I am not fan of direct action. We live in a democracy and my opinion is that those Stansted protesters who claim to "speak for the people of Britain", as they claimed today, merely speak for a minority who wish to impose their view on the majority through illegal means.
So if those who broke in to Stansted today caused criminal damage and broke any other laws, lets see them charged.
7 comments:
Plane stupid has some 200 members so I heard a spokesperson say today.
Not much of a mandate for changing Britain.
The danger is some group like the BNP could do exactly the same thing claiming they are "morally correct" and the governments have failed etc and then sit in at a mosque or some other non violent protest. the Olympc village road could be dug up or blocked for example.
They could claim the same legitimacy as these protesters, but with more backing.
They'll claim they "don't have any evidence to charge them" and release them all without charge.
If you really want to put the wind up them, make them financially responsible for the losses incurred by those whose holidays have been ruined, as well as the airlines' lost revenue.
200 bankrupt protesters would deter this sort of selfish behaviour far more than a couple of prosecuted martyrs.
I would also like to see the person who called for this direct action to be charged as well.
Today, the UK energy and climate change minister called for mass action to pressure governments into signing a deal over global warming
Following the calls for civil unrest by Energy Minister Ed Miliband, Police at Stansted airport have arrested 57 people this morning after climate change protesters broke into a secure area and shut down flights.
http://tinyurl.com/5dwcg9
Yer, Ed Miliband really set himself up for a fall here.
These idiotic protestors also make me have much less sympathy for their cause, seeing as they disrupted thousands of holidays and business flights to make their point.
I think we argued about this previously, Nich. There is still an argument to be had, but I think historically, pressure groups have been at the leading edge of most debates.
IanPJ said...
"I would also like to see the person who called for this direct action to be charged as well."
I think civil unrest can be a good thing, particularly when no-one will listen to you. Even to the extent of innocent prisoners undertaking roof top protests. I am sure we all remember members of the Birmingham Six doing so. Would we not say they were wrong?
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