Old Bill - Clapham Common

Seasider3610

Well-known member
Some things never change

In the week that a serving Police Officer murdered a young women his work colleagues managed to attack peaceful woman at a night vigil for the deceased.

The organizers arranged in advance to have masks, social distancing and marshals at the event but the Old Bill didn’t bother to engage with them 🙄

Unbelievable
 
According to SkyNews the Police Riot Squad were attacked by the peaceful ladies.

The organizers said they planned to have a minutes silence and disperse within the hour until the OB arrived
 
According to SkyNews the Police Riot Squad were attacked by the peaceful ladies.

The organizers said they planned to have a minutes silence and disperse within the hour until the OB arrived
Great cause and for a specific reason, BUT a gathering was not agreed with the Police and was deemed unlawful.
There was NO social distancing and a very small group of women spoilt it for the rest as they were activists and had no intention of towing the line.
 
Now, now, don’t get wound up, Lost

Just go to your collection of little girl memes if that helps to soothe your nerves
Having a collection of pictures of little girls to soothe your nerves is the most disturbing part of this whole thread.
 
Having a collection of pictures of little girls to soothe your nerves is the most disturbing part of this whole thread.
I just thought that, of all the possible explanations / memes that Lost could have given/shown Mates, to answer Mates’s question, he chose a meme of a little girl
 
Vigils are supposed to be silent reflection, not chanting and refusing to leave when asked.

Mates you are not paying attention

"The organizers said they planned to have a minutes silence and disperse within the hour until the OB arrived" ......... the Riot Squad arrived and did what what they trained for ... cause a riot out of nothing.
 
Great cause and for a specific reason, BUT a gathering was not agreed with the Police and was deemed unlawful.
There was NO social distancing and a very small group of women spoilt it for the rest as they were activists and had no intention of towing the line.

Bend it are you justifying the heavy handed Police as seen on Sky? Women sat quietly and then "removed" by several male officers!

What did the very small group of women do to spoil it for everyone if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks in advance for any useful info you can back up.
 
Mates you are not paying attention

"The organizers said they planned to have a minutes silence and disperse within the hour until the OB arrived" ......... the Riot Squad arrived and did what what they trained for ... cause a riot out of nothing.
But they didn’t disperse within an hour, what they were doing was illegal. I’m annoyed about having to stop at red traffic lights, so I’ll just ignore them and drive through. Is that ok?
 
Bend it are you justifying the heavy handed Police as seen on Sky? Women sat quietly and then "removed" by several male officers!

What did the very small group of women do to spoil it for everyone if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks in advance for any useful info you can back up.
Naturally Im not justifying any heavy handed Police operation - however I reiterate the gathering was illegal and was not agreed with by the Met prior to the vigil, so technically all attendees were either breaking Coronavirus legal guidelines, or participating in an illegal gathering. That plain enough?

Also, the small minority who actually spoilt the vigil which initially was persevered with by the Met, were those who would not obey a legal order to move on, disperse etc etc. These probably were the very small percentage who were arrested. As I wasn't present and possibly no-one on this Forum was, I can't confirm that analysis, but just hypothesise from past professional experience.
 
Best policy here would be for women to be allowed to walk the streets without fear of being attacked, and a police force that didnt let (alleged) murdering scum to be employed within its ranks.

In the meantime the deflection continues with the finer points of a demo.
 
Just been having a quick flick through Twitter with various films showing.

I've never been to a peaceful vigil in a balaclava.
I've not carried a sign with ACAB
I've not chanted "no justice, no peace, fuck the police" either.

It appears as though what until about 6pm was an appropriate (if probably illegal due to Covid laws) was again hijacked.

And the leading ginger protagonist describes herself as an actressvist.

Shame on those hijacking a vigil.
 
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But they didn’t disperse within an hour, what they were doing was illegal. I’m annoyed about having to stop at red traffic lights, so I’ll just ignore them and drive through. Is that ok?
I’d pay good money to see that as long as no-one else got hurt 😉
 
Just been having a quick flick through Twitter with various films showing.

I've never been to a peaceful vigil in a balaclava.
I've not carried a sign with ACAB
I've not changed "no justice, no peace, fuck the police" either.

It appears as though what until about 6pm was an appropriate (if probably illegal due to Covid laws) was again hijacked.

And the leading ginger protagonist describes herself as an actressvist.

