Smash EDO policing bill to top £1m (From The Argus)

It didn't cost the taxpayers a penny in additional funds. It came from money already allocated to the police to pay for policing. The decision to have 25% more police present than protesters (who from what I saw mainly say around doing nothing - certainly less than the yobbish louts who stomp about West Street on a weekend) was the police's decision. And a poor one at that as not a single person has been charged with a crime.

Mr Bluesky wrote:
It didn't cost the taxpayers a penny in additional funds. It came from money already allocated to the police to pay for policing. The decision to have 25% more police present than protesters (who from what I saw mainly say around doing nothing - certainly less than the yobbish louts who stomp about West Street on a weekend) was the police's decision. And a poor one at that as not a single person has been charged with a crime.

The problem was, Mr Bluesky, that Smash EDO wouldn't tell the police what they were doing, so the police had to plan for a number if scenarios, hence the large amount of officers needed. If Smash EDO were in anyway responsible human beings, they would let the police know what they were going to do, and it would all be a lot simpler and cheaper.

Same cost as four strategy directors over the same period then.

"A union has criticised a city council for creating four senior management posts with salaries of £125,000 each as part of a restructuring."

D3xt3r wrote:

Mr Bluesky wrote:
It didn't cost the taxpayers a penny in additional funds. It came from money already allocated to the police to pay for policing. The decision to have 25% more police present than protesters (who from what I saw mainly say around doing nothing - certainly less than the yobbish louts who stomp about West Street on a weekend) was the police's decision. And a poor one at that as not a single person has been charged with a crime.

The problem was, Mr Bluesky, that Smash EDO wouldn't tell the police what they were doing, so the police had to plan for a number if scenarios, hence the large amount of officers needed. If Smash EDO were in anyway responsible human beings, they would let the police know what they were going to do, and it would all be a lot simpler and cheaper.

As the police well know, these types of demos are prone to unpredictablility, regardless of what information the organisers may or not give to the police. For example, I was a police officer on a demo which was described by the police commander as a 'family day out' and was to policed accordingly. This family day out turned into the poll tax riots. Afterwards the police were lambasted for being ill-prepared.
If the police are to plan their resources on the basis of what they're told by the organisers of the likes of a smash edo protest, then surely they will end up being under-resourced?
As for the costs of policing this demo, what's overlooked by the Argus is that the large police presence, albeit costly, did prevent damage to property and injury to persons which would have cost in excess of the £1m quoted.
In any event, policing has, and always will be expensive. My gripe with the policing of this event is that despite 52 arrests, no charges are to be brought.
Compare this to some poor sod who overstays his parking ticket in a meter bay who gets boshed with an instant fine of £65 or more.
Yet, turn up on a demo and run around terrorising locals and school children and you get away scott free.

Well I totally appreciate the reason for the protest and why people feel very strongly about this issue,but as a resident of the city its hard to take as sussex police are to make cuts and the extra officers id like to see on the streets will certainly not materialise with an unfactored £1m dent in the budget.
I feel for the police as they are often slated but the simple fact is whenever we are in trouble they are the first call we make!

Send the bill to Cameron & Co!

The point is that this expense could have been avoided - by simply banning the demo when the organisers refused to tell the police their plans.
Let's hope that next time that's exactly what happens, and I can't see most taxpayers in B&H giving a flying one if it is.
Why should less than 200 people, most of whom don't even live here, be allowed to run riot through the streets of this city.
It has absolutely nothing to do with demonstrating against EDO, and we have all had enough of it.
By the way - THE FACTORY WILL NEVER CLOSE.
Get that into your thick skulls.

It didn't cost the taxpayers a penny in additional funds. It came from money already allocated to the police to pay for policing..hmm so where did that money come from then?
-
What useful ourtcome did the protest have? So a big waste of time that cost us £1M..

dirty,soapdodging,do
le scrounging,bunch of layabouts!

krobinson wrote:
Same cost as four strategy directors over the same period then.

"A union has criticised a city council for creating four senior management posts with salaries of £125,000 each as part of a restructuring."

Presumably the unions are critical that the senior management posts at £125,000 each fall short of what the Unions pay their own senior management? For example, I see Bob Crowe of the RMT Union's salary for the last year was at £133,000 and with his travel expenses, this took him to £145,000.

Total over-reaction by the police - the officer that authorised such an over-the-top show of strength should be sacked! Oh yes, and banning a protest as one reactionary commentator has suggested would be a red rag to a bull and would probably result in even greater policing expense. I'm glad that the cops had a nice day out in the park and a fat overtime payslip!

freddo wrote:
Total over-reaction by the police - the officer that authorised such an over-the-top show of strength should be sacked! Oh yes, and banning a protest as one reactionary commentator has suggested would be a red rag to a bull and would probably result in even greater policing expense. I'm glad that the cops had a nice day out in the park and a fat overtime payslip!

The officer or officers that arranged the policing this demo should be congratulated for ensuring that the general public and properties remained safe and untouched by demonstrators. It should stand as a model for policing demonstrations and the successful tactics used should be widely adopted by all forces.
As for police fat pay checks for overtime - where's your evidence of this? Could you let us know what the overtime bill was for the demo? Most officers, it not all officers, will simply have been re-rostered from their other duties and would have been on duty regardless.
But obviously you know better, provided of course you can now evidence your claims with some facts and figures.

