Changes in London since 7/7?

Hello,

I started this thread to talk about the changes in London since 7/7. Not just security being tightened on tube stations and in Central London, which is a given, but the seemingly ordinary things that we denizens notice.

For example, I was on the bus last Saturday and it was stopped by 4 police who boarded the bus and asked if anyone had noticed anyone 'suspicious'. We all looked around at one another and shrugged our shoulders. The police then proceeded to board the bus and walk up and down in an intimidating manner while we sat and waited and waited and waited. One of the 'nicer' policemen told us they had received a call saying there was someone 'suspicious' onboard. Then they got on their radios and phones and made a few calls.

In total we were detained on the bus for about half an hour. Everyone was too afraid to speak or even move their heads lest they were considered 'suspicious' or 'suspect'. The police then decided no one on my bus was 'suspicious' enough to detain and we were let go.

Meanwhile everyone on the street had congregated - shopkeepers, pedestrians, etc.. gathered around looking nervously inside the bus.

Since then I have seen two more people detained there on that corner. As it is on my route to work, I sometimes see a group of police questioning a man or woman, most of the time these appear to be Asian people and the one I saw yesterday seemed to be quiet elderly as well. I would classify it as strange as I live in a quiet leafy place and you usually never see the police at all.

In addition to this change to my normal bus journey, the train station near my house now has someone guarding it 20/5 (not on weekends). He seems a very polite policeman who greets me in the mornings and when I don't take the bus I see him there in the evenings as well. I'm not quite sure what his purpose is as he just stands there, but I hope at the very least he is deterring the drunken hoodlums that sometimes frequent our train station. I am also not quite sure why he is only there from Mon- Fri.

Finally, the last 'strange' thing I noticed was when I returned from Cologne a few days ago from a family holiday - I wasn't aware how airport security was beefed up until we flew into Gatwick. While waiting in a huge Easyjet line, a group of very scary and very armed German police approached our line, walked up and down and descended upon a frightened Indian possibly Pakistani man and his wife. I couldn't hear what they said, but you could feel the tension in the air as they were taken away for questioning.

This in itself would have been scary enough- thoughts of high leather boots and goosesteps - but the policemen returned about 15 minutes later (no sign of the man and his wife) and this time took a group of young Asian men, wearing football shirts (late teens early 20s?).

My husband turned to me and asked how I thought those 'chosen' people must have felt being singled out like that in front of everyone and I said afraid, embarrassed, humiliated...

I have also overheard people at work saying they find it hard to sleep because so many helicopters are flying over head at night.

I would like to hear some of the changes or strange things you have noticed in the city. And also does anyone else feel a bit uneasy about the blatant racial profiling?

here is 1 that was on prison planet(alex jones i know!)but if it can be corroberated(spelling?)then its another change.
i can see why it would be done as maybe it could be seen as inciting terror/violence and i think they got laws for that here now..here is a small quote

Undetered, Alex rampaged through more evidence of government tyranny and hit every key subject bang on the head as more and more people froze in the streets to take in this brash and unapologetic wake up call.

After twenty minutes or so the battle had been won. We thanked the other protesters for their efforts and moved on to continue our mission.

Is it any surprise that the use of a megaphone on Parliament Square was banned by the British government two days after Alex's rant?

www.prisonplanet.com...

edit..sorry double post




[edit on 6-8-2005 by Heratix]

Thanks for the post, nikelbee, good to hear from someone who is going through these changes first hand.
When you were stopped on the bus for half an hour, were you allowed to get off and walk, or were your detained until the "suspicions" had been ruled out?
Interesting to hear that about the incident with the German police too, i would expect to see more of this in years to come, as Europe "unites to fight the terror".
Helicopters, armed police everywhere, questioned and detained because of the slightest suspicion or way that you look... it all doesn't sound very good, does it? Now that things have got to this level, there is no way its going back now either, its just going to get worse.

Purity - we weren't allowed to get off. We had to sit on the bus while they walked up and down and spoke on their radios and phones. They also interrogated the bus driver.

What was interesting were the reactions of other people on the bus. Everyone's shoulders first tensed then slumped as the police walked off the bus. There was audible relief when they left, but also I think the feeling of uneasiness even though no one had done anything wrong.

