Police cars are exempt from MOT testing under rules relating to maintenance in approved workshop – but video footage raises different questions
Since the shocking scenes in Bristol last night, those worried about the possibility of ‘provocateur’ action by the state to justify the Tories’ new law imposing heavy penalties on peaceful protesters have raised concerns about a police car that was seen in flames, claiming that its expired MOT status on the DVLA website means it was an old vehicle burned for propaganda purposes:
But police cars are exempt from MOT testing and certification, because they are maintained in approved workshops. Regulation 6 (1) (xiv) of The Motor Vehicles (Tests) Regulations 1981 exempts:
(xiv) a vehicle provided for police purposes and maintained in workshops approved by the Secretary of State as suitable for such maintenance, being a vehicle provided in England and Wales by a police authority or the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District, or, in Scotland, by a police authority or a joint police committee.
Nonetheless, claims that police initiated violence on peaceful protesters – including groups sitting peacefully outside the police station attacked later in the evening – do appear to be at least potentially borne out by video evidence, as in this example published by Unity News, and need to be properly investigated:
The Establishment media and right-wing politicians are, of course, using events in Bristol last night to justify the Tories’ planned new laws against peaceful protest. But after the scenes of unprovoked police aggression against women carrying out a peaceful vigil at Clapham Common two weekends ago, such Establishment narratives should be treated with considerable caution until the Bristol incident is thoroughly and independently investigated.
After all, it’s only just over a year ago that the police subjected a group of around twenty 1950s-born ‘WASPI’ women, who were peacefully picketing the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) offices in London in protest at the theft of their pensions, to heavy-handed ‘kettling’ by several vans full of officers:
But in 2009, the then-LibDem MP and Home Affairs Committee member Tom Brake accused the Met of using undercover officers to incite violence during G20 protests, after seeing plainclothes officers showing ID cards and being waved through a police cordon, who then threw bottles at the police.
And similar footage has emerged from yesterday in Bristol of a man conversing with a smiling, riot-geared police officer who then points him to the front of a group of protesters just before trouble starts. The video is of the same events shown in the video above – but filmed from the other side of the line:
How many riot police smile and wave a protester through to a line where other riot police are holding back protesters?
There are serious questions to answer – but they don’t involve MOT certificates.
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The establishment tools have a long history of wrongdoing. All should read ASAP and commit key points to memory ” Spy Cops scandal”
K Starmer ex DPP, I invite you to condemn unequivocally and explicitly agent provocateur wrong doings, such as this in particular. Your silence suggest that your are complicit and approve of such actions.
What say you K Starmer?
One of the newest MPs to join the SCG, Kate Osborne, “As an Opposition, Labour must not allow the Tories get away with attacking civil liberties and democratic rights – that’s why I voted against the Spy Cops Bill.”
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/10/why-i-voted-against-the-spy-cops-bill/
About page at https://www.spycops.co.uk/
What about the clip that showed 5 riot vans, 4 riot vans were then driven away and the 5th left unmanned and set on fire ?
I read that the government had given a contract to Tommy Robinson and his thugs to start riots at peaceful protests so the police could break them up! This isn’t the first or even the second time that peaceful protests have turned into thuggery! The Black Lives Matter peaceful demo turned nasty after a few hours, people reported then that it was a group who came and started it all?
it is a long used strategy. Eg decent environmentalist, i believe every single violent action was planed in detail by the state infiltrators. 1- to cause public anger and lose sympathy. 2- to gain confidence of sincere groups with aims threatening the status quo.
3- discourage new genuine participants who want meaningful change not aimless fury.
GOLDEN WARNING – ALWAYS be suspicious of those who suggest violence. Especially those who have no concrete suggestions for what comes next. Disassociate TOTALLY from that type.
And its all a bit like “stay and fight” theres no results without real fighting for what’s right.Passive demos get the full treatment,the weaker the better for the police and its always been that way.Do you think reasoned argument and kind words liberated the S.Afrikan blacks,coloureds and even more loosly described Indians.Do you think we would have got the vote for Catholics in Ulster,when even a man like Harold Wilson walked away from ian Smith UDI pm of British Rhodesia when he was told by ian Smith When”You give your Catholics the vote in N Ireland ,then I will give my blacks the vote” Harold a man I had respected then walked away because that is what happens to the Labour party in collaboration with the establishment system.So let’s sing the praises for a change for the working-class people who give blood and tears and guts to face up a well tooled up enemy of the people the Bill.
Oldest trick in the police book. There is always a suspiciously unattended vehicle left for some over excited fool to smash.
The student riots had one van killed by protestors. It crops up regularly.
Would not surprise me if it’s attacked by provocateurs, the plod are well known for this also.
Should have also brought up the question of who drove this vehicle to the protest?
Only reason you can drive a vehicle without an MOT is if you’re on your way to a pre-booked test.
The law was broken moving this vehicle.