I think the estimated cost of an elected police commissioner who'll be keen to reflect the will of the working population of Brighton & Hove will be money well spent. This kind of infantile ideaology should be stamped out, why should we foot the bill for a crowd of ill informed lowlife in masks to run riot through our home.
Back in the 1980s I used to go on scooter rallies, seaside resorts that didn't want us there and the police set up road blocks to keep us out.
We were there for a good time but this lot are far more sinister with their paramilitary garb and concealed weapons.
A bit of balls in our policing would be appreciated, instead of this hand wringing liberal bull**** that tolerates these soap dodgers and passes the bill to those that actually work for a living. This lot resort to 1980s behaviour, why not resort to the counter measures. I did stints in Northern Ireland and I doubt any of these hippies have either the conviction or the guts to take it to that level, no matter how much muesli they spew.
Ban them from the word go, if they still stick their heads up, then in the back of the waggon with them. Bish bash bosh, go away and don't come back. And stop crying about your knee you big jesse, I thought you were some sort of freedom fighter....hahaha.
Security word...soil-when, another classic.

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said: “You can’t say £1 million is unjustified when not everyone supports Smash EDO. You could say that about anything."

This woman's true colours are beginning to show.

But, Ms Lucas, there is a huge difference between the tiny minority of those that support this group and the whacking great majority in the country who don't and those who drive and those who don't!

Perhaps you would be happy to foot the bill.

Like US President Obama, it is on the cards that you will turn out to be a one term disaster.

freddo wrote:
Total over-reaction by the police - the officer that authorised such an over-the-top show of strength should be sacked! Oh yes, and banning a protest as one reactionary commentator has suggested would be a red rag to a bull and would probably result in even greater policing expense. I'm glad that the cops had a nice day out in the park and a fat overtime payslip!

Hardly an overreaction -as this time the naughty boys and girls were all easily contained and sorted out.
I would say, having watched some of it close up this time, that the policing of the demo was first class.
Well done Sussex Police! Worth every penny as far as I'm concerned.
The bill for policing the demo should be sent to Smash EDO - the police know exactly who they are now. It should be sent to them because they refused to tell the police what their plans were, and thus the police had to have the numbers of police on-hand to deal with any eventuality.
Last point: less than 200 people disrupting the lives of a city of 500,000 is undemocratic and that's why the next demo should be banned.

sdthetruth is correct.

Lucas is wrong to support the thuggish minority who had their day out on Wednesday. Methinks her slavish devotion to thuggery will come and bite her on the bum at the next election.

...alongside her attempts to jobshare and instigate various other woolly witted initiatives that are completely irrelevant to her constituents. What a winner she turned out to be, has anyone heard her say anything remotely useful yet? Vote green, change the world, what a sack of manure that turned out to be eh? Mugs.

@BallroomBlitz... last time I looked the city population hadn't even hit 300,000 let alone 500,000. Mind you, I have been a way for a few days, perhaps it's been busy.

Banning demos though? Much as I don't agree with the actions of these bandwagoners I do stand by our right to protest. Although I do feel that "knowing what one is protesting about" should form part of the process if at all possible.

The Police were right to maintain a strong presence at the factory but £1 million pounds costs incurred? These are Policemen not highly paid mercenaries!

I have always thought that many Police Officers are only in their career because the salary and conditions are pretty rosy. The British Armed Forces deserve better pay and conditions in my view.

Will anyone support my organisation Smash Smash EDO.

Don't like the tone of the poll question. All those people who voted that 'police resources shouldn't be used to protect a private company' - I hope a group of people come round and smash up your house and I hope the police stand by and do nothing. After all, they're not there to protect private property are they?

natty1905 wrote:
Will anyone support my organisation Smash Smash EDO.

The thought had crossed my mind. As Brighton workers and residents we should be showing solidarity with our colleagues at EDO and the neighbouring factories who've been inconvienenced by these protests.
.
Support the Brighton workers. Smash Smash Edo!

Jimmy Stewart's Imaginary Rabbit wrote:

natty1905 wrote:
Will anyone support my organisation Smash Smash EDO.

The thought had crossed my mind. As Brighton workers and residents we should be showing solidarity with our colleagues at EDO and the neighbouring factories who've been inconvienenced by these protests.
.
Support the Brighton workers. Smash Smash Edo!

I take your point - I chose that as it was one of the arguments put forward by Smash EDO in the quotes they gave us which are included in the full story, available in the print edition.

Meanwhile, Ivor Caplin STILL owes almost £18,000:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/u
k-politics-11543938

sdthetruth wrote:
The Police were right to maintain a strong presence at the factory but £1 million pounds costs incurred? These are Policemen not highly paid mercenaries!

I have always thought that many Police Officers are only in their career because the salary and conditions are pretty rosy. The British Armed Forces deserve better pay and conditions in my view.

a ridiculous post.

Firstly, this £1m is, as per the article, the sum total of all costs relating to smashEDO activity. Not just this latest demonstration.

Secondly, this £1m will include Logistics costs as well as pay. Many of the officers came from far afield and i am informed by anecdotal (sic) evidence that the horses came from Wales.

Do try to keep up at the back.

ha ha, gotta laugh- a smash smashedo
group- that would be great to see even more police recourses used up to police your demo as well, oh and be prepared to be arrested for absolutely nothing!!
If people wanna protest then why in the hell shouldnt they, shouldnt have to tell the police everytime the exact movements, we aint a fascist state (well not just yet) and protests should be allowed to be spontanious, thats what protesting is for isnt it?

Jo Wadsworth wrote:

Jimmy Stewart's Imaginary Rabbit wrote:

natty1905 wrote: Will anyone support my organisation Smash Smash EDO.