Shame on those hijacking a vigil.
What's her hair colour got to do with it?
 
the lefty activists applied to the court, the court said no to the lefty activists,the lefty activists still turned and broke the law. The police then correctly turned up as they should when someone is breaking the law and gave the lefty activists a friendly slap, lefty activists then start squelling and claiming police brutality !! Ah well
🤣🤣😁😁
 
Great cause and for a specific reason, BUT a gathering was not agreed with the Police and was deemed unlawful.
There was NO social distancing and a very small group of women spoilt it for the rest as they were activists and had no intention of towing the line.

Bendit

The gathering was NOT agreed and was unlawful as you say.

No doubt there were activists with an agenda as you also say but I can't help but think that given the circumstances, the old bill should have left them to it ?

I suppose if they had left them to it, then they would have been accused of failing to uphold law and order and of allowing public health risks ?

Maybe the police couldn't win ?
 
the lefty activists applied to the court, the court said no to the lefty activists,the lefty activists still turned and broke the law. The police then correctly turned up as they should when someone is breaking the law and gave the lefty activists a friendly slap, lefty activists then start squelling and claiming police brutality !! Ah well
🤣🤣😁😁


These lefty activists were the victims of police brutality and nobody had a problem with the BLM protesters behaving as they liked.

Rangers supporters celebrated peacefully last weekend and caused the police no grief yet were labelled scum.

Who makes the rules up ?
 
Bendit

The gathering was NOT agreed and was unlawful as you say.

No doubt there were activists with an agenda as you also say but I can't help but think that given the circumstances, the old bill should have left them to it ?

I suppose if they had left them to it, then they would have been accused of failing to uphold law and order and of allowing public health risks ?

Maybe the police couldn't win ?
I agree with you totally, and I think initially that's what they were trying to do. Then unfortunately the activists struck and possibly the odd over officious senior officer with a misguided command, and Bingo, you have yesterdays debacle.
 
These lefty activists were the victims of police brutality and nobody had a problem with the BLM protesters behaving as they liked.

Rangers supporters celebrated peacefully last weekend and caused the police no grief yet were labelled scum.

Who makes the rules up ?
In Manchester on several occasions people have gathered in their hundreds for wakes and funerals for members of the criminal fraternity with not a mask in sight. The police decided to do nothing about it.
Meanwhile a group of women hold a vigil by and large wearing masks and observing social distancing and the police go in all guns blazing. Did they really feel more threatened by the women?
l didn’t agree with the timing of the vigil for the sake of the family and friends of this poor victim but the police action made it infinitely worse.
 
I can imagine the victims family were comforted by the screaming of their daughters name.

Not sure what the Met are meant to do in this whole situation. Do nothing and there’ll be a whole host of groups demanding the same rights to protest. Act and they are vilified too. Accepted there’s ways and means of breaking up the vigil, but did we seriously need a mass gathering to understand the horrible situation and awful physical and emotional pain Sarah Everard and her family have gone through?

In terms of the case itself:

A) We’ve no idea what has happened after the indecent exposure claims. Edited to note that based on Archie’s follow up, the initial situation looks very bad.

B) We don’t have any idea around the circumstances of the disappearance and death or death and disappearance. There’s talk among the local community on the street on Clapham that this could be a drink/drive situation, rather than a random attack. Still appalling and clearly taken to several new levels by what seems to be the calculated disposal of the body, but a ‘different’ situation than a woman being preyed upon by a random attacker.

If mistakes have been made they won’t be covered up, but as with so much recently there’s a huge amount going on behind the scenes here.
 
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A) We’ve no idea what has happened after the indecent exposure claims. For all we know, Couzens may have been suspended pending an investigation. Has there been anything specific to say he was let off with a warning or allowed to carry on without sanction?
That Couzens had just completed a full shift on guard duty at the US Embassy some three or four days after his alleged indecent exposure offence was reported means he was not suspended. It suggests that the police authorities were extremely lax in following up a reported offence by a colleague.

If anything, given the responsibility of a policeman’s job they should have reacted immediately. Could he possibly have been let off with a warning, while a member of the public would have found themselves in a magistrates court? But it might have cost him his job, which is sometimes a factor for tending towards leniency in internal discipline. I hope the Met have not tried a cover up. Dick’s head will roll if it has.
 
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I’m pretty sure I’d react if someone was shouting in my face and pushing against me trying to do my job, thankless job that it is. We have no idea what insults were directed at them, nor do we know what was said to these so called peaceful vigil antis, (couldn’t think of another word) I didn’t see any police brutality in the pictures and I’m quite sure there would have been pictures. It was an illegal gathering after all and they just decided to ignore the court ruling and go ahead anyway.
 
