Over the past 48 hours, very interesting events occurred, on March 2nd, students at Westminster Uni occupied the offices of their Vice Chancellor, and brought the proposed cuts there to a halt. 24 hours later, a protest was held at Sussex, while the UCU voted on strike action against the uni. The full details of the ballot can be found here, but to summarise quickly, there was an overwhelming majority in favour of strike action against the proposed cuts.
Meanwhile, at the protests, the well reasoned and tactful response of the University to the peaceful occupation of Sussex house (details here), can be summed up by the following:
a ridiculous level of police presence, for at a relatively minor protest. In total, present on campus where six riot vans, thirteen police cars, policemen in full riot gear, dogs, CCTV vans, and the gigantic evidence gathering camera of fail. The mind boggles at what the cost of deploying all of this equipment cost, and how many crimes took place in central Brighton, because the majority of the police were occupied in the needless task of defending a group of people who only want protection because they refuse to be held accountable for their actions.
This, however, was not the end of the heavy handed response,as certain of the officers escalated their response culminating in violence against the protesters.
The BBC has published an article on the protest and occupation, and mentions that the police arrested two students for "allegedly" shoving a security guard. Yet there is no mention in the article about the blatant police brutality on display above, and there is nothing alleged about the massive overreaction that was displayed by the police throughout the entire incident; from bringing enough equipment to fight a small war, to provoking peaceful protesters with dogs, all the way up to violently assaulting people exercising their right to self assembly, the entire incident is a stain on the reputation of Sussex police.
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I'm not sure what I find more disturbing-- the excessive police force or all the people who seem to think that sort of thing is okay. Aw, go ahead, beat them up. They're only students, innit?
ReplyDeleteI guess this is what I get for reading Argus comments.
It really does sicken me as well, and I know there will be the response from some, that the police were "just doing their job", which is a ludicrous defence for ones actions, some of the worst excesses of our species have been perpetrated by people who were "just doing their job". I really do think that this is a dark road we're heading down.
ReplyDeletePolitely suggest that the police were also trying to safeguard not just management, but also ordinary line-working staff who do nothing to justify being frightened and having personal property stolen from them (yes - that is a fact) by an aggressive mob . . .sorry, peaceful protest.
ReplyDelete@Underwhelmed, would you care to provide some actual physical evidence of what you claim, or are you just going to follow the standard approach of the Uni management during this period: "We claim it, so therefore it must be true"
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll be unconvinced when I say I'm not Uni management, but I'm not - you might have noticed that they haven't 'claimed' that any theft took place. I can't imagine what would pass as 'physical' evidence, since the 'physical' in this case is in the possession of the student and/or thief. I'd also guess that anything as conventional as a police incident report number would just be evidence that I'm colluding with The Man. We'll just have to leave it that you don't believe me, though I'm sure that if you're honest with yourself, you'll realise that if you let an undisciplined group loose with no fear of reprisals, there's a good chance they'll attract a dishonest element. Shame our society never achieves anything by intelligent discussion . . .
ReplyDelete@Underwhelmed and you would be right about your lack of convincing, and if you're claiming that they haven't claimed anything then I can't see what on Earth the point you're trying to make is. As for evidence, I would say this is fairly obvious, the post I've put up provides photographic and video evidence of the heavy handed actions of the police officers that day. Can you provide anything along those lines to attest to the staff "being frightened", or of the thefts?
ReplyDeleteOh, and by the way, if you actually knew anything about me you'd realise that I'm as far away from the standard "designated revolutionary" as it's possible to get; and I am being perfectly honest with myself, an undisciplined group was let loose with no fear of reprisals, and they injured several of my fellow students.
As I said - we'll have to leave it that you don't believe me. I simply, politely made a point that I know to be true - that people who are not those the students identify as the opposition were upset and intimidated, and had personal property stolen from their offices. My apologies if I caused you any offence - I'm still pretty angry about this happening to someone I'm close to.
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