The thought had crossed my mind. As Brighton workers and residents we should be showing solidarity with our colleagues at EDO and the neighbouring factories who've been inconvienenced by these protests. . Support the Brighton workers. Smash Smash Edo!

I take your point - I chose that as it was one of the arguments put forward by Smash EDO in the quotes they gave us which are included in the full story, available in the print edition.

Why would anyone care what 'Smash EDO' said. Do they assume they are the only ones who care that women and children are being mutilated? I know a few of these individuals and they often seem to assume that the rest of us are apathetic and support war because we don't smash up our town and cost the tax payer enormous amounts.

Well done to people who get up and speak out against war and the warmongers- really the whole of Brighton should be out to close this place down, to be honest i think its just a few right wing nutters who are against SMASHEDO reading these posts otherwise there would be hundreds of anti SMASHEDO remarks, seems its just a tiny minority trying to stir up trouble

natty1905 wrote:

Jo Wadsworth wrote:

Jimmy Stewart's Imaginary Rabbit wrote:

natty1905 wrote: Will anyone support my organisation Smash Smash EDO.

The thought had crossed my mind. As Brighton workers and residents we should be showing solidarity with our colleagues at EDO and the neighbouring factories who've been inconvienenced by these protests. . Support the Brighton workers. Smash Smash Edo!

I take your point - I chose that as it was one of the arguments put forward by Smash EDO in the quotes they gave us which are included in the full story, available in the print edition.

Why would anyone care what 'Smash EDO' said. Do they assume they are the only ones who care that women and children are being mutilated? I know a few of these individuals and they often seem to assume that the rest of us are apathetic and support war because we don't smash up our town and cost the tax payer enormous amounts.

Sorry, which quote were you referring to Jo?

Watched the video - complete overkill by Police - looks like 'overtime' ruse.

cramp23 wrote:
ha ha, gotta laugh- a smash smashedo group- that would be great to see even more police recourses used up to police your demo as well, oh and be prepared to be arrested for absolutely nothing!! If people wanna protest then why in the hell shouldnt they, shouldnt have to tell the police everytime the exact movements, we aint a fascist state (well not just yet) and protests should be allowed to be spontanious, thats what protesting is for isnt it?

Well, that's a new definition of the word spontaneous. Plan it in advance. Or did everyone decide to protest the night before and it wasn't planned? I thought every protest was supposed to inform the police of their movements. That's not fascism, that's the balance of people's right to peaceful ( a new word there, for some) protest and the right to go about your business without being hindered by somebody else. Fascism is when a minority seek to impose their will on a democracy by violent means. Now, what does that remind me of?

isn't it about time we put all this boll**** to bed anyway. I don't see streams of protesters outside the military careers office clamouring to save the lives of our boys and their current afghan and arab opponents. What singles out the palestinians for such special efforts on their behalf, that the iraqis and afghans don't deserve, are you smashEDO anti -semites then? That's what it looks like.

I am surprised at the high percentage of people who think that the police should not be used to protect a private company. Do they also think that the police should not be used to protect private property in general? The alternative is that private companies will have to start their own private police forces to protect their property - this is not something we need!

Galv Norris wrote:
Send the bill to Cameron & Co!

This means you and me and all the other taxpayers. The government does not have any money except what it gets from us.

More rubbish from Dr Lucas when she says "Not everyone drives but we spend millions on road policing." I don't drive but I use buses and rely on other road transport for deliveries of food and goods to shops, all of which rely on the policing of the road. This woman is a complete idiot.

Yep. In the interest of half decent debate we can probably ignore the witterings of that particular lady. She's a plank.

Just lay mines around the EDO factory and leave the mob to it. No police needed as well. perfect.

Any un exploded mines can then be disarmed by our soldiers for training purposes.

Or

EDO workers given the opportunities to man super soaker cannons which sit on the perimeter of the EDO factory. Add a bit of soap and grit in the water and voila; two birds with one stone!

What i want to know is why it cost over £1m???
I think this is what taxpayers should be asking.
Most cops would have been on duty anyway between 9-5 (operation ended by 5pm) so there was hardly any overtime to be paid. no transport had to be hired and no costs during the event incurred.
ok fuel for the vans/bikes/cars, at most £5000....
overtime for cops who were supposed to have a day off, at tops £30,000...
eerrr, cant think of much else? weird...

somebody is raking it in somewhere, this calls for a protest within itself, against our sly sneaky weisel council who have bumped up the cost to filter into their bonuses...

If i wanna protest i will without informing the police, thats my choice and it isnt illegal, ive done it a few times and they dont do anything.
At the end of the day the police were way over the top and now more money will be spent on the unlawful arrests that the police made and the protesters deserve every penny.

nocando wrote:
isn't it about time we put all this boll**** to bed anyway. I don't see streams of protesters outside the military careers office clamouring to save the lives of our boys and their current afghan and arab opponents. What singles out the palestinians for such special efforts on their behalf, that the iraqis and afghans don't deserve, are you smashEDO anti -semites then? That's what it looks like.

