A painful lesson learned and some other thoughts...
A painful lesson learned and some other thoughts...
On Saturday 6.5, the day of the coronation of Charles III, the Metropolitan Police made a total of 52 arrests of people they somehow thought would be intent on disrupting the proceedings. Among those arrested were a number of organisers from the anti-monarchist campaign group, Republic. This is one of a number of reports about the arrests: Police accused of ‘alarming’ attack on protest rights after anti-monarchist leader arrested.
The organisers of the Republic protest said they had been liaising with the Met in the days running up to the coronation and were surprised when they were arrested as they had gained the impression that the cops '...had been making all the right noises'. Republic are a campaign group who as part of their tactics, organise protests. Peaceful protests that involve holding up banners and placards and some chanting. Pretty run of the mill stuff to be honest.
As a campaign group that sees itself as playing by the rules, Republic probably thought that their liaising with the Met would allow them to stage the peaceful protest they wanted to have. So when the cops were 'making all the right noises', they took that at face value, not really suspecting that they were being played. During that liaison, Republic probably dropped enough information to convince the Met that they could cook up some 'charges' that would justify arresting them on the day.
Sadly, Republic have learned a painful lesson. Don't take anything the cops say at face value, ever. The Met, and all the other forces in this land, are duplicitous, lying bastards. Playing by the rules means gifting the cops an opportunity to turn you over. The cops are there to protect the interests of the state, by any means necessary. That includes deception and lying. Learn that lesson and organise accordingly...
The cops are pretty confident when it comes to lifting protesters they don't like and want to keep off the streets. They're a lot less confident when faced with pretty much an entire football stadium noisily expressing their disapproval of the coronation as has happened at Celtic, Hibernian and Liverpool. They haven't got the resources to deal with banner drops, fly posting, stickering and slogans appearing on walls - all decrying the institution of the monarchy. When it comes to pranks such as mowing a giant phallus into the grass on a site scheduled to host a coronation celebration, the cops are left totally baffled - as were many other people.
There has been a fair bit of outrage at the arrests the Met made on Saturday 6.5. Outrage that we share. However, without wanting to sound a sour note, there's an element of hypocrisy from some of those expressing outrage at the arrests. Back in 2020 and into early 2021, those taking to the streets to protest against the Covid lockdowns faced intimidatory police tactics. Some of those expressing outrage at the coronation arrests were back in 2020 and 2021, actively supporting the intimidation being deployed against the anti-lockdown protesters. Not wanting to sound vindictive or bitter but, that hypocrisy cannot be swept under the carpet and forgotten about.
For the moment, let's stay on the subject of the varied currents of protest who joined together in 2020 and 2021 to oppose the lockdowns and the imposition of the vaccine mandates. As we've written more times than we care to remember, these currents of opinion stretched across and beyond the political spectrum. Some of who were definitely worth engaging with. However, there were a few who definitely had to be be avoided. This confusion and contradiction is what happens when a new social movement emerges and takes people by surprise. There are lessons to be learned from this...
One being that a fair number of the currents opposing the lockdowns and the vaccine mandates have been showing some pretty strong anti-monarchist sentiments as well. Not least because of the deep involvement of Charles III in 'The Great Reset'. An agenda that the Covid 'crisis' was leveraged to accelerate. The active role of Charles III in promoting this agenda is examined in some depth in this piece published on Winter Oak: Charles’ empire: the royal reset riddle 15.4.22.
The long established currents of anti-monarchism raging from the anarchists to the decidedly middle of the road Republic have a choice to make. Do they accept or reject the tens of thousands of potential allies that have emerged from the anti-lockdown protests? We sincerely hope that an accommodation can be made, that people will step outside of their silos and that new alliances can be formed. That's because together, we can be stronger and we can win.