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Just worth keeping in mind that the UK police is about the softest there is in terms of crowd control. No guns, no gas, I don't think they have used a water can

Just worth keeping in mind that the UK police is about the softest there is in terms of crowd control. No guns, no gas, I don't think they have used a water canon yet. They do have horses though which are scary AF. Once you got a panicked horse playing rodeo with it's rider while chasing you through an alley, you know what immediate panic feels like. Edit: I found horses worse than the crowd panic, breathing and eye issues after CS gas was released. And despite water cannons engaging is a very dramatic moment, I cannot imagine how it must feel when police give warning shots or even fire live ammo into the crowd (even you don't get hurt). Musst be a completely different level. Luckily I have never been in a situation on which police was even near such an escalation.

SEJeff 3y ago
UK Police have batons, and they are trained to use them when necessary. Don't equivocate lack of lethal weapons with softness. They're not soft. Source: a coworker was on the police force for 10 years in London.
dmurray 3y ago
> the UK police is about the softest there is in terms of crowd control. No guns, no gas... The UK police forces literally invented rubber bullets, and used them very liberally, and lethally, against protestors in Northern Ireland [0]. Just because they go easy on some climate march you were at in London doesn't mean they never take it further. [0] https://rubberbullets.longlead.com/chapter/rubber-bullet-history-northern-ireland https://rubberbullets.longlead.com/chapter/rubber-bullet-his...
- prennert 3y ago
  Oh, I had thought that the Northern Ireland conflict was mostly suppressed with the army. A quick skim through the article seems to attribute use of rubber bullets to military, too. But I have not read in detail, yet.
  - dmurray 3y ago
    This list [0] of 17 people killed with rubber or plastic bullets in NI gives 6 by police and 11 by the army. I'd assume it skews higher when looking at all shootings, not just fatal ones. [0] https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/violence/rubberplasticbullet.htm https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/violence/rubberplasticbulle...

SEJeff 3y ago

UK Police have batons, and they are trained to use them when necessary. Don't equivocate lack of lethal weapons with softness. They're not soft. Source: a coworker was on the police force for 10 years in London.

dmurray 3y ago

> the UK police is about the softest there is in terms of crowd control. No guns, no gas... The UK police forces literally invented rubber bullets, and used them very liberally, and lethally, against protestors in Northern Ireland [0]. Just because they go easy on some climate march you were at in London doesn't mean they never take it further. [0] https://rubberbullets.longlead.com/chapter/rubber-bullet-history-northern-ireland https://rubberbullets.longlead.com/chapter/rubber-bullet-his...

prennert 3y ago
Oh, I had thought that the Northern Ireland conflict was mostly suppressed with the army. A quick skim through the article seems to attribute use of rubber bullets to military, too. But I have not read in detail, yet.
- dmurray 3y ago
  This list [0] of 17 people killed with rubber or plastic bullets in NI gives 6 by police and 11 by the army. I'd assume it skews higher when looking at all shootings, not just fatal ones. [0] https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/violence/rubberplasticbullet.htm https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/violence/rubberplasticbulle...