Oh please, do us a favour, most people in this country dont support that illegal war which is killing thousands of innocent people, the only reason i would be outside is to protest against the murderers.
The parts made by EDO are used by the Israeli military which is why they are targetted, do some research

What I still don't understand is why people insist on being tolerant to these thugs and vandals. I think it's everyone's right to be able to protest peacefully, but these people do not do this. Even their pre-protest rhetoric boasted about closing the factory through force. This added to their complete refusal to reveal details about the protest meant the police had to make many assumptions. Of course there was a massive police presence: they had to take the threats of violence and vandalism seriously, due to what happened previously. This is the reason why the majority of people do not want them here. If you protesters really believe otherwise, go and talk to the local populace and find out the truth. Yes they care about what is going on in the world, but not if it means having local taxpayers money wasted on pointless and fruitless exercises of which they were never even consulted. A turnout of 150 protesters says far more about whether your cause is supported locally or not. Take the hint, go forth and protest elsewhere.

cramp23 wrote:
If i wanna protest i will without informing the police, thats my choice and it isnt illegal, ive done it a few times and they dont do anything.
At the end of the day the police were way over the top and now more money will be spent on the unlawful arrests that the police made and the protesters deserve every penny.

Quite right...unfortunatel
y the right wing nutters on this site havn't worked out that they are advocating a UK police state! Of course they will squeal the loudest when something they care about is denied to them, and then wonder why no-one gives a f*ck about their concerns....

fruitnveg wrote:

sdthetruth wrote:
The Police were right to maintain a strong presence at the factory but £1 million pounds costs incurred? These are Policemen not highly paid mercenaries!

I have always thought that many Police Officers are only in their career because the salary and conditions are pretty rosy. The British Armed Forces deserve better pay and conditions in my view.

a ridiculous post.

Firstly, this £1m is, as per the article, the sum total of all costs relating to smashEDO activity. Not just this latest demonstration.

Secondly, this £1m will include Logistics costs as well as pay. Many of the officers came from far afield and i am informed by anecdotal (sic) evidence that the horses came from Wales.

Do try to keep up at the back.

Well there you go, horses from Wales!

But I'll reiterate, our armed forces are more important and yet they get the raw deal. In fact some members of the Army leave to work in the Police force because of better pay and conditions.

As far as I'm concerned our armed forces are the key to our national defence and the Police play second fiddle and rightly so.

So the ends justifies the means? Your sense of logic is completely warped. The police were there to keep the peace, not to stop the protest. If the protesters were there just to protest, then so many of them would not had to be removed. They were not there to protest, they came to make a nuisance of themselves, which is what they tried to do. There are many atrocities going on in this world. These people are chasing a dragon. They have no chance whatsoever of achieving their aims. They need to change their target to something that will actually make a difference over there. We live in a democratic country which many people all over the world would like to live in. It's not perfect, but it's far better than those places you are protesting about. There is a democratic and peaceful method that you need to go through in order to make the changes you wish. We rely on the state and its law enforcement officers to try to protect our society. It is this democratic process which allows people like you to protest and voice your opinions. When you try to enforce your views on others, when you try to make changes through the use of violence and destruction of property, you step outside the structure of our society and become anarchists. This is our perception of Smash EDO. It is the image you like to portray yourselves as. Your aims and purpose maybe altruistic, but your methods smell as rotten as those practiced in dictatorships and as repulsive as those practiced by terrorists. In effect, you have become that which you purport to hate. In trying to kill the monster, you have become the monster. Take a good long hard look at yourself in the mirror. You might not like what you see.

cramp23 wrote:
ha ha, gotta laugh- a smash smashedo group- that would be great to see even more police recourses used up to police your demo as well, oh and be prepared to be arrested for absolutely nothing!! If people wanna protest then why in the hell shouldnt they, shouldnt have to tell the police everytime the exact movements, we aint a fascist state (well not just yet) and protests should be allowed to be spontanious, thats what protesting is for isnt it?

Ha ha gotta laugh, one of the worst attended protests yet. People were not arrested for nothing, Chief Inspector Helen West informs me that " I can confirm that a number of persons arrested at the SMASHEDO demonstration are on Police bail and investigations into the offences are continuing." So maybe The Argus would like to confirm with the police what exactly is the situation with the arrested protestors?
Perhaps Jo Wadsworth would like to explain why it is that The Argus is still allowing Smash Edo protestors to make totally false claims about there being a bomb factory in Brighton. As for not being a facist state, to hear a Smash Edo protestor complain about facism when they are an unelected minority group with extremist views that the majority of people in Brighton totally reject, but who none the less have decided unilaterlly to deny the civil rights of the workers and owners of the Edo factory along with the rights of the citizens of Brighton to go about their business without fear of harrasment or intimidation is quite frankly breathtakingly hypocritical.

In the past few years the youth of the nation have been very lethargic and spoiled and have had nothing to campaign about since the end of apartheid and the poll tax.
They have to find something to gripe about, it's a rite of passage.
In the next few years you will see more protests as the young people see some real cuts and have a proper reason to go on their marches.
Don't worry about the cost of policing, most of the protesters are nice, middle-class people whose parents are top end tax payers so you get your money back.

TheInsider wrote:
In the past few years the youth of the nation have been very lethargic and spoiled and have had nothing to campaign about since the end of apartheid and the poll tax.
They have to find something to gripe about, it's a rite of passage.
In the next few years you will see more protests as the young people see some real cuts and have a proper reason to go on their marches.
Don't worry about the cost of policing, most of the protesters are nice, middle-class people whose parents are top end tax payers so you get your money back.

Yes we've all protested about something in our lives. Most of us have joined a march and held up banners. That is our right. That is our prerogative. What most us did not do is go charging around the countryside and towns dressed up in balaclavas frightening the bejesus out of the local population or smash up someone's property because we don't like what they do. By all means, shout your rhetoric, hold up your placards and have your sit-ins. But vandalism and violence - hardly 'nice' is it?

