Riots Erupt at Tommy Robinson Protest (w Roaming Millennial)
Protests for Tommy Robinson turned violent in the UK and at one point a guy threw a street cone at a horse... I have no idea why...But many are quick to condemn the violence likening it to Antifa as we have seen the same arguments in support of violence from both sides.But what do you think, is this the same as Antifa violence, is this justified, or is this still bad but very different from what we see Antifa doing?SUPPORT JOURNALISM. Become a patron athttp://www.patreon.com/TimcastSupport the show (http://timcast.com/donate)
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The other day, thousands of people were protesting in the UK in defense of Tommy Robinson, who has been arrested.
Eventually, these protests started to escalate, and we saw some pretty crazy scenes.
At one point, some guy threw a street cone at a horse.
It was kind of crazy.
So today, joining me is Roaming Millennial, who is actually there on the ground and posted some videos.
And we're going to just have a general discussion about what's going on with Tommy Robinson, what happened with the protest, and why people are protesting.
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With me today is Roaming Millennial and let me just start by asking, what happened?
So, we were there at the beginning of the protest, and actually, we're going to be releasing our video on it today, and you can tell from the footage that I was initially very optimistic.
I was like, this is so amazing.
Everyone was super calm.
The police had set up a barricade between the counter-protest, which was very, very small, and the actual, I guess, pro-Tummy protest itself.
And, you know, people were very, very calm.
Things were, I guess, very in control by the police.
And any officer we spoke to that day, we spoke to quite a few.
They were very helpful, very cordial with people.
Definitely weren't trying to, from what we saw, inhibit anyone's ability to protest.
And then you know there was the main stage where the speakers were and around that area where most of the people were it Remained very calm and people were very I guess respectful of each other there was no one doing any writing or anything resembling that But throughout the day we kind of moved a little bit further from the around the fringes of the group and that's where eventually there ended up actually being some violence it kind of started off with just bad people and Uh, chanting at officers, saying things like, shame, shame, shame on you, but then the conflicts and the confrontations started getting a little bit more physical, uh, and it kind of escalated with, you know, people pushing officers.
I have video, I posted on Twitter of one guy throwing a glass bottle at an officer's face.
Thank goodness he was wearing one of those, um, I guess riot gear helmets.
Uh, that I, I don't think he actually got hurt, but, um, from, from what we saw, there was definitely that violent element of it.
But the majority of protesters who were around that main speakers area where the speeches were being given,
that remained peaceful throughout the day as far as we could tell.
Well, so there was, uh, there were police barricades between the two, and there's actually kind of like this sterile zone where no one was, and anytime when people were approaching the protest, there were cops asking, actually, what side are you on, and they would direct them accordingly.
Um, you know, we had people who were being let through, they wanted to be part of the counter-protest, the police were directing other people who were supportive of Tommy to go around, so not only were they separated, but they also had the points of entry completely separate, too.
And, you know, frankly there were so few counter-protesters, there really, really weren't a lot, that I think it would have been pretty stupid of them to pick a fight.
And to me it seems like the violent Tommy supporters, which unfortunately there definitely were, they seemed a lot more concerned with the police than the counter-protesters.
Yeah, so I mean, I know a lot of people, when presented with this video footage, oftentimes the question of, I guess, context comes out, right?
Because just from that, you don't know what's happened.
And police brutality, we know, is a thing.
It does exist.
But in this instance, and this specific case, from what we saw, honestly, these cops We're doing nothing but walking through the crowd and that particular cop who got a bottle thrown in his face and there's also I'm not sure if it was the same one but
Another officer was hit with a flagpole.
Honestly, it was like he got separated from the other officers that were marching through the group, and people kind of took that as a chance to attack him.
Really, he had done absolutely nothing wrong up until that point.
That was kind of the first and I think most prominent instance of violence that I saw.
The police had done absolutely nothing, right?
They weren't provoking people.
They weren't even trying to stop people from protesting.
They weren't redirecting people.
They were really just going and standing, but still there was so much Why does this sound so much like Antifa?
I saw someone responded to your tweet and they were like, oh, unprovoked, really?
And there's a video where you see, I think it's like the cops linking arms and pushing through a crowd, something like that.
And what was interesting to me is that's basically the exact same justification we see from Antifa when they're like, oh, the police were pushing us, so we were fighting back.
But it's, man, it's so similar.
