Pair attacked in Canning Town station
In a shocking development in the series of protests by Extinction Rebellion climate-change demonstrators, a protester been dragged from the top of a train and attacked by commuters, after attempting to kick a man trying to climb up to remove him:
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The great British public in action,charming eh?
” The great british public”, many of whom are one day’s work away from losing their livelihood and facing homelessness. The protesters should try that shit on with people who have the money to be able to do something about it. Like try glueing themselves to a few banker’s limousines or similar people. Not working class people who could lose their jobs for being late. Many employers are not understanding about their employees excuses for being late, I know as i have been there. No sympathy for the twat who got a kicking.
The newspapers and the BBC thought this was great news. So presumably they fully support the fascist thugs beating the guy up. Isn’t it rewarding to see human animals at play, and how, just like chimpanzees they go into frenzy when group violence is involved
Sorry but stopping working class people getting to work from a working class area is not on. If you want people onside, this isnt how you do it, especially by middle class people. Why not target Canary Wharf or South Kensington etc?
XR make a point of picking on the working poor. Last time it was Billingsgate workers and Smithfields.
So while the world starts to burn we should just sit back and see the world rendered unliveable in and the protest makes a few people late home from work ?
Not reading the argument properly, are you? The point is that these twats persistently pick on working class targets. They leave their own class in relative peace. They don’t target bankers or industrialists, its always ordinary working people.
And if they really wanted to make an impact they should ship themselves off to South America and do these protests against the loggers cutting down and burning the rain forest. (But those nasty people have guns and they might get shot and killed)
When it comes to the climate crisis to quote the song “This is getting serious” but whilst supporting the aims of the predominantly militant middle class lefties and liberals of XR they need to take the public with them.
This action by the XR was perhsps astonishing middle class arrogance and self-actualising of the highest order, and political thoughtfulness.
Horrible to see the reaction of some of the crowd but heartwarming to see others protecting the XR activists.
Memo to XR activists: Don’t do a 1968 in the UK and try to have a peaceful revolution without the working class, try to bring the diverse working class with you.
Oops! thoughtlessness!
This is how to lose support for this great cause. I don’t agree with dragging the guy off the train but he shouldn’t be there. Protesting has to generate support, not push it away.
It really wasn’t a great idea. Self-righteously antagonizing your target audience on public transport that is an endurance test isn’t a canny strategic idea, no matter how much you can condemn the opposite action.
Canning Town – working class area; Stratford – working class area; Shadwell – working class area.
Regardless of the class composition of the commuters, think how this plays: XR versus the working class.
Thereby feeding into:
https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/10/14/extinction-rebellions-war-on-the-working-class/
XR is doing its best to make its cause unpopular.
Whatever the outcome regarding XR, they certainly will pick their locations more carefully in the future. 😀
And they should protest at off-peak times, too. When it’s cheaper :P.
PS I thought electric trains were ‘good’? Why didn’t they get on top of a diesel…If there are any in londinium?
Yes, they ought to come ‘oop north’ and try that on the outdated diesel trains…
Not many people’d be arsed about it because there’d be no bloody train turned up, and those that do would probably break down before the next stop anyway.
Incredible responses on here.
The Planet is dying. XR are bringing the protest to people’s attentions.
The point is to cause disruption, otherwise no one will care.
Killing the planet we live in , or being late for work for a day ?
Hmmmm – obviously a hard decision to make for some.
That ‘being late for work for a day’ could end up costing livelihoods – especially in a time where ZHC’s are rife and worker’s rights are hardly worth the paper their written on; added to the hoops people already have to jump trough to claim an extra few quid because the corporates won’t pay them a decent wage…
The UK – to it’s credit – is doing it’s bit. We could do more, but we most definitely can’t be held responsible for trump or china/india/brazil etc.
How out of touch do you have to be to state “being late for work”. With the amount of people we have in 0 hour contracts or precarious employment, it would mean no pay or worse getting the sack if you’re late. Get out of your bubble.
Disrupting one of the greenest mass transport systems on the planet to highlight the climate change emergency was acceptable the first time.
Doing it over and over again was bound to infuriate the many travellers who’ll be living hand to mouth.
Trapped into high fares and low wages so that the rich can take ten long haul holidays a year, many tubers can’t afford to take time off to protest anything and they’ll see those who can as middle class and effete.
Exactly. They need to get the already struggling public onside not antagonise them. That is not to say I condone the attacks on them in any way.
Funnily enough I have just watched this discussion with Chris Hedges
https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/
My reply was to pablored62’s comment.
If a terrorist bomb had been reported to be hidden on the train – would the response of the GBP response have been so vigorous? This situation is a (not so) slow burning fuse but still would result in a very big catastrophe. If the train staff were striking for decent pay would they be treated the same……. just saying.
Mike Gapes( ex Labour) in parliament calling ER thugs earlier today. Oh yeah
Protest comes about when things become intolerable. No one wants to spend time, money and risk arrest for fun. You people who knock protestors have probalby not got a protest bone in your bodies or even know that todays democracies and rights only exiist because of the people that protested in the past. The worlds going fucking mad and violent and I didn’t expect the response seen here.
What a about the people living hand to mouth and struggling to pay rent lose your job your on the street. Is the tube not green enough for them or what do they want people to do? A bunch of middle class ball bags who don’t live in the same world as ordinary working class people. I would have been tempted to sink the boot in myself the arseholes!
Whilst supporting th e general aims of these protests I feel the choice of venue wasn’t that great on this occasion but what disgusts me is the extreme reaction of the commuters.They turned into a braying mob of violent thugs who viciously assaulted the protesters.Can you imagine the reaction if this had happened at a football match of similar venue ,the media would have been full of condemnation,demands for action etc.Today all we’ve seen has been condemnation of the protesters!This was the ugly face of the great British public exposed and apparently it’s fine to beat up someone if they’re delaying your journey of you don’t happen to agree with them.No wonder the levels of hate crime are so high ! Britain today is turning into a very ugly,violent ,intolerant place to live.
Can you imagine living on the streets? Can you imagine using a food bank to feed yourself or your kids? Sacked from your job or lose your pay because of them? Easy to say it’s terrible pulling them of the roof of the train, but I think they were right .Bunch of middle class ball bags!
I don’t have to imagine it,I’ve lived the reality of it.You are trying to excuse the inexcusable.This is typical of the divide and conquer mentality so prevalent in today’s society.Set the rhetoric so that you blame another disadvantaged group for the problems in your life not those at the top who are actually responsible.It’s worked wonderfully against the unemployed,the disabled ,immigrants etc.The simmering anger and hatred in that mob who attacked those protesters is symptomatic of the undercurrents of rage and despair felt by large sections of society but under any circumstances using that kind of violence is totally unacceptable.Or are you saying that the next time you’re in a supermarket queue and going to be late for work because some old dear in front of you is dithering on its acceptable to throw her to the floor and give her a good kicking?Where exactly do you draw a line?
Audrey Pool – The entire point is that XR are exactly NOT a disadvantaged group. They are a weird bunch of posh, entitled middle class people with too much time on their hands. They are massively out of touch with working people as shown by their idiocies in the Canning Town debacle. We need a Labour Party which is overtly and constantly partisan towards working class people and has an environmental policy as part of its comprehensive plan for the economy to transition the country from capitalism to democratic socialism.
The point isn’t anything to do with the extinction rebellion group ,not their class status.My point was the extreme violent reaction of the commuters involved.Whatever strata of society they were from the violence was excessive and unnecessary and sadly symptomatic of today’s society.I quite agree that we need a Labour government as soon as possible and definitely a left wing Labour government at that!