Ringmer Rich you forget the poll tax riots and then a decade or raves with cops chasing all over the countryside and around the M25 and some of the tragic football riots of the 80s/90s and in leicester last week the EDL march which turned violent.
Sadly there are people who enjoy taking on the police and they aren't actually interested in a march or the purpose of the march.

JHunty wrote:

cramp23 wrote:
ha ha, gotta laugh- a smash smashedo group- that would be great to see even more police recourses used up to police your demo as well, oh and be prepared to be arrested for absolutely nothing!! If people wanna protest then why in the hell shouldnt they, shouldnt have to tell the police everytime the exact movements, we aint a fascist state (well not just yet) and protests should be allowed to be spontanious, thats what protesting is for isnt it?

Ha ha gotta laugh, one of the worst attended protests yet. People were not arrested for nothing, Chief Inspector Helen West informs me that " I can confirm that a number of persons arrested at the SMASHEDO demonstration are on Police bail and investigations into the offences are continuing." So maybe The Argus would like to confirm with the police what exactly is the situation with the arrested protestors?
Perhaps Jo Wadsworth would like to explain why it is that The Argus is still allowing Smash Edo protestors to make totally false claims about there being a bomb factory in Brighton. As for not being a facist state, to hear a Smash Edo protestor complain about facism when they are an unelected minority group with extremist views that the majority of people in Brighton totally reject, but who none the less have decided unilaterlly to deny the civil rights of the workers and owners of the Edo factory along with the rights of the citizens of Brighton to go about their business without fear of harrasment or intimidation is quite frankly breathtakingly hypocritical.

Done it again JHunty!

"So maybe The Argus would like to confirm with the police what exactly is the situation with the arrested protestors?"

If you'd actually read the actual article in the Argus you would see that they have.

OK you may not be able to afford the Argus every day, fair enough (from a previous post it sounds like you're possibly out of work), but you shouldn't keep slagging them off when they don't put everything on the free website version. Be a free-loader by all means but don't criticise those you free-load from. Read it in the library then you won't keep making these erroneous statements.

what a stupid response from caroline lucas. too busy with her head in the clouds promoting the biggest scam of all global warming. where is it she lives oxford?

bomb makers and the police and the protesters ..a bunch of clowns all of them.
how about not making bombs in Brighton?
how about the police not playing overtime pay games?
and how about da protesters concentrating on this business only and not causing disruption to others?
its a game being played by a bunch of clowns.

JHunty wrote:

cramp23 wrote: ha ha, gotta laugh- a smash smashedo group- that would be great to see even more police recourses used up to police your demo as well, oh and be prepared to be arrested for absolutely nothing!! If people wanna protest then why in the hell shouldnt they, shouldnt have to tell the police everytime the exact movements, we aint a fascist state (well not just yet) and protests should be allowed to be spontanious, thats what protesting is for isnt it?

Ha ha gotta laugh, one of the worst attended protests yet. People were not arrested for nothing, Chief Inspector Helen West informs me that " I can confirm that a number of persons arrested at the SMASHEDO demonstration are on Police bail and investigations into the offences are continuing." So maybe The Argus would like to confirm with the police what exactly is the situation with the arrested protestors? Perhaps Jo Wadsworth would like to explain why it is that The Argus is still allowing Smash Edo protestors to make totally false claims about there being a bomb factory in Brighton. As for not being a facist state, to hear a Smash Edo protestor complain about facism when they are an unelected minority group with extremist views that the majority of people in Brighton totally reject, but who none the less have decided unilaterlly to deny the civil rights of the workers and owners of the Edo factory along with the rights of the citizens of Brighton to go about their business without fear of harrasment or intimidation is quite frankly breathtakingly hypocritical.

Blah, Blah, Blah
All people can go on about is the 3 hours of so called disruption so they couldnt get the bus to the shops- there are more important things in life, grow some backbone for christ sake!!

As for numbers, well 200 aint too bad for a weekday and seeing as 250 police turned up and stayed for the day shows that it was enough.

And yes i cant wait to hear the police lies about the arrests, just face it- after 65 court cases the police aint won jack all cos they have constantly falsified arrests- you dont like the truth- TOUGH

Oh and please stop calling protesters extremists- it makes you sound like a sensationalist moron

I think the police is wasting the tax payers money, and should have stayed away from this event and let the Smash EDO boys, really SMASH THE EDO!
Any company dealing with the murderous zionist regime, especially selling them arms to murder the defenceless people of Palestine, deserves to be SMASHED! Well Done Boys!

DC007 wrote:
I think the police is wasting the tax payers money, and should have stayed away from this event and let the Smash EDO boys, really SMASH THE EDO!
Any company dealing with the murderous zionist regime, especially selling them arms to murder the defenceless people of Palestine, deserves to be SMASHED! Well Done Boys!

I agree, were it possible, the police should have stayed away. Given the level of anger by ordinary people against the Smash EDO protesters, I think were the police not present, the protesters would be in a fairly serious hiding from a public who quite honestly have had enough of being held to ransom by mask-wearing thugs.

I agree, were it possible, the police should have stayed away. Given the level of anger by ordinary people against the Smash EDO protesters, I think were the police not present, the protesters would be in a fairly serious hiding from a public who quite honestly have had enough of being held to ransom by mask-wearing thugs.

chroma wrote:
I agree, were it possible, the police should have stayed away. Given the level of anger by ordinary people against the Smash EDO protesters, I think were the police not present, the protesters would be in a fairly serious hiding from a public who quite honestly have had enough of being held to ransom by mask-wearing thugs.