It's almost the same thing.
Just get rid of the masks and the black hoodies.
And we're looking at huge crowds with, you know, throwing stuff.
Exactly, and I even heard people say, oh, if they weren't trying to provoke a riot or provoke a fight, then why were they dressed in riot gear?
Police officers taking it upon themselves to put on a helmet or anything, that's still not provoking violence, right?
Someone wearing a helmet isn't an invite to throw a glass bottle into their face?
I don't know anyone who would try to argue that except on Twitter, but...
It was really, really shocking to see even online how many people are trying to justify the violence against the police.
I was actually very, very impressed, and my producer and I were talking about it, at how well the police seemed to handle just the crowd in general.
And also considering you have to remember that there are tons of tourists.
Everywhere at this event, because it's at Westminster, so there are a lot of people in the area who aren't even part of the protest, which makes it even harder for them, I guess, because you don't really know who's a protester, who's just kind of walking through.
But I think they displayed a lot of restraint, definitely more than I think I would have been able to if I had people, you know, throwing things at me, hitting me with flags and stuff like that.
And if you even listen to the justification that a lot of people were saying about this, you know, after I posted that video, oh, well, it's great to say democracy, but we're past the point of democracy.
We need action.
Votes aren't enough.
Stuff like that.
It's exactly the justification that Antifa uses for that kind of violence.
That, oh, democracy is failed.
It's a corrupt system.
We need a rise.
It's literally the exact same justification for them to abandon the democratic system, whatever, the representative system that we have in place.
Use these violent means to accomplish whatever they're trying to and like a not only is it just like not true I don't think we've reached a point where we can say government is totally corrupt and we have to just overthrow them violently But I think these people really are they were just looking for For a fight when they got there and I think eventually they you know after trying to taunt the police They realized the police weren't biting right?
I mean there were protesters getting up in their face and police were You know, completely hands off.
They were doing nothing.
I'm sure they must have been given orders to, I guess, stand down.
I mean, they knew everyone would be watching, so eventually they just took it upon themselves to start beating them, which was awful.
And I've seen videos, aside from the ones that we filmed, that are even worse.
You know, there's videos of people chasing the police out of the streets, and it's ridiculous.
I guess, you know, I was thinking about this, looking at the protests, and I see a bunch of people who are like, Tommy shouldn't be in jail, and they don't think they can do anything, so it boils over into violence, to aggression.
And I've seen the same thing from Antifa, and I kind of feel like, it doesn't, at the end of the day, Whoever is committing these acts of violence in the streets, I ultimately feel like their political leaning isn't really what's the issue here.
It doesn't matter if you're left, right, or whatever.
It's, are you willing to be violent and, you know, take action against police and just random passerbys or whatever.
I mean, the video of the guy throwing the cone at the horse, what's the point of that?
That's right, even if we were to accept the idea that violence is necessary, is this type of violence really what's going to, what's going to solve anything?
These are officers who, they're not responsible for making the laws that put Tommy in jail, and they're also not the ones who actually went and arrested him, right?
These aren't people who have...
Uh, done anything like that, and I was so, so upset to see the amount of people that were justifying use of force against UK police because they dislike UK laws.
And, you know, you can criticize politicians, that's fine, you can even criticize the way, um, I guess, police units are run, but these, these cops that are on the ground, that are face-to-face with the protesters, they haven't decided anything, right?
These are people who are simply there to enforce order in the moment, and the fact that people So let's get to the philosophical question then.
You know, I think getting angry is absolutely justified, but the thing with riots is that they're not especially useful.
Right?
And we're in a system where it's not like every means of trying to get him out legally has been exhausted, right?
That's absolutely not true.
I mean, there is a law that says that you are not allowed to film, you know, courthouses.
That's true, and he did break that.
I think he pled guilty by his own admission.
I think a lot of people, the problem that they have is that A, the sentence was too long, and that B, The whole concept of that law is iffy, because I don't think there's anything like that in the States or Canada, from what I understand.
So, I mean, there are appeals you can do, right?
Because I do think in this case that at least the length of the sentencing might have been at least a little bit politically motivated.
But to say that our only option now is just writing, I don't think that's true.
And even if we were to say something like, okay, when would it be alright?
It's hard for me to think of, because we live in a system where we are able to affect change, right?
We're not in this dictatorship.
I don't know if I can imagine an instance in Canada where I would ever condone that type of thing, right?