The teens in the back starting cracking jokes saying they were glad none of them were wearing large backpacks. You could see bravado taking over from where the fear had been.

It is all starting to sound alot like Nazi Germany to me. My question is when will they begin to go after the conspiracy people which I think they want to include in this gauntlet eventually.

Magnito - good point. And it isn't just Nazi Germany - although comparisons are a little spooky. Did you ever say to yourself when studying the Holocaust - I wonder how Nazi Germany could condone such horrific acts? How did regular citizens sit back and let it all happen?

Racism and fear create a very powerful and compelling mix.

Let's recall a time not long ago when to voice or to write down any thoughts that your government disagreed on could get you jailed or killed.

Who were these horrible dissenters? Poets, writers, philosphers, academics and conspiracy theorists. Those are the ones they kick out and get rid of first. Why? To leave the gullible sheep behind.

Places this has happened: Former Soviet Union, Chile (and various other countries in South & Central America) Cuba, China, East Germany and the US shortly after 9/11.

Remember the story about the lawyer who was arrested in the shopping mall with his son for wearing a tshirt that protested the war?

In Chicago - a fairly liberal city - one of my former professors - well respected as well - was arrested for informing her students that the war in Iraq was misguided. The police said the state of Illinois owned the University and thus she had no right to incite 'hatred' amongst her students on state-owned property.

What message did this send to impressionable college students? Don't voice your real opinions about the war and the government.

Nickelbee,,,,this is where Im gonna go a bit out there. You know how everyone is saying there are no reptilians and David Icke is silly. Maybe, just maybe its more subtle than David Icke presents it, namely humans shapeshifting to lizards. I think what we may be dealing with is the reptilian brain...the fear, flight, fornicate, feed mind set these NWO types have. They feed off fear and anger...they even use the major player religions in this way to...Islam, Judeaism, Christianity. Obedience through fear, racism(anger) guilt and intimidation.

I tell ya ,,,its getting so strange out there in this world that Im finding I dont have to watch as much SciFi channel for a science fiction fix

I must confess I don't know anything about reptilians or David Icke. I'm rather new to this board Any links you can give me?

I have not been to London in a few years, and it saddens me to hear these stories lately. I always liked London. Coming from California I found the lack of armed police, helicoptors, racial profiling, and general state of fear, quite relaxing (along with the lack of sunlight).

Sadly, now it sounds pretty much like Los Angeles, and with global warming you should be getting the sun pretty soon.

[edit on 6-8-2005 by phoenixhasrisin]

Thats a pretty good theory, magnito_student, people would be far more willing to consider that over the theory that big evil lizards control us all.
As though with all this fear, we are being stripped down to our core where we can be controlled and exploited, as the human emotions we have developed have been lost or ignored.

nikelbee, here is a link to a site about Reptilians.

www.reptilianagenda.com...

Perhaps you want the Police to do nothing and gamble your bus or train has not got a bomb on board, things will change when they catch the people who do this. Until then you have to put up with whats happening , they are only trying to protect you.

There are police at practically every tube station in London now, and also guarding mosques.

Went to the Metro-centre (supposedly the biggest shopping mall in Europe) yesterday for the first time in about six - seven weeks and whether it was because I was more alert to things but there seemed to be a noticeably higher level of security present. Didn't see any more police officers but security guards in the individual shops was much more overt than I had seen before.

Also noticed the security announcements on the information boards that started - 'in this time of heightened security.'

Makes you wonder if some sort of threat has been picked up by the security services....

I have noticed the increased "security" (I say it in quotes as it does not make me feel any safer..quite the opposite) in my homtown, Reading. We are not far from London, in fact, we're the Gateway to London apparently.

Yesterday, I was in town on my lunchbreak and there were Police everywhere. The train station, in the town centre, in vans and cars and on horseback. There was a friendly on against Plymouth (not known for its football trouble), but the level of security generally, not just yesterday is intimidating.

Even worse, was that as i walked through town I was being watched by two large, burly coppers who eyed me very suspiciously! I am a 23 year old white guy and fair enough I have a goatee beard, but in now way would you consider me looking like a terrorist!

