UK – The police state
(BTW, I haven't written before because I'm lazy. Such is life.)
BBC:
Action to prevent an "illegal rave" in Devon last week has been defended by police, despite claims the event was merely an organised birthday barbecue.
[...]
Andrew Poole, who was celebrating his 30th birthday, claimed police riot vans turned up before any music was played.
But police said it had been advertised on the internet as an all-night party.
Mr Poole, a coach driver from Sowton, said 15 family and friends had come to the event, where they were watched by a police helicopter for about 15 minutes.
[...]
"The decision to close down a rave or illegal music festival is not taken lightly," a police spokeswoman said.
Yeah, I guess they just got bored of chasing witches terrorists, so they had to justify their paycheck. I wouldn't take my uselessness lightly either. Sure, unlicensed raves are actually illegal in the UK for a while, but that's hardly something the police should give a fuck about.
Then, there's also this, which I hadn't watched yet. Very very appaling.
The harassment and exclusion of legal observers, the violent arrest of women refusing to be searched, the aggressive interrogation of local residents, the threatening of journalists with arrest for doing their job, the confiscation of 100s of items such as childrens' costumes and crayons, attempted dawn raids on the camp, the use of batons and CS gas against peaceful protesters, and the forced search of 1000s of people and the adding of their personal data to a secret database. This type of political policing has to stop, and the right to legitimate protest re-established.
I will definitely be avoiding the UK the same way as I'll be avoiding Iran.