WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE ROYALS?!??!

by Squeak

Ever since the news began creeping out – on rolling news coverage and, for a lot of us, jubilant facebook status updates – about the VICIOUS ATTACK on the car carrying HRH The Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, Knight of the Garter, Knight of the Thistle, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Bath, Member of the Order of Merit, Knight of the Order of Australia, Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, Privy Counsellor, Aide-de-Camp, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (to give him his full title, respectfully) and his wife Camilla, the reaction from the press, police and now the government has been nothing less than hysterical,  terrifying and downright fuckin’ hilarious in equal measure.

In fairness, it has been a good few centuries since an heir to the throne in Britain has had to contend with a a baying mob brandishing sticks and chanting “off with their heads”. Mad rioting outside Parliament on Thursday was,  to some degree, expected; indeed, BBC journalists felt the need to remind us every five minutes that “anarchists from the Whitechapel Anarchist Group and the Wombles” were there with the intention of causing trouble. Nevermind that the Wombles disbanded in 2006 and that WAG are, with all due respect, probably about ten men and a dog, the media nonetheless needed some sort of “label” to attach to any disorder, unable to comprehend that maybe, just maybe, ‘normal’ students are pretty angry and like smashing shit up as well.

What definitely wasn’t expected on Thursday was the window of a toff-carrying Rolls Royce getting punted in on its way to a concert in honour of those sitting in its back seat. Three days later, the story continues to dominate the headlines. It’s led to an outpouring of right-wing vitriol about violent hooligans attacking “our royal family”, desecrating a statue of “anti-fascist hero” Winston Churchill and “attacking” the police. Apparently the future Queen may have even been hit with a stick – or as the Daily Star put it ‘CAMILLA POKED BY RIOT THUGS’. I mean, honestly, haven’t you guys heard of Gandhi?

The tabloid’s moral faux-outrage was all too predictable. More worrying, however, has been the response from the establishment – it’s added fuel to the fire for reactionary demands that policing isn’t tough enough and needs to be “stepped up” at future demonstrations. Today, it’s revealed that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is looking at introducing water-cannons for public order policing.

The irony couldn’t be greater when we look at what happened on Thursday, when the tooled-up riot cops successively kettled, horse-charged and brutally attacked demonstrations widely reported in the media as good-natured and peaceful. It’s left one 20 year old student, Alfie Meadows, requiring brain surgery after being bludgeoned by a police baton. And now we’re being told that this wasn’t enough, and that protesters should be getting a “good soaking” as well.

In Glasgow, fortunately, no one required hospital treatment as a result of the police actions on Thursday. However, the treatment of peaceful demonstrators still (as the video below shows) verged well into the territory of brutal assaults on protesters, the pushing around of school children, and flagrant political policing. In a continuation of the harassment and intimidation of political activists that has been ongoing over the past few months, two demonstrators were picked out from a crowd of hundreds and arrested on trumped up charges. These include assaulting and obstructing police officers and attempting to rescue or assist the escape of a person in custody; both are bailed (one with the now customary city-centre banning order) and will appear in court in January.  Their full statement, and call for witnesses, can be read here.

What’s becoming clear is that as the radicalisation of broad sections of society and opposition to austerity and cutbacks grow, the police are stepping up the victimisation of activists and attempting to limit protest though whatever means possible. We need to be prepared to resist this and stand up for the rights of everyone to resist the Coalition’s attacks on the working class – which, far removed from two aristocrats facing the minor distress of encountering a few of their subjects – are set to rip apart communities and the lives of millions of people.