Welcome to Gulag London, home of the Freindly Games...

Cressers

Now what was that about encouraging everyone to cycle?...

http://www.rt.com/news/london-police-ol ... rests-269/

garryc

Serves 'em right.

Crapaud

From your link, Cressers ...

... Earlier there were reportedly calls on the internet to stage the London ride on July 27 as an anti-Olympics protest. ...

Seems like they were looking for trouble and got it.

Tossers.

dylanfernley

critical mass protests have been going a long time now, long before cycling was 'cool'--- the right to protest is a cornerstone of any society that claims to be a 'democracy' surely, what threat are a group of cyclists to the state?

A nuisance to the powers that be maybe, but a protest would not be much use if it wasn't would

Smokin Joe

Critical mass may be on bicycles, but if they think they have any common ground with me or I suspect most other cyclists they are sadly mistaken.

They ought to be targeted during police tests of rubber bullets and water cannon.

Crapaud

Smokin Joe wrote:

Critical mass may be on bicycles, but if they think they have any common ground with me or I suspect most other cyclists they are sadly mistaken.
They ought to be targeted during police tests of rubber bullets and water cannon.

+1

dylanfernley

Can you give a reasoned argument for your rabid views, bullets and water cannon, surely a bit unnecessary , why not get a flamethrower out and maybe a few snipers with dum dum bullets, thats what should happen to any one you dislike

Smokin Joe

dylanfernley wrote:

Can you give a reasoned argument for your rabid views, bullets and water cannon, surely a bit unnecessary , why not get a flamethrower out and maybe a few snipers with dum dum bullets, thats what should happen to any one you dislike

Good idea, guess I'm just too much of a liberal softy myself.

dylanfernley

Smokin Joe wrote:

Good idea, guess I'm just too much of a liberal softy myself.

scratch you and there's a tory inside

CambsNewbie

If you are specifically told you can't protest somewhere then go there to do exactly that, what do you expect?

Are we meant to feel sympathy as fellow cyclists? I've never heard of this RT site before. What is their political slant? They used lots of inflamitary words like 'kettling'.They couldn't decide if people had been arrested or detained (very big difference) and what the numbers were. And the handicapped male was allegedly sprayed along with most of the crowd? The small canisters officers are supplied with certainly don't hold enough to start spraying crowds with any effect. And the British transport officer put a baton round someone's neck? I'm happy to be proved wrong but I doubt it..

Surely anyone with a bit of common sense knows that trying to protest during the olympics, is going to be dealt with quickly and decisively?

dylanfernley

Do you think people protest for no reason? Critical mass has been going for a long time now(20 years)-- its aims are varied-- but they are FOR cycling, remember many motorists Do not like Cyclists, these people have been carrying the flag for many years, doing all the boring stuff like campaigning, going to public enquiries, the stuff most people can't be bothered with but are happy to enjoy the fruits of their labours-- -- they are just one aspect of campaigning, who 'enjoy' reclaiming the streets for an hour or two each month --are they bothering you ??????

Crapaud

dylanfernley wrote:

Do you think people protest for no reason? Critical mass has been going for a long time now(20 years)-- its aims are varied-- but they are FOR cycling, remember many motorists Do not like Cyclists, these people have been carrying the flag for many years, doing all the boring stuff like campaigning, going to public enquiries, the stuff most people can't be bothered with but are happy to enjoy the fruits of their labours-- -- they are just one aspect of campaigning, who 'enjoy' reclaiming the streets for an hour or two each month --are they bothering you ??????

[url=http://www.rt.com/news/london-police-olympics-arrests-269/]RT[/url] wrote:

Earlier there were reportedly calls on the internet to stage the London ride on July 27 as an anti-Olympics protest.

Hmmm... something doesn't add up.

Smokin Joe

dylanfernley wrote:

Do you think people protest for no reason? Critical mass has been going for a long time now(20 years)-- its aims are varied-- but they are FOR cycling, remember many motorists Do not like Cyclists, these people have been carrying the flag for many years, doing all the boring stuff like campaigning, going to public enquiries, the stuff most people can't be bothered with but are happy to enjoy the fruits of their labours-- -- they are just one aspect of campaigning, who 'enjoy' reclaiming the streets for an hour or two each month --are they bothering you ??????

Not surprising if they have to put up with tossers like that every month.

Miss Pootle

RT is a Russian television station that broadcasts to the UK. That might allow you to draw some inferences about their political slant, although what those inferences might be I wouldn't like to say.

manglier

dylanfernley wrote:

Do you think people protest for no reason? Critical mass has been going for a long time now(20 years)-- its aims are varied-- but they are FOR cycling, remember many motorists Do not like Cyclists, these people have been carrying the flag for many years, doing all the boring stuff like campaigning, going to public enquiries, the stuff most people can't be bothered with but are happy to enjoy the fruits of their labours-- -- they are just one aspect of campaigning, who 'enjoy' reclaiming the streets for an hour or two each month --are they bothering you ??????

