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MattC59

Crapaud wrote:

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.

Love the title of the video: "man in wheelchair assaulted on critical mass". The goon who posted the video has clearly missed the assualt on the Police officer.

I hope that they let down his tyres and take away his pump !!

Crapaud

I wouldn't rely on a wiki, Cleat. What CM claims to be - and there is no one answer to that - isn't what it is. It might have started out as a force for change by bringing cycling to the attention of those in authority, but that's not what it is today, nor been for some time. What they don't tell you, or indeed like to admit, is that it's a lunatic fringe anti-capitalist, anti-autoritarian leftist bandwagon. Cycling may fit in somewhere in their dogmatic political ideology, but putting an activist on a bike and claiming they're about cycling is no more accurate than putting batman on a bike and claiming all cyclists are vigilanti crimefighters. CM is fundamentally dishonest. You have to dig below the surface, the thin veneer of 'cycling'. There you'll find things like ...

[url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/scotland-yard-defends-arrests-of-critical-mass-cyclists-7985727.html]The Independant[/url] wrote:

... Steve Rushton, of the Counter Olympic Network, said: “It's ironic that cyclists featured so heavily in the actual ceremony, too, while their real-life counterparts were being arrested just nearby.” ...

WTF has that got to do with cycling?

Steve Rushton's also an Occupy London supporter, digital journal informs us. See a pattern yet? Whenever a 'Masser' speaks to the media they always identify themselves as x-fringe group, never as a cyclist. When I first realised what was going on I searched around the web and there are plenty of examples, usually they're all linked, but never openly; sometimes I had to dig into the source code. At the time, the Rebel Clown Army were quite prominent. Try a search on You Tube to see their own particular brand of fuckwittery.

That CM claims anything to do with cycling is a feckin' embarrassment.

Yellow Peril

It's sad really, I like the idea of a critical mass as a way of reminding the general population of cyclists presence on the Highways.

The use of CM as a political tool for other purposes just makes me want to lock my bike away. I don't want to be associated by proxy. As others have said...Not in my name.

Seanos

MattC59 wrote:

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.

Really? Maybe in London but CM Leicester is a great way to start off the last Friday of the month. It's a nice, relaxed and friendly ride around the city with absolutely no 'protesting' whatsoever.

Seanos

Crapaud wrote:

It might have started out as a force for change by bringing cycling to the attention of those in authority, but that's not what it is today, nor been for some time. What they don't tell you, or indeed like to admit, is that it's a lunatic fringe anti-capitalist, anti-autoritarian leftist bandwagon.

Heh, yeah. And they're all shape-shifting lizards too.

pauldavid

Seanos wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

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.

Really? Maybe in London but CM Leicester is a great way to start off the last Friday of the month. It's a nice, relaxed and friendly ride around the city with absolutely no 'protesting' whatsoever.

If one of you bought a garmin you could most probably find your way to your protest. That way you would'nt need to ride around aimlessly looking for a protest to join and avoid the disappointment of having done "no protesting whatsoever"

On the other hand, you could just stop fannying around with your protest group and get a life.

Only a thought

spen666

Yellow Peril wrote:

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 peloton 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.

Why re - arrange the date?

Well for the last 18 years, Critical mass has been held on the last Friday of the month.

Last Friday was...the last Friday of the month....


See, no re arranging of the date - don't be a muppet and accept the police propaganda.



Also:
a) since when is riding a bike a crime?
b) the riders were arrested at 9pm - because they were said to pose a potential to disrupt people getting to the event that had started over an hour before - go figure.

Those of you who have not been on a critical mass bike ride ought to find out what it is before you start making judgements. for many critical mass is not a protest, it is a social ride with friends.

If you want to have no freedom to ride your bike, that is fine, but I for one value my freedom and my right to ride my bike.

fortunately, i was not at work on Friday or I would have been detained like many others who were not part of CM, but merely cycling home along Stratford high street and were detained, held for 15 hours in communicado simply for riding home from work

spen666

MattC59 wrote:

erifles wrote:

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

Where did you invent this from?

