Police on horseback charge at protesters

I am ashamed to call myself a student after looking at the behaviour of these yobs.
To everyone who thinks they represent the majority of students across the UK, please believe it is not.
I agree with them - I don't believe they should be trying to make us pay even more, but not in a million years would I justify the behaviour shown on TV tonight!!!!
K x
 
kaylouise67 said:
I watched a demonstration in Newcastle today. The trouble causers aren't students - the students were stood their peacefully with signs. These trouble makers are jobless yobs that have nothing else better to do

It's a shame, we need the officers on the roads with all the snow and ice we currently have

Edited to say - I've just watched the whole clip and I CANNOT believe what people were throwing at the mounted officers!!!!!! If someone did that to me on my horse I'd trample them - then jump off and whip them to death. SCUM
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This ^^^^^^

Poor horses they are so good, who the hell carries the things they were throwing?

FDC
 
KellysHeroes said:
I am ashamed to call myself a student after looking at the behaviour of these yobs.
To everyone who thinks they represent the majority of students across the UK, please believe it is not.
I agree with them - I don't believe they should be trying to make us pay even more, but not in a million years would I justify the behaviour shown on TV tonight!!!!
K x
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This! ^^^
I don't know anyone who has been going to these 'demonstrations'. These 'students' clearly have too much time on their hands.
 
13 years of a labour government has left this country broke. They sayed in power by throwing money (ours) creating phoney jobs and university degrees,supporting the workshy and lazy. The spongers want the Conservatives out but who is going to turn up for a rally entitled "Benefit cheats against the bill".So they manipulate and agitate students.It has always been this way .In my day ,there was this bloke, born troublemaker, head of the students union. I think his name was Jack Straw , wonder whatever became of that T++++r
 
Mike007 said:
13 years of a labour government has left this country broke. They sayed in power by throwing money (ours) creating phoney jobs and university degrees,supporting the workshy and lazy. The spongers want the Conservatives out but who is going to turn up for a rally entitled "Benefit cheats against the bill".So they manipulate and agitate students.It has always been this way .In my day ,there was this bloke, born troublemaker, head of the students union. I think his name was Jack Straw , wonder whatever became of that T++++r
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Totally agree with this!!!
 
Surely this is democracy in action? No-one voted for the coalition government and yet they are able to pass laws. If it wasn't for protests such as this we would still have the poll-tax. Not only will current students pay more tax on the whole in any case they will hold jobs that have a much higher impact on the health of the country than most of the whingers on this thread ever will even before they add on an additional tax. They will be paying for all of us when we are old - what goes around comes around. You are branding them as "students" like that is all the are and say it with distaste but they are not just students they are people who fear for their future. Being a student is only part of what they are and its wrong to assume that they don't have many other struggles in their lives just because they are students.

A large proportion of the country's debt was for bailing out the bankers and what about all the money given to the car industry to support the scrappage scheme and all the subsidies given to farmers? Why should my taxes go to support these industries?
 
The banks had to be bailed out to protect peoples savings. Poll tax,yes, wasnt that each person paying their fair share ,no wonder it was unpopular.As for farmers subsidies,well that is through the EU and if it hadnt been for Margaret Thatcher,we would be paying an awfull lot more into europe than we get back. Scrappage ,that was Mandelsons bright idea(talking of unelected). The Conservatives did win the election and are free to form a coalition if they choose,so you are wrong about no one voted for the government. Students are now paying the price for 13 years of greed ,neglect and culpable stupidity.
 
sussexbythesea said:
Surely this is democracy in action? No-one voted for the coalition government and yet they are able to pass laws. If it wasn't for protests such as this we would still have the poll-tax. Not only will current students pay more tax on the whole in any case they will hold jobs that have a much higher impact on the health of the country than most of the whingers on this thread ever will even before they add on an additional tax. They will be paying for all of us when we are old - what goes around comes around. You are branding them as "students" like that is all the are and say it with distaste but they are not just students they are people who fear for their future. Being a student is only part of what they are and its wrong to assume that they don't have many other struggles in their lives just because they are students.

A large proportion of the country's debt was for bailing out the bankers and what about all the money given to the car industry to support the scrappage scheme and all the subsidies given to farmers? Why should my taxes go to support these industries?
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If you think this is democracy in action, then I feel sorry for you.

The whole point of democracy is that it takes time, reason and patience.

The coalition is what we have got, it is constitutionally correct, and was the only viable option. Labour wrecked this country, and now somehow, we have to try to sort it out. The coalition has already moved to fixed term government, so we know how long we have got to do the work, if we are opposed to their actions.

Only a child or an idiot would think you can just throw all your toys out of your pram and get government policy changed by VIOLENCE.

Those who injured police officers, those who caused criminal damage, and those who attacked the Treasury should all be charge accordingly, and given prison sentences. Those who attacked the Prince of Wales should be charged with High Treason. I imagine there's quite a sentence on offer for that.
 
sussexbythesea said:
Surely this is democracy in action? No-one voted for the coalition government and yet they are able to pass laws. If it wasn't for protests such as this we would still have the poll-tax. Not only will current students pay more tax on the whole in any case they will hold jobs that have a much higher impact on the health of the country than most of the whingers on this thread ever will even before they add on an additional tax. They will be paying for all of us when we are old - what goes around comes around. You are branding them as "students" like that is all the are and say it with distaste but they are not just students they are people who fear for their future. Being a student is only part of what they are and its wrong to assume that they don't have many other struggles in their lives just because they are students.