Not in my name!

cooldad

D lock the cnuts.

MattC59

Critical Mass ? Critical statement.........

"a police order had prohibited the London group from traveling into the Olympic Park area in the east of the capital during Friday night's opening ceremony.
The police released a statement in which they said the conditions imposed on the ride had been put in place "to prevent serious disruption to the community and the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.""

So they thought they'd ride anyway.......... serves them right.

Yellow Peril

I always thought critical masses were about re-asserting cyclists rights to be on the road. Why re-arrange the date to make an anti-Olympic protest? WTF has that got to do with cyclists rights?

Next you'll be trying to justify a critical mass peleton chasing down the Quorn hunt.

It seems to me that an unnecessary and inflammatory protest just set the rights of cyclists on the road back 10 years.

RichN95.

dylanfernley wrote:

Do you think people protest for no reason?

Yes. They do it all the time. Some people just like protesting. It's like the old Brando quote - "What are rebelling against?" "What have you got?"

MattC59

Dear Critical Mass,

Yes, you have every right to be on the road, and to campaign for cyclists rights to be there.
No, you don't have the right to be a royal pain in the ar*e, cause disruption for the sake of it and break exclusion orders, just because you think that you 'have a right to be there'.
Get a life nd a sense of perspective.
T*ssers.

Lots of love,
M

tiredofwhiners

I agree with the general tone.

Protesting is one thing, but going out of your way to upset other folks isn't going to win you any friends or supporters. Their actions will gain them no support.

Even though I am a cyclist, if they had tried to upset my day at the Olympics stadium, I'd be dragging them off their bikes as well.

Gazzaputt

As said on another thread I hope the wankers got a few whacks as well.

Ben6899

dylanfernley wrote:

Smokin Joe wrote:

Good idea, guess I'm just too much of a liberal softy myself.

scratch you and there's a tory inside

I agree with Smokin Joe and I certainly ain't a fecking T**y.

MattC59

dylanfernley wrote:

maybe a few snipers with dum dum bullets, thats what should happen to any one you dislike

Sounds a great idea, other than the fact that dum dum bullets don't work very well as snipers amunition. They're not accurate enough, but the sentiment is there.

As usual, the article seems to latch on to the fact that it was a disabled man who was sprayed. So what ?!?! He's as capable as anyone else on a tricycle of causing a disruption, ignoring the police requests and generally beig a cnut. Exactly what was he protesting for ? Was he high lighting the rights of a cyclist on the road, or was he just one of the many 'rent a protestor' ? I'm going with the latter.

Crapaud

MattC59 wrote:

... As usual, the article seems to latch on to the fact that it was a disabled man who was sprayed. So what ?!?! He's as capable as anyone else on a tricycle of causing a disruption, ignoring the police requests and generally beig a cnut. Exactly what was he protesting for ? Was he high lighting the rights of a cyclist on the road, or was he just one of the many 'rent a protestor' ? I'm going with the latter.

Not sufficiently disabled that he can't pin a polis to a car bonnet. This vid'll vindicate him. Not.

erifles

dylanfernley

Thats pretty sickening-- to me thats attempted murder, using a vehicle as a weapon-- no doubt some wags on here will find a way of justifiying the driver

Crapaud

dylanfernley wrote:

Thats pretty sickening-- to me thats attempted murder, using a vehicle as a weapon-- no doubt some wags on here will find a way of justifiying the driver

Of course it is. Presumably the vid's being used to justify CM being a political bandwagon masquerading as a bike ride. Not exactly comparing like with like, is it?

I thought you'd run away, Dylan. Are you back to explain the discrepancy between CM being for cyclists and being an anti-olympics protest? While you're here could you point out any evidence that CM has done anything for cycling in the past 20 years. I've been following CM for ~15 years and I've seem feck-all.

While you're at it, how has CM managed to effect any change without 1) a spokesperson, 2) any way to form an agenda, 3) communicate it's vision to the general public / authorities.

Ta much.

Cleat Eastwood

I'd never heard of critical mass and had to wiki them, so I guess in one regard their objective of raising awareness isn't perhaps as effective as it could be.

But I have to side with dylan, even if teh CM gatherings sole result is to highlight the fact that our democracy is flawed then it's a most valuable tool for social change.

MattC59

erifles wrote:

Exactly what has this got to do with the CM ride in which was arranged to try to disrupt the Olympics ?

MattC59

Lets be honest, CM has nothing to do with cycling any more. It's just a way of protesting and causeing disruption, and the protestors happen to have adopted bikes as a means of protesting.