Thread by @swardley

Freedom of the press? Oh dear ... whilst I'm supportive of the police and understand the difficulty of the work, this need investigation ...

https://twitter.com/MatthewDresch/status/1375606889740898305

... however, the use of shields as a weapons by striking with the edges ... they are supposed to protective measures of crowd control.

https://twitter.com/chloeglinn/status/1375583273712226306

It's almost always a near impossible task for the Police to get the balance right, however the situation is not helped by a certain group of MPs jumping in and flaming the fires for their own political ends - bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

It's not the first time we've had some friction between police and press in this protest -

https://twitter.com/AlAviram/status/1374497687202983949

... again, it's a difficult job for the police and not helped by MPs flaming the fires.

X : What happened in Bristol?
Me : What started as a peaceful protest escalated due to heavy handed action. Reminiscent of the Miner's strike where 10 years after the event we got to see pictures in the High Court of miners' having a picnic and being charged by horses ...

... some background on the events can be found here - thebristolcable.org/2021/03/watch-…

Don't however start blaming the rank and file Police. As with the Miner's protest, I suspect we will find a lot of politics involved i.e. pressure from the top.

There is a controversial bill going through Parliament which does some good stuff but buried in it are draconian measures that fundamentally undermine democratic freedom. The bill was thrown a curve ball by the police action in a recent vigil ...

... don't put it beyond this political executive to play games with lives, to put pressure on the police in order to provoke an incident. The speed at which they condemn without investigation is telling. This Gov has already shown it does not respect our core values ...

... whether it's democracy, reciprocity, honesty, fairness or respect for the law. This is why the Police needs to investigate and don't be too quick to criticise them. They are between a rock and a hard place.

X : You don't trust this Government?
Me : I trust the Civil Service, the Police, the Armed Forces, the Judiciary but not the political executive we have. Dominic Grieve, former chair of the intelligence and security committee gave us fair warning on this lot.

X : What about @Keir_Starmer ?
Me : He is doing fine. Methodical, precise, avoiding the traps, trying to do what is right and keeping his integrity. Give it time.

I do get frustrated by some parts but slow and steady wins the race here.

You must remember that the existing political executive of our Government loves to play the game of outrage and to use misinformation in order to accuse others i.e. a violent incident in a protest will be used to say "you don't support our bill, you must support violence" ...

... they know that lies once repeated stick. The only way to counter is to be firm, to demand investigation and to slowly chip away at their facade. However, they will play the "action" card, it's part of the whole "strong man" image they try to foster.

We already know that
a) travellers aren't safe
b) academics aren't safe - theguardian.com/education/2021…
c) women (unless it's a statue) aren't safe - theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

... if you start looking into respect for the rule of law, immigration, islamaphobia, disabled rights, right to protest, NHS, armed forces ... then there's not much that seems safe except for the British flag at the expense of others - walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-new… ... oh, and statues.

X : Don't criticise the Police?
Me : No. Let them investigate. Mostly it seems well handled, there are questions at the beginning.
X : Protestors are at fault?
Me : Yes and no. I think the phrase "politically illiterate and strategically inept" is apt - bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-n…

However, investigation is required - you can't ignore what happened -

https://twitter.com/AlAviram/status/1375575909957304323

i.e. if you watch the video carefully, you can see the protestor attempt to grab the Police shield. The response by the Police would seem to be reasonable force in this case. From another perspective it might seem otherwise. This is why investigation is needed.