CM has been riding on the last Friday of the month in London for 18 years. The Olympics were only awarded to London 7 years ago, and the date of the opening ceremony decfided much more recent than that.

Must have been an incredible bit of clairvoyance to ride on the last Friday of the month to disrupt the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

alternatively, you could be doing wehat you do best and spouting rubbish about something you know nothing about

Ben6899

This tells me everything I need to know about Crtical Mass.

Smokin Joe

spen666 wrote:

CM has been riding on the last Friday of the month in London for 18 years. The Olympics were only awarded to London 7 years ago, and the date of the opening ceremony decfided much more recent than that.

So how many times have they been to Stratford then?

MattC59

spen666 wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

erifles wrote:

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

Where did you invent this from?

CM has been riding on the last Friday of the month in London for 18 years. The Olympics were only awarded to London 7 years ago, and the date of the opening ceremony decfided much more recent than that.

Must have been an incredible bit of clairvoyance to ride on the last Friday of the month to disrupt the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

alternatively, you could be doing wehat you do best and spouting rubbish about something you know nothing about

ooooh.......... get you. Touched a nerve have I ?
Perhaps I took the information from the article in the first post ? Here it is, in case you can't be bothered to find it yourself:

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

So, I'll try to make this simple, as it would appear that even when presented with a number of posts on the article, you still know nothing about the subject and are spouting rubbish (touch of pot and kettle there ?)

If a ride is arranged to go into an area against an exclusion order, then it is being arranged to cause disruption. If that exclusion order is there to prevent disruption to the opening ceremony, and the breaking of said order is to cause disruption, then the ride, and the breaking of the order is to cause disruption to the opening ceremony.

It's not difficult, just follow the logic; it would seem that I do know something about it. :roll:

Seanos

pauldavid wrote:

Seanos wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

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.

Really? Maybe in London but CM Leicester is a great way to start off the last Friday of the month. It's a nice, relaxed and friendly ride around the city with absolutely no 'protesting' whatsoever.

If one of you bought a garmin you could most probably find your way to your protest. That way you would'nt need to ride around aimlessly looking for a protest to join and avoid the disappointment of having done "no protesting whatsoever"

On the other hand, you could just stop fannying around with your protest group and get a life.

Only a thought

Yeah, only problem is there's really no evidence of a thought in your post. Leicester CM isn't a protest group. It's a friendly bike ride, often around a theme (xmas, halloween etc) to promote cycling in the city, with a few drinks at a pub after.

I've been on two ever and they're good fun. Nobody goes out looking for a protest to join, least of all me. So perhaps you could just chill out a bit and stop getting purple faced and ranty about something you don't have a clue about?

spen666

MattC59 wrote:

....


Because it is in the first post in the thread - that means its true does it?



ooooh.......... get you. Touched a nerve have I ?
Perhaps I took the information from the article in the first post ? Here it is, in case you can't be bothered to find it yourself:

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

So, I'll try to make this simple, as it would appear that even when presented with a number of posts on the article, you still know nothing about the subject and are spouting rubbish (touch of pot and kettle there ?)

If a ride is arranged to go into an area against an exclusion order, then it is being arranged to cause disruption. If that exclusion order is there to prevent disruption to the opening ceremony, and the breaking of said order is to cause disruption, then the ride, and the breaking of the order is to cause disruption to the opening ceremony.

It's not difficult, just follow the logic; it would seem that I do know something about it. :roll:

So because its in the first post on the thread that makes it true does it?

I'm waiting for you to explain how a ride that has taken place on the last Friday of every month for the last 18 years was organised to disrupt/ target the Olympics?

When you've answered that , ask your self how cycling at 9pm at night can be disrupting those getting to an event that started an hour before that. How are people using the public highway disrupting an all ticket event in a stadium behind a huge security fence?

