Royal car attack: Cameron calls for 'full force of law'

[Joanne98]

Source: The Guardian

David Cameron today promised the full force of the law would be used on the "mob" who attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, and smashed property in central London last night, while student leaders hit back, claiming protesters had suffered police brutality.

Mark Bergfeld, of the Education Activist Network, claimed demonstrators had suffered "horrendous" conditions as they were kettled for up to 10 hours and said the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were just in "the wrong place at the wrong time".

"There was police brutality," he said. "I saw 14-year-olds carry out their friends with cracked heads and things like that.

"I saw that people were being kettled until 1am on Westminster bridge. They were held there without toilet facilities, without water or food for 10 hours. We don't live in that kind of regime."



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/dec/10/royal-car-attack-cameron-charles

[rfranklin]

1. Yes, this bozo is trying to cover up for police incompetence as well...

That security detail should not have driven them through that route.

[EmilyKent]

2. On this I fully agree with PM Cameron.

[movonne]

4. Why!!!give a reason that you fully agree...just curious...

[EmilyKent]

11. Mob rule is not to be tolerated.

The UK has it's problems as all countries do, but it's a democracy with non-violent ways to change things.

It's not a repressed third world dictatorship where violent revolution is the only recourse.

I'm not a fan of Charles and Camilla, but they have nothing to do with govt policy and have the same right as others to be secure on the street.

On a practical note, students may want to hold peaceful protests but there are a large bunch of anarchists and Trots that show up at all these things to deliberately turn them into riots. It's like the Black Bloc at G8 meetings.

Moreover, the cause loses all sympathy, and the security gets heavier when these things happen.

[zeemike]

15. But rule by the mob is.

But Charles and Camila have more responsibility than you might think...it is their wealth that is being protected, and it is their wealth that determines policy.
And things are Little different here....bush is untouchable because of his wealth and his wealth is still influencing policy.

[EmilyKent]

16. No, they do not.

Royal family money has nothing to do with govt policy. The Queen doesn't own all those castles and works of art you know, they belong to the country.

[zeemike]

29. But the queen and royals have billions invested all over.

And if you expect me to believe that those billions have no vote then you will be disappointed.
How many in the House of Lords ow their position to the Queen and her great wealth.

[marasinghe]

38. much, like the crown jewels, belonged to people & countries plundered by their recent ancestors.

if the queen & charles want nothing to do with those castles & art collections, and, gems - wouldn't it be pretty easy to abdicate their positions and, ergo, their fortune? i believe charles' grand-uncle did something along those lines, for the love of a woman. and one would be tempted to think that a desire for justice might carry a little more weight than emotional considerations.

[The Flaming Red Head]

45. You mean they live like a welfare family in public housing.

richest welfare family in da world

[Downtown Hound]

31. We have marched peacefully by the millions

campaigned, volunteered, argued, and fought incessantly, and elected the opposition party to the government. And what has changed? Very little. We're still at war, the economy still sucks, the rich get richer and the poor don't get shit.

At what point are we allowed to say we have a right to demand something more, and we're not going to back down no matter what, even if it means using force? Personally, I think we're there.

[Very_Boring_Name]

32. If you want to start a street brawl, go for it

I won't have any sympathy for you when the police stop you though.

[Downtown Hound]

33. And don't expect me to have any sympathy for any peaceful protester when they start whining

about how the cops mistreated them, or how the media ignored them but gave all the coverage to the tea party, or about how you got so many people to the march but the powers that be just didn't care, or how your vote was stolen by a Diebold machine.

All of those things continue to happen because people don't force the powers that be to change. Asking them is simply not enough.

[lunatica]

47. When you see the word 'kettled' or 'kettling' it usually means

the police attacked first only to later say the 'mob' attacked. It's the same practice they used in NYC during the peaceful anti-war protests when people were forcefully herded into fenced off detention areas and left without food or medicine or water or bathroom facilities for hours. The methods used are police in full riot gear beating protesters and mounted police forcing protesters to back off or get seriously injured.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling

Kettling, also known as containment or corralling,<1> is a police tactic for the management of large crowds during demonstrations or protests. It involves the formation of large cordons of police officers who then move to contain a crowd within a limited area. Protesters are left only one choice of exit, determined by the police, or are completely prevented from leaving. Detainees can be denied access to food, water and toilet facilities for a long period.

[Matariki]

48. Ha. They should write their Senators. See where that gets them.

[dipsydoodle]

12. The sheer scale of criminal damage for starters

Left to me the fees would increase to £10000 pa to cover repairs to such damage across all of their protests.

[BenzoDia]

27. When you have national health care, why would the students rough up cops and

send them to the hospital? With their economy and budget cuts, why are they vandalising cop cars and publicly funded structures?

This is coming out of their pockets!

[Ozymanithrax]

3. It's gettin' so a royal bastard can't take a drive without the rabble...

kickin' his car and breaking his glass.

Imagine the temerity of those so called students, letting the well off and well to do know they won't drink their toilet water anymore. Perhaps if the royals dedicated half their income to fixing the economic problems caused by wealthy bludgers they might be better received.

Mind you, I don't advocate violence. But as the misery index climbs because of the crimes of wealth, such events will happen. When forced to the bottom of Maslow's pyramid, such things as the law break down. There are times that a person must stand up for what is right.

