I was just watching Newsnight and there was a segment of people arrested and charged over their conduct for the protests outside the Israeli embassy during the Israeli offensive over Gaza.
Newsnight found a series of issues and problems:
- Offensive policing where people were pushed into situations.
- Police officers assaulting demonstrators.
- When people were charged, instead of normal demonstration charges, they were charged with terrorism related crimes. and most were Muslim.
- When video footage that would be of use to defendants was found by one lawyer, he was prohibited from sharing it to others lawyers and defendants.
- People were arrested in dawn raids instead of normal arrest procedures and then were treated like terrorists with the full spanish inquisition.
- They were told that if they plead guilty they would get lighter punishment while the judges had already decided to use detterrent sentences.
That last one is a kicker - the punishment is made stronger not due to the "crime" but to deter others. This I have seen before - People charged over the Oldham and Bradford riots in 2001 also experienced similar sentencing.
In this case, people were given sentences that stronger crimes - such as what a convict would normally be given for burglary.
Once again Muslims got the short end of the stick when it came to policing. Why should there be trust?
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