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| Britain | |
| Anti-Israel protest turns violent in London | |
| 2009-01-18 | |
A demonstration in London against Israeli attacks on Gaza ended in violence after protesters looted and damaged shops, police said. Scotland Yard is investigating the damage, which was thought to be targeted at coffee shop chain Starbucks for the second week running.
The spokesman, who stressed the trouble was caused by a small minority, said officers contained a group of up to 200 people in Piccadilly which they believed was making its way to the Israeli Embassy in Kensington High Street. And about 40 people were contained in Hyde Park to prevent a further breach of the peace, he added. Commander Bob Broadhurst, in charge of public order policing for the Met, said: "Once again what we have witnessed in London is a group of thugs, who are not interested in lawful protest, run through the streets smashing shops without care for the alarm they caused the public. "Thousands of people expressed their views in an earlier, lawful, rally in Trafalgar Square...What followed was totally unacceptable criminal behaviour by a small minority who do not appear to care about any cause. Their behaviour was inexcusable as they took part in wanton criminality." The violence followed demonstrations by thousands of protesters, who waved banners demanding an end to the attacks on Gaza and chanted "Free. Free Palestine". The Met said 3,500 gathered in Trafalgar Square in central London, while organisers of a rally in Birmingham said more than 5,000 people turned up. An Israeli flag was set alight at the rally outside Birmingham's Council House in Victoria Square. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #21 lotp, is that a racist comment you just made? :) |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-01-18 20:53 |
| #20 "A whiff of grape[shot] will cure any mob." /Napoleon. Just sayin'.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-01-18 19:56 |
| #19 Indeed, Pappy. Bradley was the black hole at the center of that mess. The riots not all that long after we left LA but it wasn't hard to predict something of this sort while he was mayor and Gates was chief. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-01-18 18:20 |
| #18 Chief Darrell Gates purposely withdrew all police from the streets. Gates withdrew the police to 'bases' because he was not given the authority to take measures to protect his officers. Part of it was due to his poor relationship with Mayor Tom Bradley, and a good part of it was due to the mayor's dithering. Koreatown wasn't just 'next on the list'. Korean shops were targeted by the African-American community from the get-go. Biggest non-surprise was West Hollywood; they couldn't understand why they were the target of rioters after all support they'd given the Afican-American and Latino communities. Which leaves the lesson that a government which is either sympathetic or 'sensitive' to a particular group or groups is going to fail in its duty to protect the citizenry. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-01-18 16:01 |
| #17 To say the truth, I carry always a knife and a mace spray in the pocket of my jacket (and I had to use the spray twice). One of my friends, a police officer, told me this, when asked if I could have any trouble carrying such forbidden items : "Officially, it's illegal to carry those items, but off the record, I can tell you policemen won't cause you any problem for that". (In France, we have the law... and then the interpretation of the law on the ground...) |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-18 15:53 |
| #16 I have a scuba gun for my hobby. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-01-18 15:42 |
| #15 Good idea. I'm going to learn carpentry. Very fast. |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-18 15:39 |
| #14 #12 Well, in France, you are not allowed to carry a gun, you are not allowed to carry a knife, you are even not allowed to carry a mace spray (is it the right word ?). "why yes, I'm a carpenter. That's why I had that fortuitous framing hammer nearby" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-18 15:32 |
| #13 A shotgun or two in those Starbucks stores with one or two good men who know what to do and there would have been no damages. It might not be Starbucks policy. But I remember during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles there were some Korean owned stores that were spared from the looting their neighbors suffered because the owners had men with rifles standing guard on the rooftops. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2009-01-18 15:26 |
| #12 Well, in France, you are not allowed to carry a gun, you are not allowed to carry a knife, you are even not allowed to carry a mace spray (is it the right word ?). You are just allowed to call the police once you have been attacked, hurt, or killed... |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-18 15:17 |
