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DanaC · 04-19-2009, 05:21 AM

One of the most sickening things about that whole abu ghraib affair to my mind, was the way soldiers like that young woman carried the can for what was clearly a systemic problem.

A similar thing is happening here now with the police. For as long as I can recall, on demonstrations, it was a commonplace that if you saw police without their id numbers on their epaulettes, you knew were in for a kicking. It happened when I was at the poll tax demo in '90, and again at the big anti-nazi rally in '93. We all of us know that's what happens on demos. It also happened routinely throughout the miners' strike in the 80s. Now, I don't mean a handful of cops chose to go without their id...I am talking about a line of police, three men deep across critical areas, such as the one blocking the demonstrators from getting near Downing Street in '90. All the police along the sides of the march early on, were just ordinary police, with numbers on, keeping the peace. Then as we got near to more sensitive and potentially troubled areas, the police all as far as any of us could see, had no numbers. WE commented on it atthe time. AS we noticed the shift from friendly, professional, to aggressive and unaccountable, we actually said it, we said, 'shit....they've no id'. And they hadn't. And they were very violent. And they used same 'kettle', or corralling strategy that caused such violence the other week. There was even footage at the time, of police losing control and beating the shit out demonstrators (and a journalist). This is how our police force deal with demonstrations and deomstrators. Its the way it's been for a long long time.

At the summit in london recently, where a demo was (again) sparked into violence by the 'kettle' strategy of the demo police, a newspaper seller who wasn't even involved was shoved and hit by a policeman and then died of a heart attack (I think). There's footage of police hitting demonstrators with batons, shioving them to the ground. One cop smashed his shield into the face of a demonstrator, another is hitting a woman on her legs with a baton. One of the things clearly apparent in these days of instant mobile filming, was that the police involved werent wearing ID numbers.

The police are trying to treat this as a number of individuals breaking the rules. Again. Rather than the commonplace that it has been for as long as anybody can recall. Just like with the soldiers at abu Ghraib, they are going to be made to stand for the crimes of an institution. Yet again, the institution which (we all suspect) tacitly approved of their behaviour, and I suspect directly engaged with and either supported, or subtly directed that behaviour, stands aloof and untouched, whilst those that did its dirty work get to play guilty devil to the waiting media, and lose everything.

04-19-2009, 05:21 AM	#28
DanaC We have to go back, Kate! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 25,964	One of the most sickening things about that whole abu ghraib affair to my mind, was the way soldiers like that young woman carried the can for what was clearly a systemic problem. A similar thing is happening here now with the police. For as long as I can recall, on demonstrations, it was a commonplace that if you saw police without their id numbers on their epaulettes, you knew were in for a kicking. It happened when I was at the poll tax demo in '90, and again at the big anti-nazi rally in '93. We all of us know that's what happens on demos. It also happened routinely throughout the miners' strike in the 80s. Now, I don't mean a handful of cops chose to go without their id...I am talking about a line of police, three men deep across critical areas, such as the one blocking the demonstrators from getting near Downing Street in '90. All the police along the sides of the march early on, were just ordinary police, with numbers on, keeping the peace. Then as we got near to more sensitive and potentially troubled areas, the police all as far as any of us could see, had no numbers. WE commented on it atthe time. AS we noticed the shift from friendly, professional, to aggressive and unaccountable, we actually said it, we said, 'shit....they've no id'. And they hadn't. And they were very violent. And they used same 'kettle', or corralling strategy that caused such violence the other week. There was even footage at the time, of police losing control and beating the shit out demonstrators (and a journalist). This is how our police force deal with demonstrations and deomstrators. Its the way it's been for a long long time. At the summit in london recently, where a demo was (again) sparked into violence by the 'kettle' strategy of the demo police, a newspaper seller who wasn't even involved was shoved and hit by a policeman and then died of a heart attack (I think). There's footage of police hitting demonstrators with batons, shioving them to the ground. One cop smashed his shield into the face of a demonstrator, another is hitting a woman on her legs with a baton. One of the things clearly apparent in these days of instant mobile filming, was that the police involved werent wearing ID numbers. The police are trying to treat this as a number of individuals breaking the rules. Again. Rather than the commonplace that it has been for as long as anybody can recall. Just like with the soldiers at abu Ghraib, they are going to be made to stand for the crimes of an institution. Yet again, the institution which (we all suspect) tacitly approved of their behaviour, and I suspect directly engaged with and either supported, or subtly directed that behaviour, stands aloof and untouched, whilst those that did its dirty work get to play guilty devil to the waiting media, and lose everything. Last edited by DanaC; 04-19-2009 at 05:46 AM.