I think you have a very low opinion of the public. Comments on this website seem to (wrongly) suggest that the protesters are violent now you're suggesting that the public as a whole is violent.

My view of the public is that most are against the factory and abhor violence, some are indifferent, and a few very pro-factory (usually the ones making violent comments on this very forum).

The proportion of people in Brighton and in the world generally (not including those who do it for a living) who resort to violence to express their view is very, very small.

Your views seem very Daily Mail in apparently believing that if it weren't for the police controlling the population's every move then chaos would reign.

quote cramp23 ...'stop calling protesters extremists-it makes you sound like a sensationalist moron'

this is coming from someone who in an earlier post describes anyone who disagrees with smashEDO as right wing nutters. Are we really supposed to take this simpleton seriously?
By right wing nutter, you actually refer to someone who doesn't want swarms of hoodies running about their home playing kiss chase with the old bill at taxpayers expense. This is the point we are trying to make here, for the umpteenth time you numbskull, How the hell can you call anyone a sensationalist moron on the back of this display? Someone pass cramp23 the dunces hat please and glue it to his dreadlocks.

"cramp23
Blah, Blah, Blah
All people can go on about is the 3 hours of so called disruption so they couldnt get the bus to the shops- there are more important things in life, grow some backbone for christ sake!!

As for numbers, well 200 aint too bad for a weekday and seeing as 250 police turned up and stayed for the day shows that it was enough.

And yes i cant wait to hear the police lies about the arrests, just face it- after 65 court cases the police aint won jack all cos they have constantly falsified arrests- you dont like the truth- TOUGH

Oh and please stop calling protesters extremists- it makes you sound like a sensationalist moron"

Whilst the protestors routinely use violence harrasment and intimidation to try and impose their minority views on the majority Ill keep calling them violent. Perhaps you have not heard of Elijah Smith? Given an ASBO recently for threatening the MD of Edo? I have plenty of backbone which is why I oppose you and your mob. This is the longest running and least succesful campaign in Brightons history, get used to it. I think it is you who lacks the faculty for critical thought, you only have to look at the Smash Edo website and their postings on other sites to see they have become the sort of people they are protesting about , hammertime, bringing the war home, smash edo, these protestors are so hate filled its unbelievable and tell me were the EDL guys politely asked to leave the march or were they beaten up?
As for my good friend Bert Fox's claim that the majority of people in Brighton support Smash Edo, if that were true then your weekly protests would not consist of 2 men and a dog and the factory would have been closed down long ago, the majority dont care about Edo a significant minority actively oppose Smash Edo and only literally a handful support Smash Edo and that is shown by the poor turn outs on your marches the addresses of the people involved in the violent demos

JHunty said "Perhaps you have not heard of Elijah Smith? Given an ASBO recently for threatening the MD of Edo? I have plenty of backbone which is why I oppose you and your mob."

The MD of Edo has a history of making spurious allegations of intimidation against peaceful protesters.

Bert Fox wrote:
JHunty said "Perhaps you have not heard of Elijah Smith? Given an ASBO recently for threatening the MD of Edo? I have plenty of backbone which is why I oppose you and your mob."

The MD of Edo has a history of making spurious allegations of intimidation against peaceful protesters.

No he has not.
Elijah Smiths threats were made in a court when he was on trial for another offence. So there is no doubt what so ever about what he said and did. Also as you and Cramp23 seem to have very short memories I will remind you both of the attempts last year by Smash Edo to attack a McDonalds with families in it, before they then went to attack a Barclays Bank (but attacked an office that had nothing to do with Barclays by mistake) They ended that day by Smashing up the Palace Pier, I still have the photos I took of the drunk Smash Edo protestor in a grey duffle coat and black top hat wandering up to the police out side the Maccy Ds and telling them he was going to smash their f***ing heads in and was going to send them to hospital because they were c****. I was there I saw the violence against the police so dont try and rewrite history, all you have to do is search the Argus website for Smash Edo and you will see that almost every one of their protests has ended in violence. Even Bibble admitted that on that occasion the protestors had gone too far. You also seem to conveniently forget that Smash Edo started off 6 years ago by targeting the workers at Edo in their homes, aping the terroristic tactics of the extremist parts of the Animal rights movement. They then targed business associated with Edo another tactic copied from Animal rights extremists. The weekly noise protests are just another attempt at harrasment and intimidation, again tactics that have been copied from the the animal rights campaigns. Honestly if you dont know the history of your own movement, why do you bother posting?
Harrasment intimidation violence and hypocrisy have become the hallmarks of the Smash Edo movement. The elitist clique that run the movement (and I bet from their violent language they are all men) have badly misjudged this campaign which is why in 6 years you have got nowhere.
But as I have said before for the leaders of the Smash Edo movement the violence against the police is something they actively seek to provoke in order to radicalise their protestors, this is a tactic the Socialist Workers Party have been using for years (they used to call it politicalisation)

JHunty wrote:

Bert Fox wrote:
JHunty said "Perhaps you have not heard of Elijah Smith? Given an ASBO recently for threatening the MD of Edo? I have plenty of backbone which is why I oppose you and your mob."

The MD of Edo has a history of making spurious allegations of intimidation against peaceful protesters.

