12 Year Old 'Protester' Hauled In By Anti-Terror Police

[Dirk Gently]

Of course when I say "blowing up" I mean inflating Mr MI5 sir...MI6....whom ever!

[Rob McCow]

Look forward to reading about you on the BBC News site, Mr Dirk Gently (if that is your real name!!!!)

[Si Hunt]

Not to get at you, Si, but this phrase really annoys me. A guilty person may well protest his innocence, but that doesn't detract from the other side of the coin: that an innocent person is also very obviously going to protest his innocence.

I'd just like to say that the reason I may appear to be siding with the police is simply sceptism of the original story. The media is so biased and these reports always side with the apparent victim; it's in my nature to ask "Is there another side to this?".

But I find, quite often, the problem with these threads is that you start questioning A having been told B, and before long it's been somehow turned round and you find yourself defending something you didn't even propose in the first place.

So really, the media has jumped all over this and said "The police are brutal thugs" and all I've said is "hang on, what did this guy do? Why don't we know? Was he really helpless? What was the cause?". To me, the report that he's saying he's innocent is a little worthless. IF (only if) he was provocking the retraint exercised against him, he's not going to admit it is he?

So with regards the above, yes, he might be innocent. But I wasn't judging him as guilty or innocent purely on what he said, I was judging the worth of him saying he was innocent in this situation.

Just like I haven't said anyone's guilty or not guilty in this whole debate, I've started from the media assumption that these people are innocent (or, to put it another one, that the police are guilty) and questioned that.

Does anyone understand?

Si.

[Jason Thompson]

I fully understand, and it's a good point. The fact remains, however, that whatever the provocation, wrestling a man from a wheelchair is inappropriate behaviour. As has been pointed out, without knowing exactly why he was in a wheelchair the police had no way of knowing if they would be causing him significant injury or possibly worsening whatever condition he had. He could have been restrained in the chair without hauling him to the ground. Let's face it, they could have wheeled him away and he wouldn't have been able to do much about it! It's not really about who is innocent or not, it's about the use of reasonable force. That's why it has so much media attention.

[Si Hunt]

Yes, agree with you there. Larry's earlier post said much the same.

Si.