What we didn't see was that the wheelchair guy used his martial arts skills to dispatch some 58 policemen beforehand and had an RPG shot from his hand right before they started filming.
UK Student Protests: Wheelchair-bound student dragged across the road by police officer, BBC defend
- Thread starter LightspeedJack
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Meh, you don't know what went on beforehand. Just because he's disabled, that doesn't mean he wasn't causing aggravation or confronting the police. In fact, this probably makes him MORE likely to have been a trouble maker, because he thinks he can play the "I'm disabled" card.
The cops don't tend to do things like this, which would inevitably become high profile in the media, if they didn't have good reason.
EDIT: I've just read through most of the posts on this thread, and decided to explain a little more of my opinion. I'm not saying that the guy deserved it, he might not have been doing anything at all. But the fact is, we don't really know, either way, whether he had caused trouble or not. BEFORE he moved into the road, he might have been goading the cops all day. Then again, he may not have done, and he may be completely innocent.
The facts of the matter are that the cops KNEW the students protests would be hijacked by anarchists, and they can't necessarily distinguish one from another. When the vote over fees went through, there was a guy on the news who was just standing, calmly, facing the cops. He had a scarf or something covering his face, but I still pinpointed him as a trouble maker. My friend basically said, "Nah, it's just cold, he's trying to keep warm!" Not 10 minutes later, he had joined in, hurling the fences at the police.
You can't take any risks when peoples' lives could be in danger. Until we get more information, it's not fair to say that the people who agree or disagree with the cops' actions are stupid, or idiots, or don't fully understand the guy's disease or the situation. NO ONE knows for sure; if it WAS provoked, the guy had motive to put the police (and authority in general, including the politicians) in a bad light, to garner more sympathy for the students.
We just don't know.
The cops don't tend to do things like this, which would inevitably become high profile in the media, if they didn't have good reason.
EDIT: I've just read through most of the posts on this thread, and decided to explain a little more of my opinion. I'm not saying that the guy deserved it, he might not have been doing anything at all. But the fact is, we don't really know, either way, whether he had caused trouble or not. BEFORE he moved into the road, he might have been goading the cops all day. Then again, he may not have done, and he may be completely innocent.
The facts of the matter are that the cops KNEW the students protests would be hijacked by anarchists, and they can't necessarily distinguish one from another. When the vote over fees went through, there was a guy on the news who was just standing, calmly, facing the cops. He had a scarf or something covering his face, but I still pinpointed him as a trouble maker. My friend basically said, "Nah, it's just cold, he's trying to keep warm!" Not 10 minutes later, he had joined in, hurling the fences at the police.
You can't take any risks when peoples' lives could be in danger. Until we get more information, it's not fair to say that the people who agree or disagree with the cops' actions are stupid, or idiots, or don't fully understand the guy's disease or the situation. NO ONE knows for sure; if it WAS provoked, the guy had motive to put the police (and authority in general, including the politicians) in a bad light, to garner more sympathy for the students.
We just don't know.
Is it the same guy?daffit01 said:
In the other video I can't really see his face but he seems to be wearing different clothes and in a different type of wheelchair.
I heard he blocked a police van prior, but just not sure if this was it.
i think what people are annoyed about here is the fact that the police could have simply wheeled the chair out of the road and just stationed one policeman there to keep him there until required not to do so.
its the excessive use of force being used by the police as an example to the other students especially on someone they can easily take down without any problems. The fact that they did it on someone so vulnerable is abysmal. The reason why we dont hit people who are severely disabled is the same reason why we dont hit children and its because they are vulnerable where as we would have no qualms over men hitting over men and actively endorse it like for when we are at war.
its the excessive use of force being used by the police as an example to the other students especially on someone they can easily take down without any problems. The fact that they did it on someone so vulnerable is abysmal. The reason why we dont hit people who are severely disabled is the same reason why we dont hit children and its because they are vulnerable where as we would have no qualms over men hitting over men and actively endorse it like for when we are at war.
Fuck you! we supposedly live in a democracy, if we arnt allowed to protest because politicians have broken promises to us and are making our lives difficult when some of it is unnecessary despite what the people paying the huge salaries want and the fact the government covers up police brutality then we should (and i use this word carefully) REBEL!Undeadenemy said:
have you noticed that government condemns any violence (and to an extent rightly so) and then says rather than civil disorder we should be showing civil disobedience, but when we are peaceful the government completely ignores us!
Um... What could someone with cerebral palsy possibly do to deserve being dragged across a street by a police officer? He can't even move himself around in the wheelchair, his brother has to push him. It wouldn't matter if he was a police officer, a garbage man, or the prime minister. He's disabled. He can't harm anyone. You don't drag him around like he's a throw pillow.