It's not like we're in North Korea, where those people, they actually have, I think, legitimate reasons to look at the people who are in power and say, no, we need to, I guess, use whatever means necessary to get you out.
I was I've been looking at coverage of this event, going up to it, and it was being portrayed as this far
right extremist event.
And I think if you look at the average Tommy Robinson supporter, or even not if you support him, but just the average person who doesn't support him being in prison, I don't think it's fair to call them far-right.
I mean, I don't think he should have gone to jail.
Heck, filming outside of a courthouse, even if it's illegal, I would think some sort of fine would be a lot more reasonable than 13 months in prison.
So the idea that violence did end up happening, that you did see Some unsavory people there, frankly, some questionable groups.
I think that just plays into the whole media narrative that they've been trying to spin the entire time.
And I just, I wish that more attention would be given to the peaceful protesters that were there.
And frankly, you know, these people who say that they have nothing left but violence, you could be doing a lot more to notify the public about what's happened to Tommy Robinson.
Because I am sure that if more people knew about this, if more UK citizens knew about this, They would not support it.
So the idea that, oh, we have nothing to do left but start harassing cops.
No, you have so much more you can do.
It's just, it's a lot easier to go into the street and start trying to punch people than it is to actually affect legislative and meaningful change.
And I think they're just taking the easy, aggressive way out of it.
Wouldn't it be great if people on the left said the same thing when Antifa showed up and did this kind of nonsense?
Like, there are legit and cool left-wing protesters who go out peacefully, holding their signs, and they'll get loud, they'll get aggressive, but then it's always a small bunch that has the masks, forms a black block, and starts smashing things.
And I would just really love to see more far lefties feel like, hey, we are not cool with someone bashing someone with a bike lock or smashing these windows, but it just doesn't happen.
And I gotta be honest, I'm seeing a ton of people on Twitter who are within this libertarian spectrum, whatever you wanna call it, who are calling it out, like you're calling it out, Count Dankula's calling it out, but I would be really surprised if diehard Tommy supporters would actually condemn this type of violence, you know?
Well, I mean, so there was a press area in the main part of the protest where all the speakers were.
And like I said before, that area where people were going to listen to the speakers, That, as far as we could tell, was very, very peaceful and that was the majority of people.
You had young people, old people, men and women.
It was a very mixed crowd.
Everyone there seemed very positive and it was peaceful.
People were calm, seemed the speakers.
But then when you got further out, that's where things were violent and that's where you got, like I said, the chavvy group.
And yes, well, while we were there, so my producer and I, we were there, we were both filming.
I had my phone and he had our our Canon camera, we actually had people come up to us and
try to get us to stop filming. They were trying to like swat our camera down and I think what this
was when things were starting to get violent. He said that that's how people get in trouble when
people when they're being filmed.
So they were trying to I guess censor us potentially broadcasting the faces of
these people who are abusing these cops.
And I say this in my video, I think if you don't want your face to be shown abusing cops, harassing cops, don't abuse and harass cops.
To me, that's just the much easier answer to that.
Um, but I can, I can very much see that there would potentially be, uh, threats going on to certain journalists and it's just reading the types of things that were being written about the, I guess the violence against police officers.
It seems like there are, these people, and I'm not going to say that it's every
Tommy Robinson supporter or every person who I guess supports his policies, but there are people out
there who they're at a point where they think anything is justified
in order to reach their goals, right?
Where they think that the UK is at a tipping point.
So anyone who's complicit in, I guess, the status quo, whether it's
the police or journalists or politicians, it's gloves off with them.
And if you, if you look at people, um, I guess the attitude that was on the streets when we were there, or even people who are coming out in support of the violence against the cops, it is absolutely by any means necessary.
And it's, to me, that's just, that's so mind boggling because, I mean, you know, People used to say that about Brexit, right?
And guess what?
You had a referendum, and it's not happened yet, but it's going to.
Bureaucracy is always slow, but it's going to happen.
And, you know, with something like Tommy Robinson, yeah, I'm upset.
I don't support it.
But the idea that, like, oh, I guess we just start threatening people, start throwing bottles at them, no.
You're just using this as an excuse to be violent.
Right, so we have a video that's already up on CRTV, just our footage from the day and a little bit of commentary about it, and it's gonna be up on YouTube later today.
And that's on Roaming Millennial's YouTube channel.