No he has not.
Elijah Smiths threats were made in a court when he was on trial for another offence. So there is no doubt what so ever about what he said and did. Also as you and Cramp23 seem to have very short memories I will remind you both of the attempts last year by Smash Edo to attack a McDonalds with families in it, before they then went to attack a Barclays Bank (but attacked an office that had nothing to do with Barclays by mistake) They ended that day by Smashing up the Palace Pier, I still have the photos I took of the drunk Smash Edo protestor in a grey duffle coat and black top hat wandering up to the police out side the Maccy Ds and telling them he was going to smash their f***ing heads in and was going to send them to hospital because they were c****. I was there I saw the violence against the police so dont try and rewrite history, all you have to do is search the Argus website for Smash Edo and you will see that almost every one of their protests has ended in violence. Even Bibble admitted that on that occasion the protestors had gone too far. You also seem to conveniently forget that Smash Edo started off 6 years ago by targeting the workers at Edo in their homes, aping the terroristic tactics of the extremist parts of the Animal rights movement. They then targed business associated with Edo another tactic copied from Animal rights extremists. The weekly noise protests are just another attempt at harrasment and intimidation, again tactics that have been copied from the the animal rights campaigns. Honestly if you dont know the history of your own movement, why do you bother posting?
Harrasment intimidation violence and hypocrisy have become the hallmarks of the Smash Edo movement. The elitist clique that run the movement (and I bet from their violent language they are all men) have badly misjudged this campaign which is why in 6 years you have got nowhere.
But as I have said before for the leaders of the Smash Edo movement the violence against the police is something they actively seek to provoke in order to radicalise their protestors, this is a tactic the Socialist Workers Party have been using for years (they used to call it politicalisation)

"No he has not. "

Tell that to the poor schmuck who got arrested for intimidation of a witness at the decommissioners' trial for attending the regular weekly demo on the same day he went to the court. His big mistake was thinking that the police are to be trusted although I'm sure he had already worked out that the MD wasn't. Not to mention all the exaggerated claims made at the injunction trial. But what else would we expect from arms dealers? Morals? No. Low and cowardly false accusations backed up by the police? Yes.

I think you're letting your imagination run away with itself in most of the rest of your posting.

Stand up for democracy and freedom of speech and do not let the SAYANIM destroy your freedom.

DC007 wrote:
Stand up for democracy and freedom of speech and do not let the SAYANIM destroy your freedom.

I've looked it up. "Sayanim" refers to diaspora Jews who provide assistance to the Mossad, Israel's secret service. So that's what the poor idiot, DC007, think that most of Brighton & Hove residents are.

virtuoso wrote:

DC007 wrote: Stand up for democracy and freedom of speech and do not let the SAYANIM destroy your freedom.

I've looked it up. "Sayanim" refers to diaspora Jews who provide assistance to the Mossad, Israel's secret service. So that's what the poor idiot, DC007, think that most of Brighton & Hove residents are.

I think your interpretation is incorrect. He is talking TO the people of Brighton. Not ABOUT the people of Brighton.
But, im guessing your political view wants to cloud any issues that are not of your own political persuasion?

daveinprague wrote:

virtuoso wrote:

DC007 wrote: Stand up for democracy and freedom of speech and do not let the SAYANIM destroy your freedom.

I've looked it up. "Sayanim" refers to diaspora Jews who provide assistance to the Mossad, Israel's secret service. So that's what the poor idiot, DC007, think that most of Brighton & Hove residents are.

I think your interpretation is incorrect. He is talking TO the people of Brighton. Not ABOUT the people of Brighton. But, im guessing your political view wants to cloud any issues that are not of your own political persuasion?

OK, I'll accept your interpretation. But even so, do you honestly believe that I, or others such as me who think that the SmashEDO people's idea's are ridiculous, are in the secret conspiracy - in pay of the Israeli State?
In your view, is it so impossible for me to present arguments that are against those of the minority organisations: SmashEDO, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, or (say) the Socialist Workers Party without being in the pay of a foreign government?

No I dont, but.. Ive seen message boards in the past that have been flooded by pro Israeli bots..It happens... Theres loons on all sides, but that doesnt mean that Israeli propaganda doesnt work on the internet. The state has, lets face it, an image problem around the world for a lot of people. The Israelis are not stupid, and they certainly try to counter it.

Oh jesus is DC007 (or Mr Hamza as I lovingly know him) still banging on about Sayanim?
WE DON'T CARE. If you want to talk about it to your freinds or family then go for it but you're sounding like a scratched record. If the local papers blog is your very best way of trying to get people interested in Sayanim then you might want to look at your methods!!!

daveinprague wrote:
No I dont, but.. Ive seen message boards in the past that have been flooded by pro Israeli bots..It happens... Theres loons on all sides, but that doesnt mean that Israeli propaganda doesnt work on the internet. The state has, lets face it, an image problem around the world for a lot of people. The Israelis are not stupid, and they certainly try to counter it.

I doubt that it is possible to have a "bot" that automatically engages in an argument on a Comment board such as this. Perhaps there is an IT expert out there who can explain if or how that could ever be done.
That would be one hell of a programming application for Artificial Intelligence.

Which is why I said no, but I have seen it on message boards. They dont have to be bots, like I said, the State of Israel is quite aware of the fact, that their actions will generate debate. Lets not forget there has also been a large Jewish community in the Brighton and Hove area, some of which are my family. Although brought up a Christian, my mothers side are Jewish. There will be members of that community, that would argue against any anti Israel sentiment, blindly, and claim anti semitism to any criticism of the State, when thats not the case.

