Fans Get Even

So this guy runs across a football pitch during a live footie game displaying a banner, and the coppers bring him down in front of thousands of fans. Fair enough I suppose - a little heavy-handed maybe. But then one of the cops pulls out his truncheon and starts beating the shit out of the demonstrator in full view of the audience.

Cue a beautiful moment as the players, then the audience, intervene. http://www.tooshocking.com/videos/6041/Fans_Get_Even_With_Riot_Police

Watch closely though. In a cruel twist of fate, the over-zealous (and altogether stupid cop) who laid into the demonstrator gets away. Whereas his colleague, who can be seen trying to stop him hitting the guy, is the one who bears the brunt of the crowd's rage.

No, that is NOT "beating the shit out of" someone. That is the proper use of a police baton to in order to make a detainee comply with officers' orders. A few jabs to the ribs and hopefully the detainee will comply and the struggle is over.

The camera's view is obscured, but my guess is that he was either struggling against them or had his hands hidden underneath his body and the cops were worried about the possibility of a weapon. The actions of the fans (drunk?) show that the cops were correct in using heightened security measures against the idiot who disrupted the match. Looks like a melee waiting to happen.

Quote: DaButt @ February 27 2009, 2:56 AM GMT

No, that is NOT "beating the shit out of" someone. That is the proper use of a police baton to in order to make a detainee comply with officers' orders. A few jabs to the ribs and hopefully the detainee will comply and the struggle is over.

The camera's view is obscured, but my guess is that he was either struggling against them or had his hands hidden underneath his body and the cops were worried about the possibility of a weapon. The actions of the fans (drunk?) show that the cops were correct in using heightened security measures against the idiot who disrupted the match. Looks like a melee waiting to happen.

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Oh f**k - here we go again.

How can that not be wrong? One harmless pissed-up guy with a banner, versus 4 pumped-up burly cops, one of whom is ramming a nightstick into his body while another punches him? What the Hell did they expect from the audience? A light applause of approval? They got away lightly.

Quote: Lee Henman @ February 27 2009, 3:08 AM GMT

How can that not be wrong? One harmless pissed-up guy with a banner, versus 4 pumped-up burly cops, one of whom is ramming a nightstick into his body while another punches him? What the Hell did they expect from the audience? A light applause of approval? They got away lightly.

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There is clearly an edit in the video between the time he is tackled and the time the man gets poked by the baton. What happened during the edit? Did the man fight with the officers? Was he threatening to kill them? Did they think he had a weapon? Neither of us knows from watching a video on the Internet. He was clearly resisting and I'll guarantee you that if you show that video to a policeman who has been trained with a baton and has been in this situation that he'll say that the cops used only the necessary force and exhibited the proper restraint. The cops did not go in with batons swinging and you can clearly see the cop withdrawing his baton as soon as the man appears to comply. This is a case of well-trained officers and drunken, violent hooligans.

Try charging the prime minister and refuse to comply once tackled and see how you fare. Maybe I'm unfamiliar with UK cops, but I GUARANTEE that you'll get treated like this if you struggle with an American cop. It's all part of the training officers receive to ensure their survival.

I can't actually access the clip as my work has blocked it, but I'm having just as much fun watching you two argue. Fight! Fight!

That video is a complete show of the lack of respect people have for the police who are doing their job.

I won't comment on the use of the baton, but it looks like it was done as he's been trained to do albeit quite hard.

The way the audience behaved it completely out of order and they all deserved to be put in jail. Those poor policeman beaten to hell. 4 cops on one stupid man or 100s of drunken hooligans on 4 cops!!!

How are we ever going to stop twats like that if we have no respect for the law!?

The older I get the more in favour of hard line law and order I become. IMO, if some tosspot gets hurt he was probably doing something to deserve it.

What country is the clip from - I couldn't work it out?

Quote: DaButt @ February 27 2009, 3:26 AM GMT

There is clearly an edit in the video between the time he is tackled and the time the man gets poked by the baton. What happened during the edit? Did the man fight with the officers? Was he threatening to kill them? Did they think he had a weapon? Neither of us knows from watching a video on the Internet. He was clearly resisting and I'll guarantee you that if you show that video to a policeman who has been trained with a baton and has been in this situation that he'll say that the cops used only the necessary force and exhibited the proper restraint. The cops did not go in with batons swinging and you can clearly see the cop withdrawing his baton as soon as the man appears to comply. This is a case of well-trained officers and drunken, violent hooligans.

Try charging the prime minister and refuse to comply once tackled and see how you fare. Maybe I'm unfamiliar with UK cops, but I GUARANTEE that you'll get treated like this if you struggle with an American cop. It's all part of the training officers receive to ensure their survival.

