http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...t-use-on-rioters-scientists-fear-6612084.html Read "rioters" as students,the disabled,workers and just about anyone else peacefully protesting against their spending cuts. I would have thought such weapons were illegal under the Geneva Convention?
If only they could come up with a gas that incapacitated hoody wearin', stone throwin', gas mask wearin' numptys who show up to protests... run riot and then scream police brutality when they don't follow coppers orders. Now that would be something useful!
It's not a war, it is a peaceful demonstration, Geneva can put it back in its underwear! It is like Guantanamo... enemy combatants are not a regular army, they can be raped, killed, and the marines can pee on their bodies... Geneva can stuff it up its butt and smoke it! Any lawyer will tell you that it is all in the details! Osu!
Strangely I've yet to hear such people listed as rioters by anyone. Generally they're called protestors. Rioters is a term I've only heard with those who decided to register their 'protest' by smashing windows and stealing iPads.
Who knows... I think it's a great little idea to test out all the lame-asses who show up to protests with their hoodies cinched tightly and wearing a full face gas mask. If you show up like that in public expect to get a hard time from the coppers. Gas 'em I say... let's see if they made the right choice on a filter system. I guarantee you they haven't.
It dosen't take much to turn a protest into a riot,a bit of heavy handed policing or "dark forces" in the crowd with a different agenda to the rest of the protesters.Last August the riots were triggered by elements of the SWP getting involved in a local protest that had nothing to do with them.
The problem with gas is that it blows around - as we learned the hard way in WWI when we often gassed our own troops by mistake. Use gas on rioters and you can guarentee that it will end up effecting peaceful protetesters and innocent passers-by in equal measure. Sounds like yet another silly idea designed purely and simply to give Daily Fail readers a hard-on.
The police were reluctant to use CS, plastic bullets or water cannons at the riots last year. What makes you think they're going to suddenly escalate to nerve agents? Pathetic sensationalism by the Independent, who I thought were better than this.
Optimism? I should make clear that I would in fact have no support for this move, but some jokes just have to be made.
The article doesn't offer much I'd call "evidence." Besides saying you might look into these things doesn't mean its going to become standard procedure. As has been said they already have the means to use tear gas and baton rounds but they didn't even when London had an actual riot. Police in the uk are never going to use something like that, even if for some reason they were given powers to.
I agree the police were reluctant to make use of plastic bullets and water cannon and I should imagine they will dismiss this idiotic idea but it just shows how our politicians minds work. Note,the article says "British Government" rather than "British Police".
Interesting distinction for us yanks. I'm guessing there really isn't anything comparable in the states. Perhaps maybe if all of a sudden they started using the secret service to police public demonstrations?
Not really, exept that all army, navy, airforce and police on joining swear an oath to the crown (as it stands now the Queen) hence lots of little things like you dont salute an officer you salute his commision from the queen and there is no loyalty to the gorvernment or political parties. Even customs, MI5, MI6 are the same.
It goes a bit deeper than that. The Government has very little direct authority over the operations of the police. They make the laws, but it is up to the Police to decide how best to enforce them. It is extremely difficult for the government to remove a Chief Constable, for example (although I think they have emergency powers to compel relevant Police Authorities to do so).
The police managed to forget that during the miners' strike. "Sorry lads, you can't leave Kent, because we suspect that you might be miners and we suspect that you might be heading for Yorkshire. So turn round."