That Couzens had just completed a full shift on guard duty at the US Embassy some three or four days after his alleged indecent exposure offence was reported means he was not suspended. It suggests that the police authorities were extremely lax in following up an offence by a colleague.

If anything, given the responsibility of a policeman’s job they should have reacted immediately. Could he possibly have been let off with a warning, while a member of the public would have found themselves in a magistrates court? But it might have cost him his job, which is sometimes a factor for tending towards leniency in internal discipline. I hope the Met have not tried a cover up. Dick’s head will roll if it has.
Thanks Archie. I didn’t know about the shift. That definitely looks bad, irrespective of what happened next.
 
That Couzens had just completed a full shift on guard duty at the US Embassy some three or four days after his alleged indecent exposure offence was reported means he was not suspended. It suggests that the police authorities were extremely lax in following up a reported offence by a colleague.

AFAIK they hadn't identified him as involved in the IE incident before he was arrested, apparently the officers involved couldn't be bothered to check the number plate on the offender's car.
 
Great cause and for a specific reason, BUT a gathering was not agreed with the Police and was deemed unlawful.
There was NO social distancing and a very small group of women spoilt it for the rest as they were activists and had no intention of towing the line.
Ah, the old 'there were radicals in the crowd!' line, used to great effect, Hillsborough, Miners Strike, Bloody Sunday etc etc...
 
I can imagine the victims family were comforted by the screaming of their daughters name.

Not sure what the Met are meant to do in this whole situation. Do nothing and there’ll be a whole host of groups demanding the same rights to protest. Act and they are vilified too. Accepted there’s ways and means of breaking up the vigil, but did we seriously need a mass gathering to understand the horrible situation and awful physical and emotional pain Sarah Everard and her family have gone through?

In terms of the case itself:

A) We’ve no idea what has happened after the indecent exposure claims. Edited to note that based on Archie’s follow up, the initial situation looks very bad.

B) We don’t have any idea around the circumstances of the disappearance and death or death and disappearance. There’s talk among the local community on the street on Clapham that this could be a drink/drive situation, rather than a random attack. Still appalling and clearly taken to several new levels by what seems to be the calculated disposal of the body, but a ‘different’ situation than a woman being preyed upon by a random attacker.

If mistakes have been made they won’t be covered up, but as with so much recently there’s a huge amount going on behind the scenes here.
Excellent post in my opinion. Balanced and reasonable and saved me another job 😊
 
Ah, the old 'there were radicals in the crowd!' line, used to great effect, Hillsborough, Miners Strike, Bloody Sunday etc etc...
You don't actually believe that sentence do you.

The beauty of mobile phone footage and the astonishing desire of so many people to film every little thing they do, there's a huge amount of footage circulating filmed by the people attending.

Now, you may call me naive, but I don't think the footage was deepfake, which leaves me to conclusion that a group of people attended with the desire to protest, not peacefully stand quietly in a period of reflection, for a woman who went out and didn't come home.

They went to provoke a reaction and they got one.

As has been said, we didn't call all GP bastards because of Shipman, we don't call the Pope scum because of paedophiles masquerading as clergy, or every gymnastic coach, or scout leader and so on.

As for "no justice, no peace" they have arrested and charged him, the rest is down to the views of the jury!

Edited to add

And the Federation of Metropolitan Police Officers have just reported 26 of their members were assaulted last night.

Peaceful my arse.
 
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The idea of yesterday's vigil is understandable because of the awful and tragic circumstances, but it should not have taken place until the end of the pandemic.
Obviously, we have only seen a few clips of the scenes from yesterday, but it looked like a few were whipping the crowd up.
The highlighted response of the police looked heavy handed, but without seeing all the incidents to make an informed decision, you can't tell what pressure they were under.
I notice that a gathering now seems to have been called for tomorrow following yesterday, but I think they should not allow large crowds anywhere until it is officially declared to be safe.
 
You don't actually believe that sentence do you.

The beauty of mobile phone footage and the astonishing desire of so many people to film every little thing they do, there's a huge amount of footage circulating filmed by the people attending.

Now, you may call me naive, but I don't think the footage was deepfake, which leaves me to conclusion that a group of people attended with the desire to protest, not peacefully stand quietly in a period of reflection, for a woman who went out and didn't come home.

They went to provoke a reaction and they got on.

