Look at the flag. Look at the flag. Look at the flag. Look at the flag. Look at the flag.
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As a young lad I couldnāt understand the Union Jack as they kept saying it was all the flags combined yet where was the dragon?
Even a JCB is considered before the dragon, go figure, and I hope this doesnāt rile you up too much.
And as ever, you donāt like the police. Probably based on you being there when protesters were screaming at them and hurling missiles? Just guessing.
As for privilege, whatever.
For reference, Iād have told them to disperse in 15 minutes or the water cannons were coming out. On the basis that, you know, public gatherings were illegal? Or do laws only count when you think they should?
This isnāt quite what happened though. The High Court refused to endorse the planned gathering (it had no other choice). It meant that the organisers of the gathering could then potentially be on the hook for fines of up to Ā£10,000 each if the gathering they organised was then unlawful (as it became).
This meant that Reclaim the Streets stopped talking to the police and formally cancelled the event. However, having sowed the seeds of such a gathering it was always then going to go ahead. It had taken on its own momentum.
But this meant that the police had nobody to work with in order to try and agree certain parameters in the lead up to the event. There were no figureheads from the side of the protestors with whom to liaise on the ground.
In my view the gathering was always going to end up being unlawful regardless of the efforts to organise it properly (due to the covid restrictions) but at the point where the organisers could effectively not rely on a court given immunity to continue to liaise with the police everything broke down.
On the day there was clearly an element who were intent on turning a respectful vigil into a political and provocative protest. I have seen a number of comments from those who say they knew Sarahās family express bitter disappointment that the event was, in their eyes, hi-jacked by an element intent on agitating, intent on creating precisely the imagery that ensued.
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Wales is not represented on the Union Jack. When the Union Jack was conceived Wales didnāt officially have its status as one of the 4 nations making up the UK.
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The 3 nations and Wales. 
Water cannons are also illegal. But itās OK for the police to behave illegally in your view, right?
Thanks for the update but why are Reclaim the Streets not accepting this ruling? not that I would expect them to but to me there was a solution where both sides work together. The High Court ruling is understandable but disappointing and appears to have taken very little notice of the massive momentum that was behind this.
Had there been some collaboration and thing still turned sour the that element that was intent of kicking off could have been blamed with ease.
Despite the High Court ruling I personally believe that some of the police response was over the mark.
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That would do me!!
Make them all pay for the water they drink. Literally
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They wouldnāt be if I were in charge.
I always use this one. If youāre at a protest and the dickhead next to you throws a brick at the police and you get twatted, you had the option to not be there. Run with a pack of dogs, expect to get bitten. Is it really worth that risk? As we well know, many protesters are there for the trouble, not the issue. No, nothing that I can think a government would do (in this country) would make me protest in the streets.
You well know what I do for a living. Google the two recent dates when lockdowns were imposed and non-essential shops had to close. I managed to not loot the town centre nor throw fireworks at the police which is ironic really. So you understand that I have little sympathy for those who do. Privilegeā¦
The Courts are in a bit of a bind here. Their job is to interpret the law, which they did correctly. Reclaim the Streets effectively sought an endorsement ahead of time that the gathering would be lawful. No way was the Court going to be able to give them that.
There is scope for gatherings of this nature to be lawful under the regulations but armed with an order from the High Court that they could proceed would have led to chaos because of the obvious potential that it would be used as authority to act unlawfully. I think the problem lay with the regulations where organisers can be fined Ā£10,000. This hinders the ability of police and protest groups to work together as happened here. The problem is with the law, imo and this then had repercussions on the ground in the way that it was policed and in the approach taken by some of the protestors.
This is where there is backlash. About the manner in which the police dealt with the events on the ground. There is a large group who feel the police were heavy-handed - perhaps feel this with justification. Equally, the police were in a horrible situation. The gathering had become unlawful, their job is to uphold the law, there was nobody they could liaise with within the protestors, and a small element were being deliberately provocative against the police given the reason for the gathering in the first place. The police reactions were always going to be sensationalised and portrayed as heavy-handed and itās possible, some of them were.
I mostly blame the regulations that were in place for what happened, not the police.
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Iām up for adding the dragon to the Union Jack.
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That would look stunning 
Too late for me to agree to that sadly.
Iām too far gone down another route.
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Need the dragon to be trimmed with white but otherwise looks a lot better to me.
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The union jack bit needs to be faded a bit,
well a lot actually until the bottom turns green and the top half turns white.
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Iām for forgetting that and taking the others off just leaving the St George by itself! Letās not fool ourselves about union, best case scenarion 4 independant states.
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Turn those red stripes green and it would look good!
That would turn England into a one party country unfortunately (if it isnāt already).