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I didn't notice the edit. But to me that was still clearly unacceptable behaviour. That cop laying into the fan with his stick would provoke outrage at any footie match over here. Maybe that kind of thing is the norm in the US where a cop runs the risk of getting a bullet in the head if he doesn't immediately disable a suspect but to me, this behaviour is wrong. Looks like I'm in the minority here though.

Also, if it's all such acceptable behaviour, how come his colleague clearly reaches out and stops him beating the guy?

Quote: Lee Henman @ February 27 2009, 11:36 AM GMT

I didn't notice the edit. But to me that was still clearly unacceptable behaviour. That cop laying into the fan with his stick would provoke outrage at any footie match over here. Maybe that kind of thing is the norm in the US where a cop runs the risk of getting a bullet in the head if he doesn't immediately disable a suspect but to me, this behaviour is wrong. Looks like I'm in the minority here though.

Also, if it's all such acceptable behaviour, how come his colleague clearly reaches out and stops him beating the guy?

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I think it all depends what country it's in too, e.g what the political and social climate is.

Quote: chipolata @ February 27 2009, 10:10 AM GMT

The older I get the more in favour of hard line law and order I become. IMO, if some tosspot gets hurt he was probably doing something to deserve it.

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I think it's Portugal Dolly - shown on German TV. Benfica vs someone else

Quote: Lee Henman @ February 27 2009, 11:39 AM GMT

I think it's Portugal Dolly - shown on German TV. Benfica vs someone else

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Aren't their Police force notoriously heavy-handed - hence the crowd and players' reaction. There seemed to be alot of dislike of the authority in that clip! I don't think that would happen in the UK today (and I mean the police actions and the crowd/player reactions).

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ February 27 2009, 11:42 AM GMT

Aren't their Police force notoriously heavy-handed - hence the crowd and players' reaction. There seemed to be alot of dislike of the authority in that clip! I don't think that would happen in the UK today (and I mean the police actions and the crowd/player reactions).

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No it wouldn't. What about the countless clips of streakers we've laughed at for all these years on shows like It'll Be Alright On The Night? It's almost traditional for some naked buffoon to go lollopping across a cricket / football pitch and to be led away to the cheers of the crowd by a smirking Bobby holding his hat over their privates. Maybe Dennis Nordern just didn't show the bit where the cops tackled the streakers to the ground and beat them half to death for contravening public decency laws.

Maybe I'm just becoming a wooly old liberal, I don't know. I do have a story related to police heavyhandedness actually. About 6 months ago I was on the phone to my Dad and heard an almighty crash and a huge ruckus in the background. Dad physically dropped the phone and I could hear males shouting as my Dad ran to the front door. Of course I was really worried for his safety - and jumped in the car to drive the 5 miles to his house.

When I got there, it turned out that what had happened was the police had rammed down my Dad's neighbour's door and five coppers stormed in shouting and yelling. The thing is, my Dad's next door neighbour is a 92 year old widow with a heart problem. She was in bed at the time, on her nebulizer. (I learned later that the coppers had burst into her room and she soiled herself.)

Anyway, I phoned a good mate of mine who's a local copper, to see if he knew what was going on. He was off duty at the time but he made a few calls and found out that one of his colleagues had been hit by a stolen motorbike and had his leg broken. The lad who'd nicked the bike was a 17 year old tearaway who had lived in the house the coppers bust into, but not for about 9 months. He told me that that wasn't the only door they'd turned into matchwood looking for this kid, and he advised me to call the police and seek reassurance that my Mum and Dad's house wouldn't be hit. (Mum is very ill with Alzheimers and the shock would be devastating).

Anyway, they got him in the end. And what do you think happened to him when they got him back to the cells? I'll leave that one to your imagination...

Quote: Lee Henman @ February 27 2009, 11:53 AM GMT

Maybe I'm just becoming a wooly old liberal, I don't know. I do have a story related to police heavyhandedness actually. About 6 months ago I was on the phone to my Dad and heard an almighty crash and a huge ruckus in the background. Dad physically dropped the phone and I could hear males shouting as my Dad ran to the front door. Of course I was really worried for his safety - and jumped in the car to drive the 5 miles to his house.

When I got there, it turned out that what had happened was the police had rammed down my Dad's neighbour's door and five coppers stormed in shouting and yelling. The thing is, my Dad's next door neighbour is a 92 year old widow with a heart problem. She was in bed at the time, on her nebulizer. (I learned later that the coppers had burst into her room and she soiled herself.)

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I've seen things first hand on both sides. Some very nice rozzers looked after myself and a friend when my car caught fire on the motorway and gave us ciggies (after some very nice firemen had kept us warm in their truck). But I've also seen some when we were at the end of a night out spoiling for a fight, trying to nastily nick a group of my mates for nothing.

Quote: DaButt @ February 27 2009, 3:26 AM GMT

Try charging the prime minister and refuse to comply once tackled and see how you fare.

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A round of applause, most likely.