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| Britain | |||
| Mutiny on Flight 613 | |||
| 2006-08-20 | |||
| It's starting. British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed. The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic. Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes before it was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB 613 in the departure lounge refused to board it. The incident fuels the row over airport security following the arrest of more than 20 people allegedly planning the suicide-bombing of transatlantic jets from the UK to America. It comes amid growing demands for passenger-profiling and selective security checks. It also raised fears that more travellers will take the law into their own hands - effectively conducting their own 'passenger profiles'. The passenger revolt came as Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary was accused of using the terror crisis to make money. Government sources say he boasted to an official at the Transport Department: "Every time I appear on TV, I get a spike in sales." Websites used by pilots and cabin crew were yesterday reporting further incidents. In one, two British women with young children on another flight from Spain complained about flying with a bearded Muslim even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding.
Initially, six passengers refused to board the flight. On board the aircraft, word reached one family. To the astonishment of cabin crew, they stood up and walked off, followed quickly by others. The Monarch pilot - a highly experienced captain - accompanied by armed Civil Guard police and airport security staff, approached the two men and took their passports. Half an hour later, police returned and escorted the two Asian passengers off the jet. Soon afterwards, the aircraft was cleared while police did a thorough security sweep. Nothing was found and the plane took off - three hours late and without the two men on board. Monarch arranged for them to spend the rest of the night in an airport hotel and flew them back to Manchester later on Wednesday. College lecturer Jo Schofield, her husband Heath and daughters Emily, 15, and Isabel, 12, were caught up in the passenger mutiny. Mrs Schofield, 38, said: "The plane was not yet full and it became apparent that people were refusing to board. In the gate waiting area, people had been talking about these two, who looked really suspicious with their heavy clothing, scruffy, rough, appearance and long hair. Some of the older children, who had seen the terror alert on television, were starting to mutter things like, 'Those two look like they're bombers.'
Mr Schofield, 40, an area sales manager, said: "When the men were taken off they didn't argue or say a word. They just picked up their coats and obeyed the police. They seemed resigned to the fact they were under suspicion. The captain and crew were very apologetic when we were asked to evacuate the plane for the security search. But there was no dissent. While we were waiting, everyone agreed the men looked dodgy. Some passengers were very panicky and in tears. There was a lot of talking about terrorists." Patrick Mercer, the Tory Homeland Security spokesman, said last night: "This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally. For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense."
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| Posted by:lotp |
| #23 Just today, while the JonBenet clown was flown from Bangkok in a $5,000 dollar biz class seat with champagne toasts and prawns, I was hustled to the "special security" area at JFK, subjected to multiple extremely personal wandings, had the soles of my feet inspected and the entire contents of my handbag swabbed for explosives. I am not a happy camper. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-08-20 23:13 |
| #22 This story won't just be sweeping the right side of the web. I sent the url of the newspaper article to a retired friend of mine down in Florida, in response to a couple of those "all the bad things done by Muslim males age 18-40" and "is it already too late?!?!?" thingies she just sent to her entire address book. She is a bit of a hysterical type so I will not give her this website, but she's one of those nexus-type people who know everybody, so look for old folks to start doing their own active profiling in the coming months... not at all a bad thing. "A pack, not a herd" |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-08-20 23:10 |
| #21 The passengers did the right thing---they followed their intuition and instincts. Maybe the two suspicious chaps just wanted to f*ck with the passengers' heads by talking arabic and dressing inappropriately for the weather. Security personnel found nothing on them, but the passengers didn't like the way they acted, the situation did not feel right, so they did what they could to insure their safety. Good work. They did the right thing. When the people lead, the leaders will follow. If the MSM does not cover this story, then the Net will do it. Who knows, this may be one of a number of incidents that will turn the tide. Governments need their a$$es kicked to do the right thing. A job well done, passengers on Flight 613! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul back home 2006-08-20 14:26 |
| #20 My comments on TSA are on record. Former hamburger flippers with fancy uniforms. Hope they gave Norm Mineta a full cavity search when he left the DOT building. |
| Posted by: SR-71 2006-08-20 13:49 |
| #19 Ditto Pappy. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-08-20 11:25 |
| #18 At this point, thanks to politics and Norm Mineta, the TSA agents are the lowest life-form on the security food chain. S'what happens when one hires ex-rent-a-cops or turns the whole thing into a workfare program. The scary part is, I don't think an incident is going to change things much. Too much institutionalized incompentency. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-08-20 11:20 |
| #17 Good question. I don't trust them, never have. They stand between the electronic screening devices and the aircraft door, nothing else is there. Two or three of these misfits could commandeer a flight or hand something off to a passenger at the Gate and we'd be in a world of kak. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-08-20 10:32 |
| #16 Shuck & jive?? What do you look for? |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-08-20 10:27 |
| #15 I travel btwn DCA and ATL all too often. I watch em all, especially the shuck and jive TSA gummit employees! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-08-20 10:23 |
| #14 lotp, we were just talking about screening on the basis of behavior yesterday, weren't we? Looks like the passengers were ahead of the security types. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-08-20 09:52 |
