define "recent events" that weren't under different rules? Eg Piers Corbyn has been arrested several times.