Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

A suspect police stunt

Morning Star | 16.02.2009 01:18 | Palestine | Repression | Terror War | World

The stunt, for it can only be described as such, of the police intercepting several vehicles on the M65 on their way to join the convoy, as a part of an operation under the much-abused anti-terror laws, was a clear and unprincipled attempt to discredit the convoy.

The massive aid convoy which left for Gaza at the weekend speaks volumes for the decency and compassion of the ordinary British people.

It included a dozen ambulances, a fire engine, a total of 110 vehicles and £1 million worth of aid.

The sheer scale of the aid mission, which was organised in less than four weeks, stands in stark contrast to the disgraceful heedlessness of the British Establishment.

It puts to shame the government's blatant collaboration with the Israeli murderers whose vicious attack on the people of Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,300 Gazans in collective punishment for a series of rocket attacks that cost the lives of less than a score of Israelis over a period of some years.

The silence of Gordon Brown over the Israeli atrocity and his feeble attempts to equate the two sides in the course of Israel's state terrorist attack on the comparatively defenceless people of Gaza left a bad taste in the mouth and besmirched any reputation (admittedly small) that Britain might have left in the region.

The convoy will go a long way towards conveying to Gazans that the government's bloodstained and bloody-minded attitude is not shared by us all.

However, it may take more than that to wipe out the inaction of Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair.

We are told that Mr Blair holds court at the American Colony hotel in east Jerusalem. He is hiring an entire floor of the hotel at a cost of about £700,000 a year.

But we are also told that this so-called peace envoy has not even set foot in Gaza since his appointment.

And, to cap it all, he was apparently on holiday when the assault on Gaza was at its height. A more pointed insult to the Palestinians is hard to imagine.

The convoy also puts in perspective the refusal by certain pro-Israeli BBC executives to screen the appeal for aid for the people of Gaza.

BBC broadcast or no, the convoy was raised, staffed and supplied in just four weeks, proving that the Israel lobby cannot stifle the outrage felt by Britain's people at the Gaza atrocity, an outrage that was markedly sharpened by the accurate perception that the assault was timed, not in response to unbearable provocation, but as an aid to the election campaign of pro-war Israeli parties.

However, the machinations of the pro-Israel lobby appear not to stop there.

The stunt, for it can only be described as such, of the police intercepting several vehicles on the M65 on their way to join the convoy, as a part of an operation under the much-abused anti-terror laws, was a clear and unprincipled attempt to discredit the convoy.

Nine people were detained, but six of them were released almost immediately without charge.

Of the three still detained, it is claimed that they had been under observation for some time.

If that is the case, why wait to arrest them until the police had to close a motorway to do so?

And, if they are so dangerous, why is it that, according to the authorities, they didn't even bother using armed police?

Again, according to the authorities, they are not suspected of any terrorist activity in Britain.

We are told that the interception was part of an "intelligence-led" anti-terror operation.

So, one might recall, was the gunning down of innocent electrician Jean Charles de Menezes.

Whatever the outcome of this current "anti-terror" action, there are many questions regarding its timing and its political motivation that cry out for answers from those responsible.

Morning Star
- Homepage: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/comment/a_suspect_police_stunt

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech