Is it time to ban marches from any political viewpoint right of left etc? One way or another they end up costing the taxpayer a fortune in policing, lost revenue for local business etc? Another point. Both extreme versions as bad as each other in terms of their actions however it seems that only violent behaviour etc from those perceived to be far right gets highlighted in the media. Any ideas as to why this is the case? I've seen on a couple of occasions where the right wingers have been holding what would be seen to be a peaceful demo and have been physically attacked by people openly carrying signs like united against fascism etc.. As soon as the right wing group retaliated, the police got involved and the media reported afterwards that they had caused all the trouble when nothing could have been further from the truth. Again on many of these what would be described as left wing marches, if anyone is critical of what they are doing, violence flares up yet their cause is seen to justify violence somehow. If the left organise a march, there is no need for the right wing groups to organise their own on the same day in the same location. Vice versa, why do all the left wingers turn out to cause mayhem when the right wingers are on a demo. Yep I think I would ban the lot.
Nope, marches should definitely not be banned. Any trouble causing should be dealt with accordingly but banning groups of people walking in the same direction/standing in the same area is the beginning of a very slippery slope.
When you've got the victims of child abuse in Rotherham begging for the EDL (and their mates) to be banned from marching supposedly in their name there is a problem. I notice that the EDL marches in Rotherham are never arranged for Sunday afternoon when it won't affect business. There is nothing wrong with peaceful marches, provided they do not provoke hate or intimidate the locals.
I agree with that but teenagers are banned from standing in the same area or Beng in groups and nobody has a problem with it
I know what you're saying in terms of civil liberties etc.. But do they even have any impact? They didn't work during the miners strike and they won't work now against the government..
I have been on marches ranging from anti-racism to protesting against attacks on the TU moment. What really struck me was whilst marching through Tarn in a rally organised by Barnsley TUC we were attacked by idiots and thugs, some of whom I saw going to Oakwell a little later. A TU rally in Barnsley against job cuts being attacked by locals eh. No we shouldn't ban Rally/protests, but each one should be looked at on their own merit. Remember when the SY Casuals organised one following the alleged rape of a local young girl in Tarn by so-called immigrants. Apparrently the incident never happened and it was also organised on the same day as Live in Barnsley music festival.
They are there as much as anything to draw attention to the public,peacefully of course. They don't always change the course of a decision, the impact of what they achieve can be measured in different ways. Not everyone wants to sit at home and do nothing when they feel strongly about something,
This really annoyed me when I was a teenager. You couldn't have met a quieter, more well behaved person and the people I hung around with were all of the same type but whenever we went to tarn we constantly got moved on. I remember being very aware when being in a group of 4 or more when walking around that I didn't want to intimidate older people (I lived right next to an estate full of elderly people) and always tried to smile or say hi to put them at ease.
Free speech is something I agree with & trade unionism is behind that. I know (if), you are a far right supporter. You want to just create conflict, not dialogue. AS LONG as the law of the land is observed & potential targets protected, then yes. Sometimes marches & demos need to be re-routed for obvious reasons.
Why not have virtual marches online? That wouldn't incur the cost of policing. And there'd be no actual violence involved. The marchers/protesters/counter-protesters could be ignored just as effectively by the powers that be if they were virtual, surely?