A large proportion of the country's debt was for bailing out the bankers and what about all the money given to the car industry to support the scrappage scheme and all the subsidies given to farmers? Why should my taxes go to support these industries?
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Democracy gives people the right to protest in a peaceful manner, and those that did so had the right to. Unfortunately there will always be many at protests who have no intentions of being peaceful, who don't even believe in the "cause", and go intentionally to turn a peaceful protest into a riot.
As for the "whingers" on this thread you mention - they have every right to express the opinions they do, and I agree with many.
I was once a student myself, and without the opportunity of university education, I certainly wouldn't earn what I do and have for the past 15 years. Why should the tax payer pay for me to have the opportunity to have a better job, higher pay and a higher standard of living?
Students should contribute to their education providing they can pay it back at an afordable rate.
This country is in a hell of a financial mess and needs to cut back everywhere and it takes a brave government to do so, its never popular with the public and this protest is the start of many more to come, and at none of these protests do protestors have the right to be abusive to police officers, hurl missiles at them etc.

I have to say, being a full time student for 4 years, it was a doss, and I didn't do a mickey mouse degree, I studied Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry. Its not a hard life by any means, its a great time in your life when you work hard and play hard, and reap the rewards later in life which is when you also give back in terms of tax revenue.
I never would have behaved the way these people did when I was a student because I was brought up right and not dragged up as so many of them clearly have been x
 
santasunicorn said:
From the news report I saw part of the problem was they deviated from the agreed route. They will find sympathy starts to run out when they act in this manner damaging public property and injuring police and especially the horses.

Who is paying for all this? O that will be the beleaguered tax payers who they are also expecting to fund their education, benefits etc etc

The students involved want to use threir brains if they want to keep the support of tax pagers - by allowing it to end in violence isn't the way.:mad:
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Interesting that those who deviated from the agreed route were all masked so therefore not very easily identifiable. I don't think any of them were students, that was organised in advance methinks... The anarchists were out in force today, every demo there seem to be more and more of them.

On a personal note, my son in law is part of the TSG. He is thankfully OK. Bloody terrifying, I don't know how those guys can do that time after time, no matter how well drilled they are.

And such brave horses, I shall hold them up as shining examples to my boy the next time he tries to spook at a plastic bag in the hedge or some such trivial matter...
 
you people are quite disturbing - you seem genuinely to care more about the horses than the mixed crowd of people being charged at!

i like horses.

if you really care about the horse, you would object to its manipulation as a tool of intimidation.

(what next, packs of hounds roaming London, on the scent of King Mob ?)
:confused:
 
gnomeking said:
you people are quite disturbing - you seem genuinely to care more about the horses than the mixed crowd of people being charged at!:
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You would rather see the police engaging in hand to hand combat? I'd rather the horses were used to peacefully resolve the situation. I guess we could go down the route of tanks and guns... works for the Chinese student protests...

Also I think the government is wrong increasing fees, when only 50% are going to pay back and there are still too many useless graduates

They should have gone hard line and closed a few universities, especially the poly's pretending to be unis, but instead no, trying to give more people the chance to go to uni honestly WTF were they thinking????!:rolleyes:
 
gnomeking said:
you people are quite disturbing - you seem genuinely to care more about the horses than the mixed crowd of people being charged at!

i like horses.

if you really care about the horse, you would object to its manipulation as a tool of intimidation.

(what next, packs of hounds roaming London, on the scent of King Mob ?)
:confused:
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There is a vast difference between embracing political beliefs and thinking, and living in the real world.

You will find that here, we are mostly in the real world.
 
Jen_Cots said:
Also I think the government is wrong increasing fees, when only 50% are going to pay back and there are still too many useless graduates

They should have gone hard line and closed a few universities, especially the poly's pretending to be unis, but instead no, trying to give more people the chance to go to uni honestly WTF were they thinking????!:rolleyes:
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actually I think this is the ideal time to float the possibility of serious tax breaks for potential employers who sponsor their employees through uni or fund scholarships. That way training that is vital to the development of our workforce is supported, and provided to the very brightest and best candidates.
 
What gets me is that it appears a lot of the students / rent a mob don't appear to understand the issues.
As I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong...)
You don't have to have £9k available at the drop of a hat to pay these fees - you take out a loan.
You only start to pay this loan off once you get a job that pays £21k pa or more (seems reasonable to me that those who benefited from university education pay something back)
Therefore if you take a degree and still end up with a sh**ty minumum wage job you will never have to pay the loan back.

Got my back up when some of the yobs interviewed said they were from the slums of London and how could they afford £9k?, where's the equality there!

Do your homework.
 
I don't know how these police officers keep their temper. I'm not a violent person but I think I would struggle not lose it when they start throwing stuff at my horse.