It’s hard to respect the police when they consistently ignore the law themselves. For example, how many times have you seen the police speeding without blue lights? Running red lights? Driving without a seat belt?
spot on nvla. ps meanwhile as always when the public is distracted, the controllers of provocateurs use “a good day to bury bad news”.
johnson has squandered another nearly one million pounds to repaint another leased johnson jet. two million just for the paint-jobs of two jets… never mind the lease and running costs.
k starmer won’t utter a whisper on such waste, because the deceitful one still feels he might have a chance to parade on it. he won’t get the chance, yet he dare not upset those who love those sorts of baubles and trinkets.., at public expense.
We saw how low a right wing government backed up by a right wing police force could go during the miner’s strike in 1984. Things have only become worse since then.
In the UK, a long, hot summer of post-lockdown protests has begun
If laws banning protest are passed by parliament, NGOs and trade unions must follow grassroots activists in breaking them
No doubt the government will use the Bristol riot to justify the policing bill
“If the bill does go through, the whole of English civil society will face a stark choice. Complying with a law that bans any form of disruptive protest activity will mean policing ourselves. Doing so would drastically curtail the effectiveness of campaigns and damage the democratic rights of every person in England and Wales. For grassroots campaigns and social movements, the answer will be obvious: we will break the law where we have to. The real test of strength, however, will be in the response of larger institutions – NGOs, charities and trade unions – and the extent to which they are willing to step over the threshold and refuse to normalise a ‘new normal’. In seeking to curtail our right to dissent, Priti Patel could well make breaking the law an ethical duty.”
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/long-hot-summer-post-lockdown-protests-has-begun/
Once again, great reporting and analysis, SW.
“The wrong type of “moment”/”Jew”/”Protester”
If anyone fails to see that this is how a failing Establishment tries to protect itself, they haven’t been paying attention since 1979 – but especially since 2007/08
Police States will use any device, any trick, any deception to establish control. It’s the way Tory Britain is going. Fast!
Don’t forget whos leader of the Labour party and whos the real Opposition,its the brave young people spilling their blood against the establishment system and the police that enforce draconian laws against the working-class.I know whos side I am on and always have been…do you ?
Back in the day, police stooges used to wear a red hat, so their spotters could tell who they were
No doubt these types of actions by the Police were perfected in Ulster and used against the miners exclusively when the union were deemed enemys of the State.Their is nothing new about political thuggery and murder from the police,we got used to it and the army in the early days of Occupation.The black population in the UK like the Catholic population of Ulster always believed that it would one day be turned on the working class population..in fact Sinn Fein predicted it after the bloody Sunday massacre of men,woman and children in Ulster that it would one day be turned on to the British working-class.unless they stood up against the armed police of Ulster..Total control over the working-class is already here,just ask for permission to take a holiday…and see what happens,or even the fact that you didnt even realise that your freedoms had dissapeared overnight in the Covid control excuse for treating you like cattle.Don’t quote mob violence to me when I have seen it close up and personal from Her majestys crown forces of disorder and the violence against the public comes from our so called law enforcement.Pick whos side you are on now and support the working-class movement and especially those that shed blood and tears on behalf of you…Arthur Scargill was stitched up and demonised,theres no longer any chance of that happening again because our so called representation will condemning the protesters(working class)in parliament whilst watching and giving lip service to the draconian laws against us.Arthurs still alive and I bet he somtimes as a little smile and maybe a tear at what could have been if only we had stood shoulder to shoulder with our people against the forces of disorder.
Protest? OK What you got? I have had a lifetime of attending demonstrations & being part of protest movements but we are experiencing a pandemic that is killing people; maybe not your generation & maybe Covid 19 won’t affect you! ‘Stay @ Home & Protect the NHS or Stay @ Home & Protect The Elderly & Infirm? Herd Immunity best? Lockdowns not taken seriously; planes are still flying, pandemic variations are spreading & no-one needs to stay @ home; more important things to do, like send the elderly in hospitals out, untested, into care homes.to a tune orchestrated by uncritical MSM.
This Government will never control the borders believing the country must be open to business and therefore viruses. It looks as if there will be variants all over the World and they will arrive at Heathrow and travel into London courtesy of the Piccadilly tube line just like a year ago. Restrictions are therefore likely for at least another year or so and quite possibly for several years. Johnson clearly still believes in herd immunity.
A sure sign will be the limited number of arrests on even flimsier charges
Someone then needs to stand up 8n Parliament and ask who were the trouble makers
Pritti awful wind rushing through the chamber
An MOT is to ensure vehicles are safe & roadworthy. This applies to Police Vehicles as much as any..
Yes the vehicle was on its way to the mot centre when it was hijacked by louts according to the Police.The gaurdian are also asking you to inform on your neighbours if you look at the front page wanted list.I recognise the extremly attractive Asian women,I think her name is Harris and shes President joe Bidens carer..must have had a day off after nappy changing and feeding him.?