Police violence and arrests at SOAS

Protest at Dave Willetts lecture at SOAS, London on 13 June 2011: Seemingly arbitrary arrests at 1:00 - police officer prevents documenting events and noting down shoulder numbers at 3:00 - Man lying on ground is kicked by police officer (EK 751) at 6:22

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Police Violence
• SOAS
• David Willetts
• Protest
• Cops
• Condem
• Tories
• Tory
• Defend the Right to Protest

[LeanneKing87]

Yes, yes, everybody has the right to protest, but if you're going to storm a building you need to expect a retaliation and it's going to be heavy. To me, the guy filming sounds like an epic tool, especially shouting about "pushing women to the ground" - are you freaking kidding me?! Most of the women there probably fought for equal rights, bit chauvinistic in this day-and-age don't you think? I wouldn't have called this a peaceful protest, it's hardly non-violent on the protesters side, is it?!

[MatteottiPSI]

@LeanneKing87 Well then it's good I wasn't the one shouting that. No violence was used by protesters. Hence it's non-violent. But maybe that degree of logic is hard to comprehend for an apathetic, obsessively professing unknown internet hero behind a screen.

[Godwivacamera]

@meursault48 I'm sorry, but we live in a democracy, just because people have different views to you doesn't mean you have a right to censor them. The right always accuse the left of being anti-democratic (Stalin, etc), yet you tend to run on the line of "you have freedom of speech, just as long as we agree with what your saying." It's a sad day when people oppose the right to protest in a democracy.

"I may disagree with what your saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

[CallummmLOL]

"get back you are obstructing police"

i would have loved to have said "you are obstructing democracy"

[nuttyzius]

@MatteottiPSI LoL ouch, checkmate!! :)

[Ronin2828]

@Godwivacamera So what your saying is a crowd of people who decide to gather and protest in a public place shouldn't be policed?. I wonder if given the rioting in London you might have changed your mind about what you consider democracy to entail. Especially should you need such protection for yourself and your own family and home someday. 

[dronespace]

I was a student at SOAS from 2003-2006, but I certainly never remembered any violent problems like in this clip. The Uni has always been highly political though.

[middy444]

LOL, I was here :-)

[ignoranttwat]

6:22

This is what it's come to.

[BanTVer]

@Judel100 Sorry, at what point did I compare us to another country? I've also never heard of 'Chomsky'. I realize we have it much better than other countries, that's pretty fucking obvious.. But if you pay ANY attention to alternate media (Not BBC) its pretty clear we are heading in a similar direction, slowly, but surely. A lot more so in america too. Thanks for calling me a morally bankrupt fool when your 'counter argument' has nothing to do with mine.. I'm guessing you work in a bank?

[Judel100]

@JohnColt Very little. It has a lot more to do with a country's political culture and the willingness of a people to defend its traditional freedoms. The trouble with people like BanTVer is that they believe that prevalence of economic inequality in the Western world somehow invalidates the claim of Western nations to be fully fledged democracies - I call this the Marx-Chomsky vulgate, the belief that there is something unbearably false and hypocritical about freedom of speech and elections.