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About two or three years ago I was taken aside when boarding a plane at a London airport back to Belfast by a policeman and held under their terrorism legislati
by midhir 13y ago
About two or three years ago I was taken aside when boarding a plane at a London airport back to Belfast by a policeman and held under their terrorism legislation. Being heavily hungover from a night spent funding London's publicans, and a little nervous about flying, I just wanted to board the plane and go home.
Nevertheless, I was questioned by the queue as others boarded the plane, casting nasty looks my way. The cop asked some pretty insulting, at times ignorant, questions. I guess to see if I harboured any anti-British/anti-state/anti-cop feelings. I got the impression if I lost my cool I'd be spending a lot longer in that airport.
I didn't know my rights, that's my fault. Nor did I want to escalate a situation where the odds were stacked against me. I did feel pretty disgusted though, given that I'd done nothing wrong. Even now I feel like I shouldn't share this kind of thing online lest the wrong person read it. I found myself asking; why me? Was it something I said on Twitter or Facebook? Did I just look at him the wrong way without realising?
Luckily he let me go after some thorough questioning and the plane waited for me (although finding my seat was basically a walk of shame). They probably do this day and daily to all kinds of people. And most would never talk about it for fear of receiving worse down the line.
- northwest 13y ago> why me? Was it something I said on Twitter or Facebook? Did I just look at him the wrong way without realising? Yeah, don't think too far - it's probably your skin color that makes you a terrrist.
- midhir 13y agoWell... It'd be hard to get much whiter than me! I guess that's my point though, that maybe this guy wasn't targeted but merely a victim of what happens every day. Being associated with the Guardian he'd have known his rights and might've had the confidence to demand them. Not sure which is worse, though.
- nitrogen 13y ago...casting nasty looks my way.... That's one of the worst parts of abuses of power; the people not being abused very quickly start to blame the victims of abuse. "You must be a bad person if they're talking to you," onlookers might be thinking to themselves.
- hahainternet 13y agoIn this thread a man being detained for 9 hours has been compared as worse than mafia members murdering people, now apparently the look on the faces of hte officers is a serious abuse too. This whole thread has destroyed any credibility HN had.
- tomjen3 13y agoIf you don't understand why this is far worse than nuking London, then you have no reason to be on HN.
- superuser2 13y agoFrom TFA, one has no rights in this situation. Failure to cooperate with questioning is a crime.
- alextingle 13y agoFuck that. Let them charge me and let's see what the judge says.
- jacquesm 13y agoYou're making an assumption there.