Now lets turn to your claim that there was an exclusion order . Firstly, the police have no powers to make such an exclusion order, so any attempt to make such an order is ultra vires and therefore invalid.

I think what you are trying to suggest is the police purported to use S12 of the public order act to impose conditions on a procession. However, if you knew anything of the law, you will know of the House of Lords decision Kay v Comissioner of Police for the metropolis which in 2008 ruled that amongst other things, the police powers under the Public Order act re processions did not apply to Critical Mass.

Never mind, lets ignore this little problem and look at S1 of the Public Order Act. A pre condition to using the powers under S12 is that the police must have reasonable grounds to suspect there will be inter alia, serious violence or serious disruption BEFORE they can impose such conditions.

Now in 18 year amd some 200+ monthly bike rides, there has never been any vserious violence nor has their been any serious disruption. Indeed on the CM website in the run up to this event there were call and reminders for peaceful action.

Sadly, the police did not have the power to impose conditions, and even if they did, the conditions were too wide, amounting as they did to effectively preventing any cyclist living north of the Thames from riding home.

Even ignoring all this, the police are required under the Police & Criminal Evidence Act to bring those arrested before a custody sergeant at a designated police station as soon as possible. This is not met by holding people on busses for hours.

The police are also required to allow those detained access to legal advice. This can only be delayed on the authority of a senior office in limited circumstances, none of which applied here. Yet despite this, many suspects were held for upto 15 hours without being allowed legal advice.

PS I am not a member of Critical Mass and have no mandate to speak for them. I do however know the law and will defend people's freedoms to protest.

You may care to reflect on the fact that the opening ceremony was amongst other things celebrating the right and achievements of the protest movements in Britain at the same time as protests were being suppressed outside the stadium

MattC59

spen666 wrote:

[I'm waiting for you to explain how a ride that has taken place on the last Friday of every month for the last 18 years was organised to disrupt/ target the Olympics?

I'm only going to answer the point above, 'cause you've clearly got a bit of an issue here, or got sand in your vagina, either way, something's irritating you. But...........

The day is irrellavent. The route is what is of importance. there is no problem with the CM ride and as far as I can see, the Met generally leave it alone, it's the route which is in question. If it was either re-routed to breach the order, or just ignored the order, the organisors were by default being intentionally disruptive. If the CM ride is to promote cycling, then what would have been the issue if the route went elsewhere ? Why do people have to be ar*eholes about protesting ?

As for your comment about people's freedon to protest, I agree, people have a right to protest; however, protesting just because someone has said, 'look guys, the Olympics are on, wouldn't it be nice if you didn't disrupt things with protests', quite frankly is just being an ar*e. With an agenda like CM, there's no need.

And the Mets exclusion order ? ; google is your friend.

spen666

MattC59 wrote:

spen666 wrote:

[I'm waiting for you to explain how a ride that has taken place on the last Friday of every month for the last 18 years was organised to disrupt/ target the Olympics?

I'm only going to answer the point above, 'cause you've clearly got a bit of an issue here, or got sand in your vagina, either way, something's irritating you. But...........

The day is irrellavent. The route is what is of importance. there is no problem with the CM ride and as far as I can see, the Met generally leave it alone, it's the route which is in question. If it was either re-routed to breach the order, or just ignored the order, the organisors were by default being intentionally disruptive. If the CM ride is to promote cycling, then what would have been the issue if the route went elsewhere ? Why do people have to be ar*eholes about protesting ?

As for your comment about people's freedon to protest, I agree, people have a right to protest; however, protesting just because someone has said, 'look guys, the Olympics are on, wouldn't it be nice if you didn't disrupt things with protests', quite frankly is just being an ar*e. With an agenda like CM, there's no need.

And the Mets exclusion order ? ; google is your friend.

Once again you are showing your ignorance. Critical Mass does not have a route - it goes wherever people want to go. It is quite common for the riders to go to different places, split and sometinmes rejoin, other times not, just depends where people end up.