Hear hear. Those etonian twats in westminster are only gonna make mess of things if left all by themselves.spartandude said:
It's also funny that protests like these, though quite alot of it was done by sensible and peaceful protesters, will be put down by politicians and the media because it was completely done by a gang of hooligans with intent to destroy.
You forget, earlier this year (may have been last year, cba looking it up) riot police inflicted lethal injuries on a man who was simply walking home near the G8 protests.One of Many said:
As in, murdered someone because he was simply near a protest.
Of course, when a psychotic gunmen was on the loose, them suddenly seemed to loose these "killer instincts" and the rampage only ended when the gunman realized the only person nearby he hadn't killed yet was himself (a situation he quickly remedied)... funny that, isn't it?
The police in this country are a joke. All the decent officers have migrated to countries like Australia and Canada, because they couldn't do their jobs under Labours bureaucracy (where a single caution could result in up to 8 hours of paperwork), the majority of officers left now are either cowboys or just plain thugs.
As we can't see what happened before he was dragged out of his wheelchair it's hard to fully judge the situation (though my opinion I don't think he could have done anything that could really threaten them) But the thing that shocked me most was the reporters completely biased view against him and was making him out to have been stood there with weapons and all sorts intimidating the police
You are allowed to protest, but you are not allowed to riot. You can wave signs and shout all you want, but you can't torch public Christmas trees, break windows, and block public streets. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi both used civil disobedience and it worked for them. That kid in the wheelchair smells like a setup to me, like he was purposely there to start trouble and make the news when he got dealt with. For all we know he locked the breaks on his wheelchair and the cops had to pull him out to move him.spartandude said:
Also, the government hasn't raise the tuition because it wants to deny education to people, it raised the tuition because the government is out of money. Maybe they should have cut teacher salaries first or something, but I think that would have probably been a drop in the bucket compared to raising tuition. If school is too expensive, either get a merit based scholarship or do something else with your life.
...and on the other side of things http://behindblueeyes.co.uk/2010/12/10/cunts/
Neither side is blameless here. Kettling tactics are known to make things escalate quickly, yet the police continue with their use. Furthermore, troublemakers can be easily identified from the beginning (hiding their faces and acting like a tosser are good clues), so I reckon the police should've excluded them much earlier, and so we might have avoided this.
On the flipside, the students haven't helped their cause here. It's largely seen as a massive temper tantrum because they aren't getting what isn't really theirs anyway. Violence against people other than the police and attempting to desecrate national monuments have set popular opinion largely against them now.
As the link above should indicate, the police are still people too. Some of them even agree with the protestors, but still do their job because, well, it's their job to keep the peace as best they can. It's easy enough to hate on a uniform and what it represents, but they're only upholding the laws ascribed to them from above. In short, not all of them are power-tripping psychos who love cracking heads (though some, sadly, are), the same way that not all students are entitled brats (though, again, some are. That some seem to have some numbers though).
Neither side is blameless here. Kettling tactics are known to make things escalate quickly, yet the police continue with their use. Furthermore, troublemakers can be easily identified from the beginning (hiding their faces and acting like a tosser are good clues), so I reckon the police should've excluded them much earlier, and so we might have avoided this.
On the flipside, the students haven't helped their cause here. It's largely seen as a massive temper tantrum because they aren't getting what isn't really theirs anyway. Violence against people other than the police and attempting to desecrate national monuments have set popular opinion largely against them now.
As the link above should indicate, the police are still people too. Some of them even agree with the protestors, but still do their job because, well, it's their job to keep the peace as best they can. It's easy enough to hate on a uniform and what it represents, but they're only upholding the laws ascribed to them from above. In short, not all of them are power-tripping psychos who love cracking heads (though some, sadly, are), the same way that not all students are entitled brats (though, again, some are. That some seem to have some numbers though).
most people with severe enough cerebral palsy to be in a wheel chair can barely talk and have little to no control over their limbs. I highly doubt the kid did anything to deserve itspartan231490 said:
lookin at you twoOne of Many said:
i should have worded it better, i do think peaceful protests and what not are ideal, but the government hasnt been paying attention except in cases when we are more forceful, that shouldnt be happeningUndeadenemy said:
and in terms of the fees, estimates have shown the government is actually going to lose moneyb on all the fees and we had a signed pledge that Clegg would vote against it and he even said he wanted to abolish uni fees, now im gonna be stuck £50,000 in debt for excersising my RIGHT to have education
It was just an open option?Disabled people complain about wanting to be treated the same as a healthy person and then theres hell on when one of them gets treated the same as any other trouble maker would. :/