30 days ago, in Kuala Lumpur, tear gas, water cannons, the army, different police units, were deployed under the orders of the government to deter, suppress and ultimately stop an organized, peaceful march organized by civil groups, to highlight irregularities and serious flaws in Malaysia’s electoral system. Weeks leading up to the march, Yellow items of clothing were blanket-ly banned, huge numbers were arrested; on the day itself, water cannons were used, tear gas canisters were thrown into open as well as enclosed spaces, including the compound of a fully functioning hospital to name but a few, but still 50,000 peaceful marchers turned up. Many were injured, one was killed, a message was hopefully sent. No satisfactory answers have been given.
In London 30 days later, what started off being a peaceful protest by a very small group of local residents who were seeking answers to the death of an individual purportedly caused by the police, spiraled out of control. Youths turned rioters and looters, rode on the wave of discontent to instigate a series of anarchistic attacks on buildings and individuals the following night. The third and last night, saw the peak of a three night long crescendo of riots, with 13 different towns and settlements within the greater London area seeing extreme violence in the forms of opportunistic looting, entire blocks of buildings being set on fire, people being physically attacked and robbed… what I’ve mentioned is far from being exhaustive…
What happened?
Regular sirens of ambulances, fire engines and police vehicles maybe part of the standard package in most London hotels; and no doubt is inclusive within the inventory of fixtures and fittings if you choose to rent or buy a property in London. It goes without saying, a heightened awareness of your immediate personal space, and a slightly increase base heartrate (…at all times) , and a needless to mention increased level of tetchiness, confrontational behavior, and fear of something bad happening etc etc etc ar all side effects of living in London.
Maybe I’m being a little doom and gloom here. Surely it can’t be any worse than any capital city?
What about the tolerant, multicultural, multinational, creative, cohesive, expressive and most of all PEACEFUL face of the city of London. All the aforementioned were available by the bucket loads… except for the the very last, capitalized and italisiced face. I, along with I’m sure millions of Brits and otherwise, who live in the UK, and have access to a TV saw scenes unfold that would only previously be seen on TV screens.
But last night, it was for real.
The sirens were loud and unrelenting; the calls by the Met Police acting commissioner to ‘clear the streets’, ‘ask the children to go home’, were spin chilling; the images of burning buildings and hoody’ied youths throwing heavy things against breakable things and looting to boot were scary; and the thought of innocent, law abiding, and until very recently peaceful lives being torn apart right before my eyes, not to mention it being only 4-5 tube stops away from where I was, was nothing nothing short of gut wrenching.
All this aside, what was at the forefront o my mind was an intensely uncomfortable debate unfolding as rapidly as the locations being broken on BBC news 24 to be the next affected by riots.
One side of my mind was asking : Why are water cannons, tear gas and more aggressive, if not more assertive force used? Surely the risk of political fall-out and a few injuries of thugs and criminals are negligible collateral damage to protect the livelihoods of people whose property and possessions are being destroyed, burnt down and looted? It doesn’t matter, how great the greater good is, and what political or social implications might be in stall, suppressing violence with equal force, to make an example of those who have offended is and best strategy for containment and prevention. And more importantly, stopping whats in front of our eyes that is stoppable, is more important that any philosophical argument. Some one’s gotto have the balls to make that call, surely!
How come the Malaysian police used watercannons and tear gas so readily with peaceful protesters, but the Metropolitan police wouldn’t move past the passive tactics which is allowing buildings to be burnt down and peoples’ lives being destroyed?
The other side of my mind was objecting loudly and vehemently: Apart from the political arguments that even the lowest grade of political spin doctors would see and obviously use, it’s a much deeper question at stake here. Firstly, the police needed to contain the situation and prevent it from getting even more widespread that it already has. Countering the violence with more violence would be a louder call-to-arms and more fuel for the ‘fence sitting’ potential anarchists out there, to take that leap of faith and tunr their anger into action. Furthermore, an untouched record of being a tolerant, civilized society who seeks the continuation of peace only thorugh peace, and a sudden U turn to suppress violence with further violence is essentially allowing years, even decades of social and political evolution to go up in flames.
To be continued….