| #11 Woozle Elmeter, What you say about LA applies to other periods of US history as well. From what I've read, Jim Crow statutes disarmed African-Americans in some jurisdictions, allowing the Klan to make mischief. I'm not a gun nut but I do believe the 2nd Amendment is as important as the 1st. The Right of Self Defense is the most fundamental human right and is what every other right derives from. Dead men & women have no rights. |
| Posted by: JDB 2009-01-18 14:58 |
| #10 "Once again what we have witnessed in London is a group of thugs, who are not interested in lawful protest, run through the streets smashing shops without care for the alarm they caused the public." Yeah, Commander, it's simply appalling. Someone should call the friggin' police. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2009-01-18 14:30 |
| #9 Until Europe understands that the only law muslims understand is brute force, they will continue to be targeted and abused. Setting up a machine gun on an armored personnel carrier and cutting loose when the riot begins would do wonders at reducing further riots. It's pure Genghes Khan, but that's the only thing muslims respect. If you DON'T do it, they'll walk all over you. The "rule of law" means nothing to them unless it's Sharia law, and not much even then. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-01-18 14:29 |
| #8 All populations should learn from these examples. Being put in positions of danger and attacks is ONLY possible when you ALLOW your communist governments to disarm the citizenry. The police will NEVER defend you, your family or your property from harm. Only YOU can do this. They will show after the fact. After the harm. After the damage. The prototype for reaction is Los Angeles during the Rodney King after trial riots. Chief Darrell Gates purposely withdrew all police from the streets. The LAFD couldn't go on calls, because they were under attack. The riots kept expanding into nothing more than outright looting and destruction. Stores were cleaned out. The thugs were smiling and shouting. They moved along, heading northward toward downtown and westward toward Beverly Hills. They found themselves at Koreatown. These folks were not about to allow themselves to be wiped out. They brought out their arms. They stood their ground. They dropped the looters in waves. Unfortunately, most of the thugs were only wounded. The looting stopped. Upon being confronted with deadly force, they reconsidered. No thanks to the cops. Learn the lesson or be overrun. There is no middle ground. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 2009-01-18 14:16 |
| #7 Trailing wife, thanks for your kind words. Europe isn't already lost to Muslims, but the situation is pretty bad, and it's not going to improve if Europeans don't wake up fast. Friday, I met Tom Trento (https://www.watchobsession.org/) and some of his friends in Paris. He is visiting Old Europe to assess the Islamic threat. And yesterday, I went with them to watch the anti-Israel pro-Hamas demonstration. They filmed it with their video cameras. They will make public their videos when they are back in the States. |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-18 13:38 |
| #6 Leroidavid and the rest of Rantburg's foreign correspondents, should you decide to come to the States, let us know -- whatever your field, someone here will stand ready to sponsor you and your family. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-01-18 13:04 |
| #5 I don't like what China does in Tibet, but it never occured to me to trash my local chow mein joint. At first I just laughed, then Ima think WTF, he's right. However, it's physically impossible for me to live without BlackBeens and Rice, Fried Bannas and Mullet. I mean, I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't not. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-18 12:54 |
| #4 "Once again what we, as a "police force", have There fixed that for you. |
| Posted by: Hyper 2009-01-18 11:28 |
| #3 Yesterday, in central Paris, there were around 5.000 people demonstrating against Israel and for Hamas. I watched them : 6 Hezbollah flags, 1 Hamas flag, "kill those nazis [the Israelis] !", "Hamas will win", Israeli flag burnt, "Stop the Israeli holocaust !", etc. 90% were Muslims, lot of them fundamentalists. Filled with hatred. Disgusting cockroaches. |
| Posted by: Leroidavid 2009-01-18 02:25 |
| #2 Ya know, I don't like what China does in Tibet, but it never occured to me to trash my local chow mein joint. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2009-01-18 01:37 |
| #1 They're claiming 12,000 marched in Melbourne, which seems a bit far-fetched. |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-01-18 01:28 |