Screams of “Allahu Akbar” anyone?
Attributed to “a small minority,” whose “behaviour,” according to Commander Broadhurst, “was inexcusable as they took part in wanton criminality.” While the good Commander speaks in intelligible terms, he also seems to assume that there is some sort of “universal” standard dictating the “norms” of behavior and criminality, and that is adhered to, or at least acknowledged, by all humanity.
Perhaps, for most people — but, then again, there is that select group of humanity whose norms of behavior and notions of criminality have little to do with universal principles, but rather the life, deeds, and words of what is to them, a prophet, and what is to the rest of humanity, a 7th century bedouin — explaining, perhaps, that contradiction in norms that manifests itself daily in headlines.
More on this story — where the culprits were simply described as “youth.” “Starbucks smashed and looted as anti-Israel protests turn to violence,” by Alastair Jamieson for the Telegraph, January 17:
Riot police surrounded up to 240 demonstrators in central London, many wearing scarves covering their faces, who broke away from a rally in Trafalgar Square at about 5pm.
Up to 200 were tracked by a police helicopter as they ransacked the coffee shops in Piccadilly and Shaftesbury Avenue while 40 more were contained in Hyde Park, thought to be on their way to the Israeli embassy in Kensington.
The United States coffee chain has recently been the subject of an internet boycott campaign amid claims it donates profits to Israel — an accusation it strongly denies.
Commander Bob Broadhurst, in charge of public order policing for the Metropolitan Police, said: “Once again what we have witnessed in London today is a group of thugs, who are not interested in lawful protest, run through the streets smashing shops without care for the alarm they caused the public.
“Thousands of people expressed their views in an earlier, lawful, rally in Trafalgar Square…What followed was totally unacceptable criminal behaviour by a small minority who do not appear to care about any cause. Their behaviour was inexcusable as they took part in wanton criminality.”
Police said the London rally was attended by 3,500 people while organisers of a rally in Birmingham said more than 5,000 turned up.
An Israeli flag was set alight at the rally outside Birmingham’s Council House in Victoria Square.
Abdulah Abdulah, 25, a clerk from Birmingham said: “The whole world knows this is something serious and the reason that people are angry is that they are getting more frustrated because nothing is being done.”[…]
Another rally is planned for the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration outside the US Embassy in central London.