As far as I can tell, the police blocked their path into the House of Commons and wheeled some of them away. They didn't arrest or beat or cause the death of anyone, which makes a nice change to their approach when dealing with non-disabled protesters.
According to the Channel 4 report (linked to above), demonstrator Mary Johnson said:
she witnessed one protester being "dragged away by police" claiming officers' behaviour was "disgusting" and that they had been "pushing wheelchairs around".
I'm no fan of the police but, to be honest, in this instance I think they acted properly. Instead of discriminating against them because they were disabled and thus just standing about wondering what to do as they broke into the House of Commons, they treated them like any other citizen and stopped them from breaching the necessary security of the House of Commons.
Mary Johnson rather ruins the idea of the poor disabled wheelchair user being picked on by the police when she also adds:
"Over 30 people, disabled activists, independent living fund users and Dpac members, have gone in, they made a rush for the House of Commons doors... A lot of these guys have very severe impairments, wheelchairs with their equipment, who are facing down police officers....they are not going to run from the government, from a fight. They are prepared to fight for their rights with everything they have."
It's hardly the image of police picking on the disabled when the disabled make a rush for the doors, face down police officers and defiantly say they will not run from a fight!
However, I do support the disabled in their efforts. Cameron's Tories worship Thatcher's statement "there is no such thing as society" and are now trying to bring that into reality. For Scotland, the quicker we become independent - and thus mostly Tory-free - the better.
No comments:
Post a Comment