Sharpe's Opinion

The Blame for the Violence

Letters From a Tory is writing to Sunny Hundal about where to lay the blame for the violence

[The Police] behaved as they did because they knew trouble was brewing and they were absolutely right. It was only right at the end of your article that you conceded that “protesters may also have something to learn.” Nooooooo, really? The Climate Camp had tea parties and tents; the lunatics at the Bank of England had fireworks, poles, cloaked identities and a desire to inflict damage. If everyone acted like the Climate Camp, there would have been no issue but guess what – lots of people turned up yesterday with a clear mission to cause trouble and I am genuinely amused by your suggestion that the police should have taken a step back and left everyone alone.

On Liberal Conspiracy, Sunny wrote, with a breathtaking lack of self-awareness, that “this is about the fact that our basic right to stage a peaceful protest is being eroded.” Except he said in his Guardian article that the peaceful Climate Camp “were deliberately making the point that while this was a radical protest, it did not have to be remotely violent or aggressive.” Funnily enough, the police didn’t cordon them off or contain them.

Thankfully, the police did contain the violent G20 Meltdown protestors. Ambush Predator also makes this point rather well.

Remember: you have a right to protest peacefully. Anybody who turned up to the G20 protest yesterday with honest intentions simply added to the problems caused by those who only wished to cause harm and damage. Small clue: if you’re turning up in an armoured vehicle, you don’t really look peaceful.

Also, I will mock their message. Lots.