I am 100% in favour of the cause.
But the vigil was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The organisers had been told it was illegal under Covid-19 law and a judge had told them the same in the clearest of terms.
The organisers backed out only as they were told they would be subject to £10,000 fines, whining that it would be ‘covid safe’ and it was ‘the police not working with them’ that caused the problem.
Hundreds of people turn up knowing they were breaking the law, not giving a monkeys about anyone else. From what I can make out is was all sort of ok until some numb nuts starting making a speech and there was a crowd surge to hear them which is when plod moved in. As soon as speeches are made it cannot be called a ‘vigil’.
Im not sure what a member of the Royal family thought they were doing when turning up during the day, particularly without mask, possibly another example of their advisors not doing their job and pointing out how it might be perceived.
As mentioned above plod are screwed whatever they do. If they had stood back they would be slaughtered for allowing a potentially ‘super spreader’ incident to carry on without applying the law.
The rest of the population that wanted to display support largely did the right thing by joining the widely publicised ‘doorstep candle vigil’ which is absolutely appropriate at the current time. Although police broke up a gathering in Brighton and made arrests, not sure why this hasn’t received the same ‘shock horror’ media coverage.
The LibDem leader (and others) calls for a Cressida Dick to be sacked. I have a question for him......if she had called you in advance of the event and asked ‘what should I do’ would you a) tell her to apply the law, b) ignore the law or c) find a reason not answer the question. My guess would be c).
As I said at the start, I totally supportive of the movement, but this so called vigil in the wrong place at the wrong time and yet another example of the ‘me myself and I’ culture that has become increasingly evident during lockdown.
If the same people had attended the same event to (say)legalise heroin the country would be screaming for plod to intervene. In the current Covid-19 environment no gathering is acceptable, however laudable the cause.
It really is that simple.