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If a blind protester in a wheelchair is considered a terrorist, anyone can be treated as a terrorist (www.councilestatemedia.uk)

submitted 4 days ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk

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Yesterday marked one of the most shameful days in the history of the Metropolitan Police as they arrested peaceful protesters including a blind man in a wheelchair, an 81-year-old woman with Parkinson's, a former British army officer, and a bunch of, um, Quakers. All of them were protesting against two things: the UK's ongoing participation in the Gaza genocide and the proscription of Palestine Action. All of them were arrested under the Terrorism Act.

Imagine being the police officer whose job it was to wheel this man away. You can see the shame in his face as he lowers his head. These officers must know history is not going to judge them kindly, but they must also know just following orders is not okay. If I was a police officer, I would not have made those arrests, even if it cost me my job. Doing the right thing is infinitely more important than just following orders.

Yesterday police made twice the number of counter-terrorism arrests than they did in all of 2023 and one-fifth of those arrested were over 70. One police officer was wearing a hat that suggested he came from a Welsh police force. Remember this when police say they can't send any officers out after you've been burgled. Police are dealing with the real criminals now, and the real criminals include quakers. Yes, quakers were arrested.

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[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Here’s a reminder that modern gun control laws in the US got started during the civil rights movement by conservatives, because lawmakers were scared of black people owning guns.

The civil rights protestors realized that peaceful unarmed protests were quickly and violently busted… Cops had no qualms about dragging protestors around, beating people, firing into crowds, etc… But peaceful heavily armed protests had cops politely watching from across the street. Because firing into a crowd is a lot less appealing when the entire crowd can immediately return fire.

When conservative lawmakers saw heavily armed protestors on the front steps of their capitol buildings, and saw police completely unwilling to break the protests up, they got really fucking sweaty really fucking quickly. So Ronald Reagan (yes, the same Reagan who is treated as a paragon of conservative values by conservative talking-heads), and the NRA (yes, the same NRA who lobbies for looser gun control laws in the wakes of school shootings), co-authored and quickly passed the Mulford Act. At the time, it was the single most restrictive gun control law that had ever been passed, and it set the stage for modern gun control laws.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

you're smearing a lot of distinct point of history together, but the premise isn't wrong.

Ronnie got upset because it wasn't some civil rights march protester, it was BLACK protesters, specifically Black Panthers. That's what specifically motivated the NRA et al. The idea of minorities, armed, actually standing up for their rights.