| #13 Sounds like the 'consent of the governed' is becoming rather threadbare. Will the authorities take notice and - a - alter their behavior to regain the confidence of the people rather than the happiness of a few? or b - invoke more laws and regulation and power to shut the people up? My Vegas bet is on b. |
| Posted by: Jomp Sheanter3669 2006-08-20 09:22 |
| #12 I can hardly wait for the protests and seething to start....but bravo to the passengers for quietly and calmly making their wishes known, and demonstrating what civilized behavior is. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2006-08-20 07:23 |
| #11 What struck me about the asinine Tory comment is that he tied it to the men's skin color. The passengers were quite clear that they were responding to behavior - hot bulky dress coming from Malaga in the summertime??? That would stand out to me. "Jumper" = what Americans call a sweater. So these guys get on a plane with bulky sweaters bunched around their midsections, and leather jackets over that, keep checking their watches nervously and talk in Arabic (or whatever) on a flight to Britain. I don't think it was the skin or the Arabic that triggered the refusals. It was the dress, which was so out of place for the weather but so tailor made to hide things under, plus the nervous concern for exactly what time it was. In retrospect, if these were devout Muslims, their concern for time might be tied to the obligation to pray. But with all the rest tied in and with the failure of the British muslim community to clearly distance itself from the extremists and to help rout them out ..... |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-08-20 06:16 |
| #10 In some way, this is a nice reversal of role : does anyone remember the stories of Moderate Muslims willingly "playing terrorist" while on board, to scare the infidels? I remember reading here about an arabic speaking woman who "infiltrated" a muslim PR stunt at a mosque (ROP in english for wimmen guest) and who overheard such a stunt while men discussed in arabic; also, that scare about syrian musicians who acted like that and were spotted by a journalist who thougt it was a dry run or a terror attack; and there was others here, IIRC. Nice to see fear has switched side. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-08-20 02:31 |
| #9 Thiling Crailet7432 = Zenster |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-20 02:27 |
| #8 "This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally. For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense." Rumplestiltskin couldn't spin sh!t any better than this policy wonk does. The front line of law enforcement does not reside in the police. Law abiding citizens who report suspicious activity and crimes in progress are a much more numerous source of alerts. While it is certainly not a crime to be Muslim or Asian in public, to be so and behave in a conspicuous manner is going to set off warning bells with non-Muslims for the next several decades. Five long years of heinous Islamic atrocities guarantees this. This is the reward Islam deserves for not more aggressively purging its own self of jihadists. The outside world will now take the task upon itself and will do the job with far less finesse or discernment than fellow Muslims could have brought to it. Many times I have asked how it is that the outside world has had the task of fighting Islamic terrorism foisted upon it when that job rightfully belongs to Muslims. Now we see the direct result of Islam's unwillingness to clean its own house. All that awaits is the incredibly I, for one, can only applaud the passengers of Flight 613. They paid hard-earned money for their holiday passage and have the right to point up any unseemly risk that might endanger them in their pursuit of happiness. What, no danger you say? How many people who were not more motivated to bring Most hilarious of all is how Shiites and Sunnis must finally come to realize that they are helpless to incur profiling for their own protection from each others' constant and murderous onslaughts. How richly they deserve such lack of safety. |
| Posted by: Thiling Crailet7432 2006-08-20 02:27 |
| #7 "This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally. For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense." No. It is unfortunate that these people on the flight did not trust their government to adequately provide security, having already sacrificed much their reputations to "correctness". |
| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-08-20 01:08 |
| #6 "This is a victory for terrorists." Actually, that's stupid. It's public recognition of the problem's source. Profiling by the public, since the "authorities" won't do it. What it is, for this thick twit, is the first of many "mutinies" to come. Eventually, there will be a monetary penalty for any carrier who books dodgy "asians" (love that bullshit, LOL). And when it hurts enough - they won't be booked. Expect the same for anyone dressed in Arab or Muslim drag, too. And step one will have been taken in quarantining Islam - and the authorities will be scrambling to keep up with the will of their people. |
| Posted by: flyover 2006-08-20 01:03 |
| #5 This is the kind of action required for the dolts to listen. They either fly their damn planes with a few Muzzies or they remove Muzzies and fly full loads. Their choice. Everyone has a belly full of hot air and regurgitated palaver. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-08-20 00:57 |
| #4 Tories have been worthless since they replaced Margret Thatcher with John Majors. Now they can be counted on to, like American Democrats, say anything they think might help them get back into power. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-08-20 00:27 |
| #3 "...what do the authorities expect?" Let me guess.....uniformly flaw abiding idiotarians with ostrich heads? |
| Posted by: Duh! 2006-08-20 00:16 |
| #2 Anyone who boards a commerical aircraft and doesn't evaluate the relative safety of the flight, is a damn fool. Anyone who doesn't consider the make-up of the "fellow travelers" is a damn fool. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-08-20 00:14 |
| #1 " . . . everyone agreed the men looked dodgy . . . Passengers noticed that, despite the heat, the pair were wearing leather jackets and thick jumpers and were regularly checking their watches. " Patrick Mercer, the Tory Homeland Security spokesman, said last night: "This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally. For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense." Well, sheesh what do the authorities expect? |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2006-08-20 00:10 |