It is quite frightening. I know people say they are there to "protect" me and they won't be unduly nasty etc etc, but the type of people who become Police are inherantly on a power trip anyway and more than likely most were bullied at school ...

They will (and have) used any excuse to nick people because they enjoy it.

If the Government told them to round up a certain group of people or victimise them, they will (and are, even now, doing it with racial profiling) do it.

With the new laws they intend to introduce that will erode our Human Rights further, it would take very little, if any, excuse for them to pull you off the street and ruin your day, or worse.

I think a lot of people are taking this thing too far, what we have now is a complete change in our society, certain elements want to do harm to the majority of peaceful inhabitants of our lands and cause as much chaos as possible. I lived in London when the IRA bombing campaigns were at their worst and everyone was twitchy then, but this is different their are no warnings given, the aim now is to to destroy as much human life as possible and I commend the police for taking such a brave stance, walking on to a crowded bus that may contain a suicide bomber must be very daunting, they should be applauded

I disagree that the aim was to destroy as much life as possible because the bombings could have been done during Live8 or the Olympic celebrations. Even Wimbledon would have been an easy target with lots of people clustered around South London. The city is SO crowded and overpopulated, more than usual during the summer months. Easy pickings if you know where to look if all they wanted was a body count right?

I am not saying the loss of life wasn't tragic. I am saying the bombings didn't seem to be about taking a 'massive' amount of life.

It seems to be more to do with terrorizing and mesmerizing people with fear. So much so that we are on a daily basis agreeing with everything the government proposes in order to look out for our 'safety' and well being. Even if that means removing some of our liberties.

What it is making me do is the exact opposite. Look at the way the government has responded to the crisis:

pointing fingers, racial profiling, causing civil unrest, mistaking innocent people for 'bombers' and unconvincing responses and prefabricated information that makes even the gullible people sit up and think... hmmm something is not quite right here.

Including... not getting the proper intelligence in the first place. I could (maybe possibly) believe they didn't get anything concrete on their radars. This a sophisticated and highly trained British intelligence I'm referring to... But how about denying the Saudi's warnings? And then changing their version to they 'misunderstood' the warnings? Fair enough you 'didn't understand or didn't trust the Saudis... why go ahead and lower the alerts some weeks before the attacks then? Wouldn't you hold on, just to make sure? Just in case they were right?

I was struck when Ian Blair was on television shortly after the attacks asking people to call in if anyone noticed any 'suspicious' people lurking around. He kept repeating it like some mantra. 'Phone this number if you suspect someone.'

His language contained other gems along the lines of: 'You are going to hear some rumours, don't believe them. Believe us. We will tell you the truth.'

'We must stick together as a community, call in your neighbours if you suspect them. Rat on everyone you don't like. Now is your chance. Let's busy these lines up with as much anger and fear so we can to distract everyone from what has just happened.'

I do feel for the police having to take on extra work and responsibilities.
I also feel sorry for us having to deal with the daily stress of possible additional attacks and also the anxiety of witnessing how Londoners are arguing about who is to blame, who is a 'true' citizen and who should be sent packing because they happen to have a different skin colour or religion to ours.

The government and police should be calming our fears, not creating reasons for us to distrust others.

Well said nikelbee, i can honestly say that i have not heard a single calming word since the bombings happened, it has just been in your face fear mongering! Yet people are going along with it. What about when I.R.A attacks were common, or the Lockerbie bombing occurred, yes people were frightened and wary off attacks, but not so much so as to just quiver up in the corner and let people take care of us by any means necessary.
I wish everyone would realise that the human race has not progressed this far due to cowardice, and start taking a hold of their lives and opinions agains!

a bomb on a tube train is bound to take many lives due to the closed enviroment , and why bother targeting live 8 when you can go for a nice easy soft target like a packed comuter train, you cannot compare the present terrorist campaigns to the I.R.A. one, when you hear and see with your own eyes such anti western dialogue, spouted by so called clerics, The fear is real, the threat is real and our life in the West is at risk let's hope our Goverment has the guts to bring in the new laws and implement them