Disturbing?

[rafiki]

It's a faff about nothing really...

I do hope you are right DA. But aren't you still looking at this from a UK standpoint? The work/food/housing protests are already happening here in Spain and the measures outlined should be viewed in that context.

[katy]

Have seen a few videos of the Madrid violence and the protesters looked the same ragbag of protesters seen in the UK...20yr old hoodies, a few ageing hippie types and the trade unions. In one video the Police were a bit rough dragging people along the ground but you have to ask yourself why they continue to fight and struggle when arrested...what are the Police expected to do, let them go In one video a Policeman was deliberately attacked by 4 protesters and kicked to the ground.

As DA says, you can't stop it anyway. Look at the stuff coming out of Syria from mobiles.

[TerryC]

The law applies to the police as much as the general public so if the police want the protesters to uncover their faces then they should set an example and do the same along with their numbers. I believe this is called fairness, a commodity sadly missing from todays society. We live in a world where protests are going to increase and get progressively more violent. The political elite, wherever you reside take no notice of the common people. It is the politicians who are the problem along with the banks and big business, so long as they are alright and are not affected by the protests then they will simply use their police forces to control the mob. The world is in a sorry state at the moment how can a civilised country like Spain be in such a state that the Red Cross is appealing for food parcels for the Spanish people. In the UK food banks are opening to feed the poor. Yet still the perpetrators of this shameful situation get away scott free. Back to the original post, if the police behave within the law they have nothing to fear from video footage, you must assume that they have things to hide. I say once again RIP democracy, we all live in a 4 or 5 year dictatorship where the politicians do as they please and it will only get worse as the EU tentacles get further and further into our societies and the police will be needed to maintain the status quo.

[frank]

The reason I left the Uk was that it was becoming a police state & instead of punishing the criminal classes it was easier to pick on the law-abiding.

Funny, I'm law abiding and I've never had a problem with the UK police and never felt I was living in a police state. Still, smart move on your part moving to Spain.

[olive]

At the risk of getting flamed for using a UK example of how the police were brought to task, that poor fellow Ian Tomlinson? that got knocked to the ground by the cops and subsequently died illustrates how without video evidence the police cover their trail. We would just have been suckered in to he slipped etc. Even now my dad believes he was in the wrong. "Shouldn't have been there".

Same applies here. They are protestors not armed trained militia.

I suspect that most people reading this thread have never so much as lifted a finger in protest at the injustices of the last 40 years let alone had the temerity to put their feet on the street. Best to accept our fate as drones working to feed the monster ( United Comminist states of Europe) and not protest.

[Devils Advocate]

I suspect that most people reading this thread have never so much as lifted a finger in protest at the injustices of the last 40 years let alone had the temerity to put their feet on the street

I think you may be right Olive. No issue in my living memory has given me the urge to do so anyway, so that's one of us.

Anything that gives me or the family grief then I act..........selfish?......I don't know.

[markwilding]

I have to say In both Spain and the UK I have never felt they are police states. Spain's police are more likely to use violence than their British counterparts.

I agree with Katy that the demonstrators in Madrid are the rent a mob lot. The ones in Bilbao didn't reflect anybody except the ones who hang about the streets with dogs by their side. People who wouldn't be working, even if there were full employment.

Having said that, I've seen first hand the way the Spanish or actually the Basque police use their sticks to control crowds,hitting woman just as hard as the men and it's very upsetting to watch.

[katy]

I am not backwards at coming forward but don't go in for demos orchestrated by the likes of Nalgo etc. It's always a police state yada yada when the Tories are in. I suppose like me most of you must have done ok. to be retiring early and had money to invest in Spain I used to see them at Uni, intense Socialist workers party members, they would latch on to any cause. None of the ones I knew and kept in touch with have ever done anything with their lives, they limp from one grievance to another when others got on with their lives/jobs and became successful. Of course lifes not fair, it never will be.

Ian Tomlinson would have died anyway. His "outraged" family had already thrown him out and he was living rough in the streets. Even if you believe all the hype about being pushed killed him it doesn't imply all the Police are the same.

[rafiki]

Even if you believe all the hype about being pushed killed him it doesn't imply all the Police are the same.

Absolutely right, all police are not the same but video of the incident identified the one considered responsible which is the crux of my concerns about the article I quoted.

[katy]

I have to say I wouldn't last long in the force, I would smash the lights out of some thugs. The Spanish police are much tougher and that's how the UK police should be. If they were then the riots wouldn't have got out of hand last year when the Police stood and watched small businesses being looted and burnt.
There was a case in Marbella a few years ago when a druggie causing trouble was tackled and the Police sat on him...he died and there was a bit of outcry in the news but al fin, no pasa nada. If it had been in the UK it would have gone on....and on, for years. Well done Spain I say, lets hope they don't follow the softie approach of the UK.

[Free at Last]

Even if you believe all the hype about being pushed killed him it doesn't imply all the Police are the same.

Absolutely right, all police are not the same but video of the incident identified the one considered responsible which is the crux of my concerns about the article I quoted.

What a pity the same officer wasn't on duty in Downing Street when Andrew Mitchell launched into his foul mouthed rant at the police - then the odious little toad might have got more than he bargained for. Being argumentative and not doing as he was told by the police was the only reason Ian Tomlinson got clobbered, after all - the video evidence clearly showed he was moving away from the officer, with his hands in his pockets, when he was struck from behind by the officer with the baton and then pushed to the ground.

[frank]

I have to say I wouldn't last long in the force, I would smash the lights out of some thugs. The Spanish police are much tougher and that's how the UK police should be..

Agree, up to a point, but in April in País Vasco a guy died after being shot in the head from 20 metres with a rubber bullet, the police in Gerona savagely beat up an Argentinian who died a few days later, another got beaten up by the Mossos d’Esquadra in Cataluña and died, there are lots of cases like this in Spain. But as you say, unlike UK, you hardly hear about it. Well certainly not from the members here! There are videos on youtube of Spanish police giving people a beating, it´s not unusual.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXcVKeiWGBo
As for Tomlinson, yes the officer used too much force, but Tomlinson was an alcoholic and he was drunk on that day, had he not been I can´t see that that push would have killed him.

[markwilding]

The guy from here died in a football related incident. There were demonstrations in Bilbao and it was well reported here.

[Acen]

Have i missed something?? what do you think would happen if you got caught filming police in the UK????

people are getting too soft, the guardia and police regularly dish out beatings in these part (gib border and la linea)

do we really think spain is a democracy LOL, all roads lead to Berlin in Europe!!!