We Can Not Allow Anarchists to Take Over the UK

It is estimated that over 250,000 people marched through the centre of London on Saturday to protest at the cutbacks which the government are making.

For the most part this protest was peaceful, with the majority of those who took part just wanting to voice their anger at the huge wave of cutbacks that the Coalition Government have announced.

While I personally see that the cuts are necessary in order to stem the colossal drain in finances in the UK, which is due to the financial mismanagement of the previous Labour Government, I don't deny the right of people to demonstrate, and applaud those who want to make their voice heard through peaceful protest.

But then a second group of people joined the demonstration, ones who are most likely not protesters against the cuts, or supporters of the rally, but whose sole purpose is to use an event like this to cause damage to property, and to stage street battles with the police.

It is this group of people, anarchists who were obviously there only for one reason, who give the real protesters a bad name, and who have this past weekend caused millions of pounds of damage to public property, as well as causing injuries to the public and over 30 police officers.

So how do we know that this violent mob was prepared in advance for trouble, and that there was not some event which triggered an adverse reaction?

Looking at the footage of the rioters it looked more like something that we have recently seen in Egypt or Libya, with an angry mob wearing balaclavas and bandannas so that they cannot be recognised and later identified by surveillance cameras. The members of this mob also carried weapons, offensive items such as paint, and even in this case having light bulbs that were filled with ammonia.

I think that it is obvious this mob came prepared for trouble, and indeed they did cause trouble, breaking windows and doors of stores such as Top Shop and Fortnum And Mason, breaking doors and ATM machines at several banks, and also doing a lot of damage to the Ritz Hotel in Central London.

In addition many vehicles, including buses and police vehicles were damaged, had windows broken and were covered in paint, and one group of passengers on a bus had to be led to safety when the mob began to assault it.

At the end of the day the police themselves suffered over 30 casualties, but they did make over 200 arrests, and whether you like the idea of surveillance cameras or not, those in Central London are proving extremely useful in helping to identify yobs and hooligans like these, who believe that they can create havoc in the capital and get away with it.

Amongst the questions that are now being asked, are why the police did not use water cannon, or paint guns that allow a target to be identified for hours after being hit, making it harder for them to evade the police.

These mobsters are not only making peaceful protests such as this ought to have been, much harder to control, but they are making it more likely that

It was on the 10^th December 2010, only a few months ago, when the Prince Of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles were travelling through Central London in a Rolls Royce on the way to the theatre that they were attacked by another mob such as this, who had been disrupting a rally. It was lucky that neither of them were hurt, and the repairs to the Rolls Royce are in fact only just now being completed. On that occasion cans of paint were thrown over the car, as well as windows being smashed, but with some protesters having been armed with cans of petrol, this could have been a lot more serious.

Security analysts are also concerned that a group of anarchists might launch an attack at the end of April during the celebrations for the Royal Wedding, and since they have no respect for public or private property, let alone government and presumably not the Royal Family either, it's only a matter of time before someone does get seriously injured or worse. Ironically, Prince William and his bride will be taken from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace in the very same car that was involved in these attacks.

The question is, what can be done about controlling mobs like this, and to prevent them from doing more damage to public property and endangering innocent lives.

In addition, someone has to now foot the bill for cleaning up the mess, and repairing the property and vehicles that were damaged. As usual this will fall on the tax payers, either directly through the effect on the police and transportation budgets, as well as government services in the city.

A total of 149 people have been charged with causing unrest, but almost certainly the will get away with a small fine or just a criminal record as a result. I believe that stiffer punishments need to be given out to mobsters like this, in order to deter them from doing similar things in the future.

Unless the punishment is enough to act as a deterrent, we will just see further violent mobs like this try to take over our cities, which if they become serious enough and frequent enough, can even have far reaching effects such as reducing tourism. Who, after all, wants to spend their vacation in a location where they could come into contact with a violent mob and put their lives at risk.

Sources:

BBC News

The Telegraph