I accidentally starred the OP as I misunderstood his point of view. Wish I could take it back. My Flag remains however!
This is an absolutely stunning example of police restraint and control of a situation that could have gone very bad.
They handled the situation exactly as it should have been. It did not matter how unruly a few of the protesters began to get, the police kept their cool. You almost never see that in the US.
At one point the police lined the store fronts to protect them. Exactly what was needed to protect private property from possible damage.

I cannot say enough to praise the way these guys did their jobs and held in the natural human desire to take revenge -- especially those couple of occasions when an officer went down and/or was pushed.

Superb! This is what we have all been calling for. No tear gas. No arrests. No agent provocateur. The people protested loudly and sometimes irresponsibly, but no one got hurt let alone killed.

[edit on 14-1-2009 by wayno]

I really don't see how they are backpedalling for the most of the footage. They are simply trying to keep up with the crowd - you can clearly see at the start there is two lines of protestors, with one slightly ahead of them.

They seem to be causing problems with protest against a war, ok it does not get violent but it had the potential to, bit hypocritical to be honest.

Okay, I've watched about 80% of this footage. The boys in blue appear to be acting in the same way a rear guard would in a battalion. keeping an eye on the people following. Protests ususally follow a set route and the cops that were ahead were mainly keeping the route open for the large collection of people who were heading that way. to run away implies that they left the streets allowing the protestors to run the show, but they didnt. they were there continually throughout the footage. the police presence wasnt overly heavy, and to just act as guides and shepards, I dont think there needed to be. but I am pretty positive that the riot police would have been within close proximity. IMO, this footage shows a fantastic example of police control not being heavy handed. I even spotted a part of the footage where someone lobbed a traffic cone at the police and the police did not retaliate. Personally, as far as I am concerned, I would rather have these bobbies on the beat, doing crowd control, than some of the overly heavy handed american cops that i have seen footage of. this is all my opinion and people can read it as they like.

There are more videos of the protest on You Tube. One other one I watched ended with the presence of police in full riot gear - but still no violence either way.

Yes some police do indeed run, when they don't move backwards quick enough and find themselves alone at the front line of the protestors. They run to take back positions among the line of police and continue walking...

These police are walking backwards at times, it's inevitable that some will lose pace and end up too close.

Originally posted by rcwj75
This IS funny....these retards protest to FREE PALESTINE yet they do it in Britain. If they feel so strongly about it why do they NOT go to Palestine and protest. Like most protestors..they only bitch, piss and moan and protest in a country that gives them the freedom to do so. They are to chicken---- to go to the country WITH the problem.

The US deals with the same crap too. We had mexicans protest and march in our streets displaying MEXICAN flags and screaming how they are proud to be mexican yet they do it where??? IN AMERICA! Not in mexico.

People make no sence anymore because they have been given EVERYTHING and spoiled by the freedoms of other places. They leave their countries because they are crap and have NO opportunities, NO freedoms, NO rights, NOTHING...but as soon as they go somewhere that gives them such things they then want to brag and support the same place that gives them nothing. Why not stay there and change it? I'll tell you why...the majority is all talk with ZERO backbone when there is a REAL threat.

are you my alter ego? because i agree with you 100%

Originally posted by rcwj75
People make no sence anymore because they have been given EVERYTHING and spoiled by the freedoms of other places. They leave their countries because they are crap and have NO opportunities, NO freedoms, NO rights, NOTHING...but as soon as they go somewhere that gives them such things they then want to brag and support the same place that gives them nothing. Why not stay there and change it? I'll tell you why...the majority is all talk with ZERO backbone when there is a REAL threat.

it is really amusing reading these kind of comments of people who doesn't have a clue what are they talking about... and what is happening

most of those people escaped from your spreading of democracy and 'freedom' with 'smart' and phosphorus bombs

and if they stay and fight you call them terrorists...

that's really sad

Maybe they just had to get home and make sure their sheds were unlocked for the thieves?

Do not underestimate the British copper..their hands are tied at the moment!!....it will take one incident and permission!! then all the thugs and racists in the police will come out of the woodwork!! and there are a good few of them....and people that do not demonstrate ..peacefully will be in for a nasty shock..they will have a reason and permission!!

The Brits have a lot of experience with crowd control!!!!

In fact I had a conversation with a copper not long ago about the use of tazers in the UK ,,,I aggreed ..to a degree..but he was dead against it!!

His words

" I wouldn't trust a lot of coppers he knew with a batton ..never mind tazers" ..I found that a bit disturbing!!l

Now either not dangerous with any weapon as being as thick as pig poo!!

Or these people are real thugs an you will make them even more dangerous if you give them weapons!!

And incident and permission...will be a different story!!

This was just the protesters way of saying "Thanks" for allowing us to come to your great country! We really appreciate the higher standard of living your taxpayers have afforded us, and all the new freedoms we never were allowed in our own backwards countries.

Three cheers for multiculturalism and political correctness!

And if one of them had shot or injured one of the protestors you would never have heard the end of it. Like it or not the police were sent to do a job. Unfortunately this makes a huge and bad example of what occurs when the policed are ordered to show restraint. I am afraid the best these people can celebrate is a win of a small skirmish because now they have given TPTB the ammunition they need to win the war. The next time they will not be as restrained.

Judge the actions of the police however you like. "Saving face" is not something officers of the law should be concerned with. Protecting the liberty and safety of the communities they serve, is.

In the final analysis, a large number of Muslims were able to demonstrate their extreme outrage at global events in a public place in a western nation. It happened legally, safely, without incident, and at complete discretion of the protesters.

It is a fine example of democratic principals, the rule of law, and freedom in action and working in harmony. I would have been proud if this occurred in the U.S.

I'm all for law enforcement officers showing restraint when dealing with peaceful protesters, but there's a point when you cross that invisible line, and go from legitimate protesting to infringing upon the rights of others. No one was seriously hurt this time, but next time everyone may not be so lucky.

Originally posted by mr-lizard
That;s why i think our Bobbies are far better at dealing with stressful situations than the idiots in America.

It seems our coppers can handle the riots, the protests, yet the second some kid starts shouting his mouth of in USA, out come the tazers, or even worse they handcuff them and shoot them in the back.

Our coppers have had to deal with football hooligans, firms, gangsters, protestors for years and 99% nobody gets hurt.

I'd love to see the Yank cops dealing with our football firms, there'd be bodies in the street and lynchings everywhere.

Gotta love the British.

Its sad that you judge the American Police system based off of videos you watch on T.V. or on the internet, which only portray the poor judgment or actions of certain officers or departments, and never any courageous deeds done by our police. Dont try and ridicule a country that you know little about just because you're British, not all Americans are violent, dumbass rednecks, we did manage to liberate ourselves from the tyranny of the British government a couple hundred years ago to become the most powerful country in the world, remember that? I'm a future Police Officer BTW.