Should The Home Secretary Ban All Such Demonstrations?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/390969/Battle-to-stop-the-sick-Margaret-Thatcher-hate-mob

Why are the Met not concerned enough to request the Home Secretary to ban all anti-Thatcher activity in London, as they were in their successful ban on EDL marches?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/26/edl-march-london-banned

[Gromit]

The EDL march probably shouldn't have been banned but the sheer frequency of EDL marches was swallowing up vast amounts of money, estimated at close to £1million. There have been numerous EDL jamborees since.

I imagine there will be trouble next week, you could ban one, but you cannot lock down the whole country.

[emmie]

can you let me have figures on how many EDL marches there have been in say twelve months, i would be very interested to know.

[trt]

I cant see the point in having a demonstration about someone on the day of their funeral, do these silly people think she can hear them?

Waste of precious time, get a job.

[LazyGun]

@Em I have lived in London, yes, until pretty recently in fact.Unfortunately, the price of living in a city, especially a capital city, is issues relating the quality of life - thats just how it is, the world over, time without end.

How many protests per year are there that bring London grinding to a halt? How many authorised, peaceful protests are there per year that result in shop windows being smashed or goods nicked.

Banning the right of protest and free assembly on the grounds of inconvenience is absolutely the height of represssion. You want to sacrifice democratic principle on the altar of convenience?

[emmie]

sure i could the stats someplace, you don't always know when something will kick off, perhaps that is the price you pay, but that doesn't mean to say one has to like it. this one was the students..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/21/student-protests-demo-2012-live-blog

[WELSHYORKIE]

Is it not part of our democratic right to voice an opinion - no matter who or what is the target? Wasn't Maggie a champion of democracy and free speech? Some of the stuff mentioned is tasteless in the extreme and should be discouraged, in my view.

[LazyGun]

You are perfectly right that you do not have to like it, but you do not have to call for the banning of all protests and demonstrations either. That is the height of repression.

[Gromit]

List of EDL demonstrations. The cost of policing them is considerable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_Defence_League_demonstrations

[emmie]

but it wasn't and won't be. I wish this thing was over with.

[emmie]

wonder how much it costs to protect the like of Abu Qatada, or any of his followers when they start spouting their bilge.

[WELSHYORKIE]

tbh, em, me too, the whole bloody thing is boring, boring, boring....

[WELSHYORKIE]

Ah, Maggie would have seen him off em -p no doubt about that!!

[Gromit]

// Wasn't Maggie a champion of democracy and free speech? //

No she wasn't.

[naomi24]

I wish people would grow up.

[LazyGun]

So do I

[jno]

I've been in or around London for decades and never had any inconvenience from demos. The only time I had trouble was trying to get a taxi home at night before Charles and Di wed; the hooha in Hyde Park jammed up the entire West End.

I demand that all royal weddings be banned, or at least held in Norfolk somewhere.

[emmie]

perhaps they should hold demo's where someone might take some notice, or it would do some good. Norfolk perhaps, at least it's not overly inhabited, and is on the flat side.

[emmie]

wonder what the great unwashed will find to moan or gripe about next, once she is interred, that should one hope be it.

[sp1814]

em10

There aren't that many politicians who would generate this level of respect/hatred.

Just look at AB this week! How many other politicians do we care about to discuss so intently?

[sir.prize]

On Wednesday, Maggie still won't be afforded the respect shown towards Diana - despite all the Tories' spoutings.