So, now you are conceeding that you were wrong re CM bereing organised to coincide with the Olympics, perhaps you can now explain how something that does not have a route can be re routed

If you think google is the answer, then you are clearly a fool. Google simply points you to rubbish that other people have put on the internet.

I'd refer you to the law of the land and in particular in this case to the Public Order Act 1986, and the case of Kay v Commissioner of Police for the Metroplois. You seem to ignore that House of Lords ruling which rather blows EVERYTHING you have claimed about CM out of the water

dylanfernley

Some people don't like admitting they are wrong, often engaging keyboard before brain and then spend the rest of the time attempting to justify it with cheap laughs and insults--- -- faced with clear and unambiguous questions they resort to diversionary tactics--- empty barrels make the most noise.

The right to protest is one of the few things we still have, the right to withdraw labour has been curtailed, the right to criticise seems in danger judging by some posts on here

Ben6899

All that aside, CM is still a bunch of cnuts. And they do not represent me as a cyclist.

Or is there a case precedent contrary to that as well?

MattC59

spen666 wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

spen666 wrote:

[I'm waiting for you to explain how a ride that has taken place on the last Friday of every month for the last 18 years was organised to disrupt/ target the Olympics?

I'm only going to answer the point above, 'cause you've clearly got a bit of an issue here, or got sand in your vagina, either way, something's irritating you. But...........

The day is irrellavent. The route is what is of importance. there is no problem with the CM ride and as far as I can see, the Met generally leave it alone, it's the route which is in question. If it was either re-routed to breach the order, or just ignored the order, the organisors were by default being intentionally disruptive. If the CM ride is to promote cycling, then what would have been the issue if the route went elsewhere ? Why do people have to be ar*eholes about protesting ?

As for your comment about people's freedon to protest, I agree, people have a right to protest; however, protesting just because someone has said, 'look guys, the Olympics are on, wouldn't it be nice if you didn't disrupt things with protests', quite frankly is just being an ar*e. With an agenda like CM, there's no need.

And the Mets exclusion order ? ; google is your friend.

Once again you are showing your ignorance. Critical Mass does not have a route - it goes wherever people want to go. It is quite common for the riders to go to different places, split and sometinmes rejoin, other times not, just depends where people end up.
It goes wherever people want to go, but there were reportedly "calls on the internet to stage the London ride on July 27 as an anti-Olympics protest." As you say, it's always on a Friday, therefore this can only mean that the calls were to stage it as an Olympic protest. As I said, I have no issue with people's right to protest, however, why do something just because it will p*ss a lot of people off ? Could the CM ride not have gone elsewhere ? Surely if it had, it would have conveyed the same message that it always does. What purpose does it serve to be a c*nt and try to disrupt things for others ? If the cyclists were en mass heading into the area that the exclusion order included, then surely this is a concious decision to follow a route ? If it wasn't a concious decision and was just meanderings, then what would have been wrong with 'ok, sorry, we'll go else where', rather than causing disruption ?

So, now you are conceeding that you were wrong re CM bereing organised to coincide with the Olympics, perhaps you can now explain how something that does not have a route can be re routed
Please point out where I state it was organised to coincide with the Olympics. I believe I stated, and later pointed out the source, that it was arranged to disrupt the Olympics.
If something that doesn't have a route, by simply telling people to go in a certain direction, it can be routed. Surely that's not that difficult to comprehend ?

If you think google is the answer, then you are clearly a fool. Google simply points you to rubbish that other people have put on the internet.
You really are smart aren't you :roll: , it also points you to the Mets statements and their information on the exclusion order. I'm sure that if you phone or write to their their press office, they'll happily send you a copy of the same information. I just used google as it's far quicker and produces the same results.

I'd refer you to the law of the land and in particular in this case to the Public Order Act 1986, and the case of Kay v Commissioner of Police for the Metroplois. You seem to ignore that House of Lords ruling which rather blows EVERYTHING you have claimed about CM out of the water
It doesn't change the face that the ride deliberately caused disruption. If it wasn't deliberate, then why did the riders not head off in a different direction ? And don't say 'because they had a right to be there and to protest'
And no, it doesn't blow everything out of the water, clearly.

