
Police at one of the Easter Saturday ‘Kill the Bill’ demonstrations: who do you think is being more violent here?
Dozens of demonstrations against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill took place across the UK on Saturday (April 3).
I held off reporting on them because I wanted to see how the national media covered the protests first.
Remember my article on how the media try to turn the public against ordinary people by slanting their stories, from a few weeks ago? Here’s a reminder:
First the press [respond] … by reporting it in ‘passive voice’. Reports stated ‘clashes occurred…’ or ‘clashes between protesters and police’. Words carefully chosen to not indicate who had started the clashes (the police) and who had been on the receiving end of the majority of the violence (those attending…)
They will report on any police injuries ‘six police received medical attention due to the protest’ they might say… It is very rare that figures are collected for how many protesters were injured, and the assumption may be that this means that number is zero, and the police were thus on the receiving end of more violence than they dished out.
Many news outlets chose to term everyone present as ‘protesters’.
Politicians… chime in condemning the ‘violence’ caused by ‘protesters’.
Now let’s have a look at some reports from the police and the mainstream media.
At least one officer has been injured after clashes between police and demonstrators at a "Kill the Bill" protest in central London.
Get the latest updates on this story: https://t.co/WmZ6bPYYnc pic.twitter.com/OLwRSVeUXe
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 3, 2021
Who do you see being violent in the video clip?
Today’s policing operation is still ongoing and arrest numbers may rise, but at this time, 26 people have been arrested for a variety of offences. Ten police officers received injuries during the operation; none of these are believed to be serious.
— Metropolitan Police Events (@MetPoliceEvents) April 3, 2021
Two police officers were sent to hospital in Bristol after a protest against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. https://t.co/k2XBJix758
— Twitter Moments UK & Ireland (@UKMoments) March 22, 2021
How many members of the public were injured?
Manchester Kill the Bill march ends in disorder as fight breaks out amongst crowd and police swarm on protesters sat on tram trackshttps://t.co/OGsFMdegHz
— Manchester News MEN (@MENnewsdesk) April 4, 2021
Agents provocateurs? Police plants? We’ve seen evidence of those in recent demonstrations.
Members of the public saw matters from a different angle – such as the following, showing a policeman very clearly kneeling on the neck of a member of the public. Shades of George Floyd?
A slightly clearer angle of this incident, sent to me by someone else, that appears to show a police officer with his knee on the neck of a #KillTheBill protester in Parliament Square. pic.twitter.com/wCeCSMj4gU
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) April 3, 2021
The Met Police has issued a statement:
The Met has sent me this statement pic.twitter.com/4nCu37vt0N
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) April 3, 2021
The best that could be suggested is that the Met’s spokespeople may have been accidentally looking at a different incident in which somebody was indeed kneeling on a person’s back. Of course, this would imply that they make a habit of attacking members of the public in this way. Not a good look!
And their images of protests around the UK were similarly divergent from the impression being pushed by the police and the press:
Excellent #KillTheBill protest in Plymouth today. Hundreds turning out to #defendtherighttoprotest.
Organisers planning further protests until the government kills the bill! pic.twitter.com/bcKJACKL8J
— Ryan Hall (@ryanhall693) April 3, 2021
Top placarding in Hull today pic.twitter.com/rWkeYbAvdo
— Jamie Says Kill the Bill (@slowcrushh) April 3, 2021
Glasgow KiLL the BiLL. pic.twitter.com/KgUHRoJEtF
— Craig Johnston (@CraigJo37661463) April 3, 2021
'Kill the Bill' out in force in Manchester. Massive numbers. Great scenes. 🔥pic.twitter.com/Zbqe1XUCPd
— The Churchill Project (@WinstonCProject) April 3, 2021
The ‘Kill the Bill’ protests (which are about terminating the Police Bill, not the ‘Old Bill’ which is a colloquial name for the police themselves) have been supported by opposition MPs like Jeremy Corbyn…
Mr Corbyn said the bill would prevent protest without police approval.
Speaking in Parliament Square in central London, Mr Corbyn invoked figures such as the suffragettes and Nelson Mandela as he urged the crowd to oppose the bill.
“Stand up for the right to protest, stand up for the right to have your voice heard,” he said.
“I want a society where it is safe to walk the streets, where you can speak out, you can demonstrate and you don’t have to seek the permission from the police or the home secretary to do so,” he said.
… and Zarah Sultana:
Our rights were won through protest, from the right to vote to anti-discrimination laws.
The Tories know there’s power on the streets. That’s why they’re attacking the right to protest.
Today I joined protesters to say we need to unite to kill the #PoliceCrackdownBill. pic.twitter.com/lZk7XAfc8H
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) April 3, 2021
Unsurprisingly the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, Keir Starmer, has been nowhere to be found.
Source: Kill the Bill protests: Defend right to protest, Corbyn tells marchers – BBC News
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Well not many cried out when that person
On the other side of the estate went missing
No when that person on the end of the street
Even your next door neighbour you ask you find
Denial of benefits in each case pushed them over
The edge yet 11 year of Tory rule has seen many
More off did the masses cry out no they pointed
Out each social scroungers and now they come
For you
The standard MSM gaslighting to show the useful idiots that believe the media lies the Tory version of what happened… The reality is very different if you care to open your eyes!!!