Protesters clash with police in London in January over Israel’s action in Gaza. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Police are preparing for a “summer of rage” as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned.
Moreover, they expect some of the protesters to be middle-class people who don’t normally go to protests. Now, this could certainly be a pretext for a major crackdown on rights and freedoms, something Lenin’s Tomb thinks quite possible.
Theoretically, I mean, what sort of solutions might occur to a police force anticipating such unrest (apparently from a motley band of environmentalists, Nazis, lefties, middle class bruschetta munchers, dole bludgers, G20 protesters, etc)?
Asking for huge amounts of money to combat the Angry Rabble then cracking lots of heads certainly could be a possible police “solution.”
Given the current state of the British economy (hint: ours is positively dynamic in comparison) such protests may well happen. There have been major protests in France, Greece, Ireland and the Baltics recently.
Both “extreme rightwing and extreme leftwing” elements are looking to “use the fact that people are out of jobs” to galvanise support, [Britain’s top cop said]
The left has a huge organizing opportunity. People are pissed, want answers, and maybe a few heads to roll too. Most of all, they want things to get better and to not feel isolated and alone. If the left doesn’t give them that, they may find it on the right instead.