Christ, you really do have a chip on your shoulder about this, don't you !
See above.
In addition to the above, I'm aslo intrigued as to why you've taken such offence and have decided to start an argument from my initial point that the .gif pictured has absolutely nothing to do with the CM ride in question ?

jonomc4

Monkeypump

Ben6899 wrote:

All that aside, CM is still a bunch of cnuts. And they do not represent me as a cyclist.

Or is there a case precedent contrary to that as well?

+1. A fine and succinct summary of the matter as far as I'm concerned.

spen666

Ben6899 wrote:

All that aside, CM is still a bunch of cnuts. And they do not represent me as a cyclist.

Or is there a case precedent contrary to that as well?

Have critical mass claimed to represent you?

Your first problem isthat critical mass is not an organised body - different people go on CM for different reasons

pliptrot

One of the things that we should be proud of in the UK is our liberal democracy, which enshrines the right to protest and a hope that the most response anyone will get from those who disagree with them is benign indifference. There are some ugly views in this thread and they are usually tagged with near hysterical selfishness. The heavy-handed behaviour of the police, the handing of power and influence to big business, the irritation with the local community; all these are key features of these olympics and are reflective of a general malaise in society. And yet no-one mentions these - it seems it's preferable to advocate attacking people riding bikes and assaulting the disabled. Thing is, I might meet some of you who seem to applaud assault, internment and mistreatment on the road one day. I hope I don't.

Ben6899

spen666 wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

All that aside, CM is still a bunch of cnuts. And they do not represent me as a cyclist.

Or is there a case precedent contrary to that as well?

Have critical mass claimed to represent you?

Your first problem isthat critical mass is not an organised body - different people go on CM for different reasons

No. I'm just making sure for future clarification.

It's not my problem.

MattC59

pliptrot wrote:

- it seems it's preferable to advocate attacking people riding bikes and assaulting the disabled.

Obviously, I can't be sure of timelines, but it looks awfully like the 'disabled' man assaulted the police office first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfftgb4KOlE&feature=youtu.be

dylanfernley

Of Course they are always doing it hiding behind their disabilities :roll:

Cleat Eastwood

spen666 wrote:

Also:
a) since when is riding a bike a crime?
b) the riders were arrested at 9pm - because they were said to pose a potential to disrupt people getting to the event that had started over an hour before - go figure.

Those of you who have not been on a critical mass bike ride ought to find out what it is before you start making judgements. for many critical mass is not a protest, it is a social ride with friends.

If you want to have no freedom to ride your bike, that is fine, but I for one value my freedom and my right to ride my bike.

fortunately, i was not at work on Friday or I would have been detained like many others who were not part of CM, but merely cycling home along Stratford high street and were detained, held for 15 hours in communicado simply for riding home from work

If thats true, and no reason to doubt you, then that is shocking behaviour.

Mind you it could have been worse - they could have been held for 15hrs in Stoke.

MattC59

dylanfernley wrote:

Of Course they are always doing it hiding behind their disabilities :roll:

What ?!!?
The guy clearly assaulted a police officer. However other posts and videos focus on a disabled man being assaulted. Which is it ? I don't give a monkeys whether he is disabled or not, if you behave like that, you're likely to get something in return from the police.

CambsNewbie

MattC59 wrote:

pliptrot wrote:

- it seems it's preferable to advocate attacking people riding bikes and assaulting the disabled.

Obviously, I can't be sure of timelines, but it looks awfully like the 'disabled' man assaulted the police office first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfftgb4KOlE&feature=youtu.be

At about 26 seconds he doesn't seem so disabled :? Certainly strong enough to wrestle the officer onto the car...

dylanfernley

Another tragic death tonight RIP

http://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comme ... r_his_last