Virtually all of Parliment square side of london is shut down today and yesterday because of protesters.
Now im all for freedom of speech but could somebody tell me why, we as a country, allow this much freedom to happen.
They have shut down a whole section of our city.
Isn't this just taking the sodding pi55.
Surely, we should take action when protesters start to abuse the freedom to speak out which is what i think they are doing.
They have a right to protest of course but not the right to interupt traffic or march on roads unless prior arrangements have been made with the police.
according to the BBC news page the protesters are
"Hundreds of Tamil protesters are continuing a rally outside Parliament demanding the UK Government acts to end war in Sri Lanka"
I am not sure that the UK goverment can do apart from putting forward well reasoned arguments of why the fighting should cease. I can understand why foriegn nationals might ASK the UK goverment to make representations on their behalf to another goverment but I can't see how they can DEMAND anything.
The ability and right to peacefully protest is, to me, a sign of a healthy democracy but it doesn't extend to getting in the way of other peoples lives.
Unless of course they don't mind me parking my car across their driveway when they want to go to work as I protest peacefully about an issue I am interested in.
And tanks are good for squashing cartons of pot noodle..................
The people protesting are probably mostly UK citizens. I support their right to protest peacefully, and a bit of traffic congestion is probably not too much to ask for a bit of freedom of speech. I think that this protest was illegal since it wasn't declared or organised according to the rules for such things......
No way the UK will step in to do much here (not that it is necessarily our place to do so) since the Sri Lankan Government have all but destroyed the Tamil Tigers anyway (declared as a terrorist organisation by many nations including us by the way). I hadn't realised that over 70,000 people have been killed in this civil war since the 70s, the vast majority of which have been armed combatants which alone makes it unusual, since lots of civilians normally get killed in these civil conflicts.
Agent 000
Licensed to Dance
Do a bloody petition, send chain emails, go and do something constructive but allowing them to block half our city up is not just a big of congestion. The traffic chaos today is ridiculous, that aside from the wasted police we have standing there watching the idiots.
Jeeez it makes my blood boil.
Statement of fact. So what point are you trying to make? Or are you just trying to keep us all well informed?
What is your point?
Do you feel were have an enduring responsibility for everything that will ever happen there or any other place that used to be a colony?
After all America used to be a colony of the U.K. (just as some people feel that Wales, Scotland and Northen Ireland is occupied territory) but that doesn't mean that the UK is responsible in perpituity for the level of gun crime in the U.S. or the election of George W Bush.
There comes a time in history when these former colonies have to take responsibility for their own actions rather than trying to point at its former colonial masters who left over 50 years ago and say it is all their fault.
I would hate this to come as a shock to anyone but we are no longer a global superpower and getting other people to stop anything we don't like is not a simple matter of sending a gunboat there. We can try to influence other goverments with well reasoned arguments, stopping trade with them, not having sporting relations with them, banning their leaders from travelling here, but short of putting our troops on the ground in India we cannot MAKE them do anything.
So what action are you going to take to correct this?
One must remeber that ones man's "Terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter", and yes you are free to protest in the UK, but only once you have police "permission", what do you do in the instance that they don't give you "permission" surely then the Freedom to protest is no longer there and that is a very slippery slope to go down, as you will find in most Police states.
A very good thread but don't get me started as I see the forum as a place to come and relax and chat, so thats my 2pence (I wont give you the amount in Zimbabwean Dollars as our lovely mods would not appreciate a whole page of zero's)
Public transport leave a lot to be desired. I worked in the city back in 2000 for a year. I was working as a contractor and as you are probably aware, you only get paid if your in work.!!
I must have lost (no exageration) at least 20 days in that year due to train delays and cancellations. Totally unacceptable. I used to go from Waltham Cross to Liverpool St.
Banning cars is great until you have deliveries to do. Or you have stock to pick up.
Anyway, we cant get any stock in and out of westminster at the moment because WE (AS IN PUBLIC FUNDS) HAD TO SAVE TWO NUMPTIES WHO JUMPED INTO THE THAMES FROM DYING YESTERDAY. ----- JEEEZ.
Out of all the colonies which were under Britain's jackboot, I'd say only the USA, Canada and Australia thrived after attaining their independance?I'm hardly in a position to correct this.I would hate this to come as a shock to anyone but we are no longer a global superpower and getting other people to stop anything we don't like is not a simple matter of sending a gunboat there. We can try to influence other goverments with well reasoned arguments, stopping trade with them, not having sporting relations with them, banning their leaders from travelling here, but short of putting our troops on the ground in India we cannot MAKE them do anything.
So what action are you going to take to correct this?
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