[Kennah]

5. Off with their heads!

I caught some of that video. Amazing.

I hear that Charles is going to address Parliament next week and speak about the merits of cake.

[valerief]

7. I loved hearing that!!!! nt

[Kennah]

13. This just in ...

... it was Camilla who said "Off with their heads". She then requested a pig.

[valerief]

6. "We don't live in that kind of regime." Uh, yes, you do. It happened. You do live in that kind

of regime.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Presumably they expected

temporary toilets and drinks machines to be installed on Westminster Bridge. :sarcasm:

Despite the promises of the organisers that they would not attempt to occupy Parliament Square they did so. Doing so also gave rise to use of the square's fencing ,which had been torn up against, the police who only then retaliated. Exactly where the students thought they would go after that other than across Westminmster Bridge will remain one of life's great mysteries.

[Jeneral2885]

9. Wait

He calls for full force over an incident where the Royals were unhurt while he says nothing about the injured students? Is he PM of the people or PM of the Crown?

[dipsydoodle]

14. You conveniently missed out

"and smashed property in central London"

The students were injured as a result of their own actions. Do not be deceived by isolated still images or video clips - if you'd watched the entire days events from lunchtime GMT through to early hours of today you'd grasp that.

[StarburstClock]

10. Therein lies the problem, the elites have abused and ignored the "law" for so long

that no one has any respect for them anymore.

[captain jack]

17. Next time the protesters should make it worth the full force of law.

I thought the protesters were quite reserved considering the many alternatives available to them.

[EmilyKent]

18. The protesters were seconds away from being shot

and run over. They were very lucky.

[daleo]

21. Protesters are lucky when their government doesn't kill them

After all, being shot by your own government shows you have a healthy democracy.

[EmilyKent]

23. The so-called students were openly carrying

cans of petrol. If petrol rather than paint had been splashed on the car, security would have opened fire, and the driver would have immediately sped off, crowd or not.

What would happen if Obama was attacked in the streets by a mob?

[dipsydoodle]

25. You've used the perfect analogy

:hi:

[smiley]

26. but, but, -

how can we equate Charles w/ Obama? Didn't you just say Charles doesn't rule or own the wealth?

[Pavulon]

40. hey we finally agree. If that was ANY american in the government under protection

the people doing that would have been shot with automatic rifles or sub guns. The poons involved will be arrested from the footage and probably will not be Oxford students.

Just a quick bet.

[daleo]

41. If petrol had been used instead of paint

That would have been quite a different matter.

It has been said that "if my grandma had wheels she might be a wagon".

[LiberalEsto]

19. Put their heads on pikes beside the Tower, eh?

I'll bet Cameron wishes he would go back to the horrible punishments of Jolly Olde England.

[daleo]

20. A real mob wouldn't have let them pass

Real mobs out for blood get real blood. This wasn't much more than an inconvenience for Charles and Camilla. King Charles I, now that was different.

[saigon68]

30. a different ending with this mob

[daleo]

42. Yes, that's an indication of what a mob can do, if sufficiently provoked

There's no comparison.

[lobodons]

22. Off with their head

Seems a like a bit of Ol'French Revolution kind of stuff going on.

[Catherina]

37. Battle lines are being drawn all over Europe. n/t

[JDPriestly]

24. Wrong on both sides, but clearly better behavior has to be demanded

from the police who are the adults, that is, the authorities, in this situation.

I think that some of the most violent of the demonstrators were way, way, way out of line. They looked almost professional in their approach to dealing with the police. That is very troubling. In the past, we have found that when a small group of demonstrators start to attack the police in that very well organized, almost militaristic way, it turns out that the attackers were either police provocateurs or extremist anarchists who just look for any opportunity to perpetrate violence.

It is the seeding of non-violent demonstrations with these kinds of violent individuals that renders the age-old political tool of demonstrations obsolete. Once a movement is associated with violence, it loses credibility with those who might sympathize with its values but who do not identify with it.

Nonviolence is the only way to achieve long-lasting change, the only way. If there is to be a demonstration, it should be in the form of a prayer vigil or fasting, not in the form of a moving mob. The moving mob is too easily infiltrated and used and turned to violence.

[SoapBox]

28. Blah, Blah, Blah - So are the Richy-Rich couple now aware of what the students are protesting about?

How's about the "shocked" couple go to bat to help out the students?

Who has more money? Them? or the students?

The real message of why the protests are happening is now going
to be clouded over by the "outrage and shock" that the car
got soiled.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

34. So, how does this work? Do the put the mob on a lineup for identification?

http://markyoungtrainingsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/mob.bmp

[Johnny Harpo]

35. By All Means...We Must Protect The Royal Limo

n/t

[Catherina]

36. That worked real well for Tsar Nicholas. Go ahead, call for it.

The people united will never be defeated. The anger is at boiling point and you're just turning up the heat.

[Pavulon]

39. were the "people" even students, or just the UK equiv

of our assholes who dress in black, wear face masks and break windows? Fuck the black block.

[Name removed]

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[Gin]

44. did they ever get out of the car & go to the benefit?

[Name removed]

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[ProudDad]

49. "We don't live in that kind of regime."

I'm afraid, old cock, that you and we USAmericans ALL live in that sort of regime...