Police Kettling Cyclists outside Olympic Opening

Take a look at the twitter hastag #criticalmass
(here)
Mass reports and photos of Police response to a mass cycle protest, anyone know any details?

something to do with shutting the greenway, stopping bikes using VIP olympic lanes, generally telling the strongest nation for competitive cycling that they can bugger off and do it somewhere else. IIRC.

Sound like a bunch of red socks then.

If meehaja is right this is well meaning but damaging to cyclists. Police are going to have enough to contend with tonight without this.

Bunch of dickheads on bikes!

bunnyhop over their heads.

garage-dweller – Member
well meaning but damaging to cyclists.

= Critical Mass

I was on a flyover with loads of other people when the cyclist? or more like new age types turned up followed by police with cameras and then the cyclist raced off shouting they are trying to kettle us on here and then 20 minutes later they where back followed by a hell of a lot of police with a lot more police in vans with blue light on all seemed to be coming to where we where standing at this I thought time to leave.

I was on a flyover with loads of other people when the cyclist? or more like new age types turned up followed by police with cameras and then the cyclist raced off shouting they are trying to kettle us on here and then 20 minutes later they where back followed by a hell of a lot of police with a lot more police in vans with blue light on all seemed to be coming to where we where standing at this I thought time to leave.

That’d make sense.

I’m sorry but kettling still sounds like some bizarre sex act to me.

mmmmmmmm, steaming spouts !!!

>well meaning but damaging to cyclists.

= Critical Mass
Ah. Who are these then? Hippies?

plonker cyclists

Macca == terrible

Ooops, that bad I posted on the wrong thread 😉

___________
Pies.

Critical Mass = asshats

Pointless protest defused before it started.

Macca == terrible

Ooops, that bad I posted on the wrong thread

Valid point on any thread I reckon.

Still no really verifiable account of what happened, but I suppose every chance CM pushing their luck, daft and pointless really…

I believe critical mass were planning some sort of demo, they were served some legal notice some time ago detailing when and where thy could and couldn’t demonstrate and some people seem to have tried to ignore it. Naive or d***heads who happen to own bikes? I’d have thought BW, MC and Team Sky have done more to help cyclists reclaim the streets than CM ever will

+1 for macca comments

RT’s take on it…

http://www.rt.com/news/london-police-olympics-arrests-269/

The Freindly Games eh?

😉

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19023104

Let us hope that those idiot self righteous bike riding protestors suffer innumerable punctures for bringing us cyclists into such disrespect.

Especially after the massively good exposure for cyclists, on the media that, Brad Cav and sky, along with lots of other proffesionl cyclists have given us in the last month.

Let us hope that those idiot self righteous bike riding protestors suffer innumerable punctures for bringing us cyclists into such disrespect.

Especially after the massively good exposure for cyclists, on the media that, Brad Cav and sky, along with lots of other proffesionl cyclists have given us in the last month.

Common sense, I like that

I’m not for the Olympics, all the coverage and money blah blah blah, but even I can see that if something like that it on, would it kill Critical Mass to cancel their hipster parade for one week? it would at least give them a chance to update their meaningless blogs, unshape their girls t shirts and iron their ironic glasses

Edit: Having watched the video on RT of the disabled guy getting strongarmed, the police seem to be a little heavy handed, but what can you take from an edited video? He might have been flinging things at them a moment before.

would it kill Critical Mass to cancel their hipster parade for one week? it would at least give them a chance to update their meaningless blogs, unshape their girls t shirts and iron their ironic glasses

Brilliant

And sooooo accurate.

Hipster Nobbers the lot of them.

SKY reclaim the steets with their organised bike rides, and sports events, we didnt need this rent a mob destroying all the good feelings, and buzz about cycling.

we didnt need this rent a mob destroying all the good feelings, and buzz about cycling.

Perish the thought that people having the right to protest in a democracy regardless of whether you agree with that protest or not, should get in the way of making Cyclists “look good”.

aah, the right to peacefull protest.
true sign of democracy….
doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong, the fact they are/were allowed to do it is a good thing.
if not we might as well be in china or north korea.

Edit can’t be bothered.

Critical mass are protesters 1st and cyclists 572nd, the movement has lost its roots, which is a shame, because I would love to join in with what it should be rather than what it has become.

aah, the right to peacefull protest.

But they do, don’t they?

aah, the right to peacefull protest.
true sign of democracy….

Balls.

They chose that date and location to cause maximum problems.

And they were quite rightly stopped.

Bunch of muppets in trendy glasses Being arseholes. 🙄

Err.
They do.
Thats the point I was making.

on channel4 news in a while, Jon Snow,is president of some cycling group, so should be good.

Also we still have the right to peaceful protest, but does anyone actyually know what they where protesting about, price of skinny jeans, or cost of designer glases gone up above inflation.

Facist state…
Here we come. 😯

Facist state…
Here we come.

🙄

I think you need to do a bit of research on the “Right to peaceful protest” As you seem to be misunderstanding what it actually is.

I would suggest Yourrights.org.uk as a good place to start.

They do.
Thats the point I was making.

Stick, wrong end of… 😀

Yep. You have the power too protest if the powers to be let you.
Pretty much covers it.
Lots of peacefull demonstrations seem to be stamped on with a great deal of force.

And was this one of those occasions ?

Or we’re they told that the location was off limits on that day, for good reason. And they chose to go there anyway.

If people are so willing to act like **** idiots, they shouldn’t be too shocked when they get treated like **** idiots.

Or were they told that the location was off limits on that day, for good reason. And they chose to go there anyway.

^^This^^. AFAIK, the police started by asking them politely not to go to that area at that time. Perfectly decent request. CM took their usually “sticking it to the man, man” antagonistic approach to this.

Asshats, total asshats.

As to the “stamped out by force”, have a look at things like the Countryside Alliance march, the Stop the War coalition march, and more. Massive, peaceful marches, where those taking part weren’t antagonistic asshats with chips on their shoulders. Oh, and quelle surprise, no trouble.

CM are bad for cycling. Their approach, of pretty much trying to find “controversy” at all turns, gives a bad image of cycling at a time when it’s really taking off. We need people to embrace, understand and enjoy cycling, not just think that anyone on a bike is an antagonistic asshat.

where those taking part weren’t antagonistic asshats with chips on their shoulders.

Didn’t get them anywhere though did it? 😉

CM are bad for cycling. Their approach, of pretty much trying to find “controversy” at all turns, gives a bad image of cycling at a time when it’s really taking off. We need people to embrace, understand and enjoy cycling, not just think that anyone on a bike is an antagonistic asshat.

🙄

Damn those people who walk. They are making anyone who walks anywhere look bad. Down with this sort of thing.

GB cycling team could have done with a Critical Mass protest at the front of the road race today 😉