Daveinprague,
If you really believe that most British Jews have a blind knee-jerk reaction in supporting anything that the Israeli government does, then it follows that is as likely that British Muslims have a knee-jerk reaction in being against Israel. In fact, opinion polls show that is overwhelmingly true, in the case of Muslims.
But you must know that Muslims outnumber Jews in the UK by a factor of 10 to 1. In Brighton & Hove, according to the last Census, Muslims also outnumbered Jews.

So it follows that you are ten times more likely to encounter a biased anti-Israel Muslim on a UK Internet site than an biased Pro Israeli government Jew.

No, I said there will be members of the Jewish communty..not most... the same as all Muslims are not terrorists or terrorist sympathisers. Yes its more likely, but also yes, you will encounter an state organised propaganda machine that has the backing of the USA, Britain and others. To deny it wold be foolish really. How many tmes have you seen criticism of the State of Israel condemned as anti semetic, when its nothing to do with hating jews, but hating the state sponsored terrorism that is committed by Israel, a state that refuses to recognise many UN resolutions against it, and whose settlers ths week have started to build 600 houses on the West Bank.

The pro-Palestinian propaganda machine at work here in Brighton is easily ten times more powerful than a would-be pro-Israel propaganda machine. In fact there is no pro-Israel equivalent of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with its weekly propaganda stall at the Clock Tower; with its constant demos outside of (and sometimes also in) Waitrose and Sainsburys; with it frequent open meetings and film shows at Friends House; with its support from the MP Caroline Lucas. Nor do those with pro-Israel sympathies have an equivalent of SmashEDO with its weekly Wednesday demo outside the EDO factory and occasional mass riots. Nor does it evidently have the support from the bench of Judge George Bathurst-Norman.

The propaganda line from the B&H PSC and the Sussex and Brighton Universities Islamic Societies goes almost completely unchallenged on the streets. And within the Universities Jewish students are mainly intimidated by the real or imagined threat of physical violence from militant members of the Islamic Societies.

And on top of all of this, what you might consider "biased" Jews are massively outnumbered by "biased" Muslims on almost any open online forum. Just try being pro-Israeli on a Guardian CiF blog or following an article in the Independent newspaper.

Yeah, and those societies are a reaction to the State of Israels actions and their numbers show the length of time this problem has been with us. Of course the Palastine groups are doing the same thing, but lets face it. They have a legitimate gripe. like I said, the power of the Israeli propaganda machine is there for people to see. The reason I chipped in on this, was that, despite I think the character we are discussing on this comments page is a loon, he has been accused of anti semitism, in this or the other thread, when berating Zionism. This tactic is employed over and over again. Whether the person who accused him of it is a tool of he propaganda machine, or just confused I dont know, but that confusion is put out there deliberately by Israeli politicians. Im going to bed. Im an hour ahead and work in the morning.

Yeah I'm off to bed too. I've got an early flight to meet my pay masters in the Israeli propaganda department tomorrow.......oh god I've said too much!!

You have to meet THEM? Within the Palestinian movement, my money comes straight to my bank account :-)

Thank you Daveinprague for explaining to these people that anti zionism does not mean anti semitic or anti jewish, and Sayanim are zionists that their activities are very much present on the internet blogs, as well as the social networking sites to attack, distort and even spam anything that is against the interests of the zionist regime. I am also like yourself talking from the experience that I have had and seen on various internet sites on how the Sayanim viciously attach the people that do not agree with their views and thier actions on zionism and even fill the pages with spam to flood it and minimise the effect of the other peoples views.
Some even fake profiles to come accross as a converted person who now loves the zionist regime and what they do against the Palestinian people. That is why I want people to become aware on what the Zionist regime is up and do to lobby the innocent people in the western world to support them through the lobby grougs such as The friend of Israel lobby in UK that has many many members from all the main stream political parties in the UK, and the AIPAC lobby in the USA as we know they control the senate in the USA, as well as the Sayanim that are recruited to help them achieve the zionist agenda.

Before we criticise the police OR the peace campaigners any further, let's just remember WHY these actions are necessary. Successive UK governments have said there are strict controls on weapons exports to prevent them falling into the hands of Terrorists or War Criminals or to be used by any government against their own civilian population. Sadly we all know this is not the case.
Despite occasional impotent/phony rhetoric, UK Governments have fully supported their strategic ally Israel in her Illegal Occupation of Palestine & her perpetual massacres of innocent civilians in the towns villages and refugee camps in the Occupied West Bank, in besieged & shattered Gaza and in Lebanon.
Thanks to UK & USA support of Israeli War Crimes/Massacre of Gaza 42% of the children there are now classified as having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That's around 336,000 CHILDREN'S LIVES SHATTERED because WE supported Israel bombing them (according to Amnesty Int "EXTENSIVELY") with the illegally used WHITE PHOSPHORUS shells, which caused horiffic burns & agonising deaths.
We allowed this because we didnt like their democracy, and we (USA & UK) ALWAYS destroy any unaproved democracies & install brutal fascists, as we did to Iran when we toppled Mossadeq democracy & directly caused the revolution which was blowback our puppet regime of terrorism & torture from our puppet, the Shah.
PLEASE support the local peace movement for justice for Palestine by joining your local branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. They are truly lovely people who are motivated by their kind hearts, not by any greed or hatred - they work for EQUALITY & JUSTICE for everyone.
Please dont forget to join the global action of NON-VIOLENCE & boycott of ALL Israeli goods until the brutal Apartheid & Massacres of civilians are stpopped http://bigcampaign.o
rg
Also you can support the brutally oppressed Palestinians by buying their Olive Oil, Nablus Soaps etc through http://zaytoun.org