As has been said, we didn't call all GP bastards because of Shipman, we don't call the Pope scum because of paedophiles masquerading as clergy, or every gymnastic coach, or scout leader and so on.

As for "no justice, no peace" they have arrested and charged him, the rest of down to the views of the jury!

Edited to add

And the Federation of Metropolitan Police Officers have just reported 26 of their members were assaulted last night.

Peaceful my arse.
👏👏👍
 
The below are not my words but the words of two police officers on the events last night. I just thought it was worth posting.

Once again officers enforcing the Law are the ones being betrayed as the villains. A group of people wanted to stage a gathering. Using all of the avenues of appeal open to them they were told it could not happen within current legalisation. The organisers put out a public message to say the event was cancelled. A number of people basically thought they are above the law and continued.
Why are the police wrong in doing the job we ask them to do, to enforce the law, ALL laws not just the ones we like?
The vested interests of Politicians and others are now, knowing that police resources have been decimated in recent years, using battles with a weakened service to further their political agendas. To add insult to injury, the politicians who have put the police in this position, trying to enforce their laws, are today hanging the Police service out to dry.
The Press are sensationalising this, and far too many people are simply buying into what they are reporting. Please stop - do your own research, think about what is being said and more importantly why, and to what end?
If you do believe what is being said, then you have to believe that I am no different to the ’police thugs’ being vilified in this morning’s press, do you really believe that of those officers and me?
What happened to Sarah Everard was despicable, and knowing that the accused is one of our own only makes it worse, but for certain groups to accuse the police of being part of the problem and not the solution is the ultimate insult. It is nothing more than a smokescreen to sow discontent and further their own minority yet extremely loud and vocal political agendas, that I hope most reasonable people know go against our liberally democratic values and beliefs.
The following extract is copied from a former colleagues page. It sums up what happened at the Clapham Common protest last night. I was and remain, a member of the Policing Family for the last 34 years - I know colleagues that were there last night who are bitterly disappointed at the way they were treated by a minority of what can only be explained as "troublemakers" who used the vigil to further a political an extreme view.
No-one in the Policing family agrees with the actions that were allegedly undertaken by one rogue colleague last week, unfortunately one individual's alleged actions has affected the whole of the Police Service.
-------------
Tonight’s Virgil for Sarah. A female officers point of view.
''It started with mainly only female officers overlooking a civil vigil. When numbers grew and social distancing seized more officers were called.
When police officers tried to crowd control and remove people from stamping on flowers for Sarah they refused. Then it kicked off.
Then I saw people being arrested and my colleagues being assaulted when trying to transport said prisoner.
Then I saw our vehicles being vandalised with spray with the word ACAB and a mirror being smashed.
Then I thought what would Sarah’s family think about this?
Then I saw and heard my colleagues being abused. They were called murderes, rapists, a female colleague was told it should have been her. And we were told to arrest each other. This is not ok.
Sarah’s family and friends have been so gracious under the circumstances. I do not believe they would want this to happen. If it was me I would not want this to happen. Stop think and be civil we are all humans and we all are angry at what happened. We do not need more violence.
I am a woman. I am a police officer. I am very proud of being both. This week has me exhausted. Physically from the job and mentally by all this.
We are not at fault for what happened because if we knew we would have done what we could to stop it.
To finalise this rant, to my colleagues: I am proud of you. You were insulted beyond what we are used to. We stand by our uniform, we’re proud to carry this warrant card so we can uphold the great office of Constable. Thank you for being there today hope you are all ok.
 
Ah, no matter what opinions are voiced from the heart, and facts presented, and not withstanding the nature of the sad demise of a fellow human, I see the idiots with their often vitriolic agendas emerge again from the woodwork.

What a sorry Forum this can be sometimes.
 
My own personal thoughts are that once the courts judged it to bean illegal gathering no one should have broken the law because the decision was made in regard covid and public health. So it would have been better to have no police presence, let those who wanted to go against the decision turn up and hold their peaceful vigil and gone home. The fact they turned up in numbers to police it was only ever going to give the minority of activists who latch onto anything they can a reason to cause problems. No police, no reaction so they go home.

I feel sorry for Sarah’s family, they didn’t want that, this country is going to hell in a handcart.
 
These lefty activists were the victims of police brutality and nobody had a problem with the BLM protesters behaving as they liked.

Rangers supporters celebrated peacefully last weekend and caused the police no grief yet were labelled scum.

Who makes the rules up ?
I thought that police made 28 arrests during the Rangers 'celebration'.
 
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