Since when did protest read 'violence'?
 
TheWatcher - i made no political comment.

animals are be respected, and not placed in harms way - was that police charge actually necessary? or was it just a means of intimidating protesters, resulting in the distress of the innocent horses (not to mention any innocent protesters)?

other people clearly seem happy for even more heavy handed measures (perhaps inspired by the computer games they play...). some people seem to fantasise about past times, chivalry and mounted knights.

@Brandy - what!!! - it is your duty and responsibility to take charge of your horse and the situation - are you really suggesting high aggression rather than removing oneself from the source of conflict? how deeply irresponsible!

your idea (TheWatcher) about taxation and employer sponsorship is potentially a good one - more sense there than much said by left and right (and the ignorant). It really is the time for discussion, not caricature....

Again i ask this forum;

can your really support the use of horses by the police in this manner?
was it good for public order?
was good for the horse?
 
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gnomeking said:
TheWatcher - i made no political comment.
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I thought 'political' might be kinder than naive or idealistic.

gnomeking said:
can your really support the use of horses by the police in this manner?
was it good for public order?
was good for the horse?
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Of course I support the use of the Police horses, their role in crowd control is well recognised and they did not introduce the violence, missile throwing, firecrackers, etc. Elements of the crowd did.
Was it good for public order? It is their job, it is what they do. If it became excessively dangerous for them I have no doubt they would be withdrawn. Unfortunately owing to weak leadership there are few higher levels of crowd control in this country after horses and baton charges.
Was it good for the horse? Water cannon would be far more humane. It would have my vote.
 
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I support the use of police horses, they do a fanastic job at crowd control especially at football matches etc. I think the young people at the protest were dispicable in their actions, they were in the wrong by breaking off from their route so the force used was correct. I also think the police showed remarkable restraint - some thug was on the news today saying that the police should put the horses and dogs away and let them protest - well excuse me, if that means we should just let people get on with defacing public and private property and attacking innocent people then they really live in a fantasy land. My horse was once attacked by a sab whilst out bloodhounding (see they were not even intelligent enough to realise we were following a human) and I can admit that I gave them a wallop with my whip. The police have every right to defend themselves under attack.

Personally I would also have opted for the water cannon, much less dangerous for the police and in the Czech Republic they use rubber bullets ;-)
 
gnomeking said:
Again i ask this forum;

can your really support the use of horses by the police in this manner?
was it good for public order?
was good for the horse?
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My answers

Absolutely yes
absolutely yes
I don't think it was BAD for the horse until the idiots started trying to pull the rider off and frightened him...

This a photo taken of you yesterday at the riot by any chance gnomeking?

14436.jpg


Or were you too ashamed of what you were doing to be seen showing your face and waving your socialist worker revolutionary flag?
 
(i will not be baited... i work maintaining the woods and hedgerows you doubtless love charging around in)

these were horse deliberately charged into the crowd

that is what brought them under attack.

i do not disagree that horses are useful more broadly in crowd control, but specifically whether they should be charged into crowds in this manner.

i can see no actual necessity in any of incidents reported yesterday

animals, BTW, don't have jobs - it seems to me some people are prepared to put their politics before their duty of care to their animals.
 
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Horses were used because the police were labouring under the misconception that they were there to manage a crowd of decent human beings.
Had they been given a brief to control a crowd of low life thugs, no doubt they would have opted for water cannon and rubber bullets.
There's always next time.
 
If we followed your rationale there would be no search and rescue dogs, no farm animals, no riding horses. They all have a purpose and exist broadly to fulfill that purpose.

As to whether horse should be sent forward into crowds - that is generally a last resort tactic in my experience and I reiterate my view that it could be better achieved with water cannon
 
thanks for that skewbald_again

again i ask - is this a proper use of animals? - you seem to think not, and that technology should have been employed. glad we agree.

@the watcher : go watch the videos and follow up reporting of events on the day. it is clear that "a last resort" measure was NOT required. so thank you for confirming that the use of horse yesterday was inappropriate.
 
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I repeat, the police were expecting students, and therefore, people with brains.
I do agree that the policing of utter scumballs with no brains is no place for a noble animal like the horse, but they weren't to know that.
They do now, however.
 
i am sure the police knew what to expect, if not they should have done - G20, the November student protests....

there are other forms of technology we can use before we have to resort to rubber bullets and water cannon :) ,this is Britain after all....

BTW I did think horses were used in Belfast yesterday in the same way, presumably they faced similar protest there?
 
gnomeking said:
@the watcher : go watch the videos and follow up reporting of events on the day. it is clear that "a last resort" measure was NOT required. so thank you for confirming that the use of horse yesterday was inappropriate.
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Selective interpretation - you must be a politics or media student!

Whether is was required is not down to your interpretation after the event or mine, it is the decision of the commander on the ground at the time. Given the lack of resources that would be generally available in many other European countries, the only resource left is the Police horses to be used according to their training.
Not nice for them, not nice for their riders and pretty unpleasant for anybody in their path, I imagine. However you cannot conclude that it was inappropriate.
 
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