Serious incident in Glasgow

[Detournement]

1 hour ago, dirty dingus said:

This is an interesting post about the background behind the park inn.

 

Scott Agnew

5 hrs

The incident at The Park Inn in Glasgow yesterday was absolutely no surprise.

There's been warnings and campaigns about what has been going on in our city and how asylum seekers here were being treated and held. Glasgow City Council had even lodged objections with the Home Office about this too. Nothing was done.

Don't be drawn in by the idea that this was a cushie weekend break in a hotel with a mini-bar and an all you can eat breakfast, room service and spa facilities. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This was a hotel in name only. It was a defacto detention centre, a prison if you will. People were ripped from their homes with only 20 mins notice and bundled into vans with dubious justification around the Coronavirus. They were forced to eat together in dining rooms not allowing for social distancing. They were fed the same meal day after day. Often the food inedible. Confined to their rooms there was no access to cash, they couldn't buy essentials like toiletries or top-ups for their phones, WiFi was either unavailable or poor, cutting them off completely from the outside world.

And all this during this lockdown. Imagine yourself and your own lockdown and how difficult it has been even in your own home. Could you have coped in one room with no phone, no internet access and no money? Could you have eaten the same three meals often poorly prepared day after day?

Cooped up and paranoid they could get sick some went on a hunger strike hoping their situation would get noticed. Already vulnerable, people's mental health started to deteriorate in this boiling pot atmosphere. One even took his own life earlier in lockdown.

The Home Office and the Mears Group, a private firm contracted by the UK Government to provide accommodation did nothing.

A peaceful protest was attempted last week and campaigners had hoped to get the issues and neglect faced by asylum seekers noticed but some folk thought it more important to protect statues they can hardly name or recognise and resorted to violence and racist rhetoric to do so. So the asylum seekers went unheard yet again, their voices silenced yet again, their problems unaddressed yet again, their supporters bullied off the streets, a worrying new development.

Is it any surprise just over a week later someone may finally snap while detained in the very epitome of this Tory Home Office's hostile environment?

Racist slime balls like Nigel Farage, whose rhetoric has encouraged "patriots" to "take back control" and silence these already marginalised people and their voices then attempted to weaponise yesterday's events against them. That's the ultimate sick cruelty. Create a problem, exacerbate it and then blame the victims of the environment you and your right wing friends and corporate partners created for that very problem.

Perhaps if the right wing bovver boys weren't out on the streets threatening and intimidating people trying to exercise their right to protest and free speech a man would still be alive, five folk wouldn't be in hospital and a brave police officer wouldn't be fighting for his life.

The political temperature in the city the past few weeks has been rising. Everyone is on edge. It doesn't need to be like this. Don't fall into the trap of rejoicing the man wielding the knife was shot dead. I'm willing to bet the armed officer who shot him isn't.

When the heat is turned up on issues of race and someone's race automatically ramps an incident up to a terror threat people get shot and that's not right. The first person shot dead for wielding a knife in this city in 50 years. Let's not pretend and clutch our pearls here, we're used to knives and knife crime in this city. Should every one wielding a knife now be shot? If that's the case we are going to be stepping over a lot of bodies from now on.

Glasgow and knives have been a thing for decades, why was yesterday different that it led to a fatal shooting? We can't let racists define our normal response to things because they have warped all our perceptions.

Glasgow is better than this; we have always been a city of immigrants. We cannot forget our past. We cannot allow ourselves to be played by right wing Tory spivs trying to make a fast buck out of someone else's misery whilst dividing our city for political gain.

Refugees are people. Refugees are welcome here because many of us, our families, started here as a refugee from somewhere and were welcomed here. That's what makes us the people Refuweegees and people make Glasgow.

With love and best wishes to all those injured yesterday and especially to Constable David Whyte on making a full recovery.

If you stab 6 people I don't think you can have much complaint about being shot. 

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, SweeperDee said:

 

Racial subtext to the firearms response? 

I think that's bollocks, you aren't talking about a pub fight at closing time getting out of hand in Rutherglen, it's at 1pm in the centre of Glasgow with police on alert for lone wolf stabby c***s, and 6 people in hospital. It's likely the seriously injured cop tried to tackle him without a gun.

[SweeperDee]

Just now, welshbairn said:

I think that's bollocks, you aren't talking about a pub fight at closing time getting out of hand in Rutherglen, it's at 1pm in the centre of Glasgow with police on alert for lone wolf stabby c***s, and 6 people in hospital. It's likely the seriously injured cop tried to tackle him without a gun.

I'd agree with you. Apparently a police officer was stabbed in Wishaw a couple of weeks prior, however that didn't merit an armed response team of that magnitude (This is according to someone on that thread btw, would be easy enough to search for it in the news). I think the response was justified; as you say, this was someone who was intending on killing a decent number of people, and not just attacking a police officer. 

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

I think what’s clear is that bird is absolutely desperate to attribute it to race. Weirdo.

[Detournement]

Just now, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

I think what’s clear is that bird is absolutely desperate to attribute it to race. Weirdo.

That's a bot account. 

4500 followers. Following 2500. 10 retweets for original tweet. 

[SweeperDee]

Just now, Detournement said:

That's a bot account. 

4500 followers. Following 2500. 10 retweets for original tweet. 

I mean, it's not, considering I know the person second hand. 

[Thistle_do_nicely]

21 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

 

Racial subtext to the firearms response? 

Hrhm. 

If I had to guess then ordinarily when someone gets a bit stabby, once the police show up they either surrender outright or drop the knife and bolt? Considering an officer ended up in hospital after getting stabbed I highly, highly doubt there was any viable alternative but to shoot with lethal munitions to end the threat to the public.

afaik non-lethal stuff like rubber bullets and tazers haven't got anything like the stopping power of proper guns. edit: im pretty sure even low calibre actual firearms can be remarkably shit at incapacitating somebody, for example

Edited June 27, 2020 by Thistle_do_nicely

[Detournement]

13 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

It's useful background info as to why this might have happened not an excuse

The rest of the article is reasonable and interesting but as much I like giving the police a hard time unless it turns out he had surrendered prior to being shot then you can't blame the armed cop for shooting. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

22 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

 

Racial subtext to the firearms response? 

We might be trying something new after relying on members of the public to kick the last terrorists to death.

[NotThePars]

6 minutes ago, Detournement said:

That's a bot account. 

4500 followers. Following 2500. 10 retweets for original tweet. 

 

4 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

I mean, it's not, considering I know the person second hand. 

[Moomintroll]

10 minutes ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

I think what’s clear is that bird is absolutely desperate to attribute it to race. Weirdo.

Sure she will want to eradicate whiteness & smash civilization, idiots like that are part of the problem.

[SweeperDee]

Sure she will want to eradicate whiteness & smash civilization, idiots like that are part of the problem.

Probably not far off.

[peasy23]

Hrhm. 
If I had to guess then ordinarily when someone gets a bit stabby, once the police show up they either surrender outright or drop the knife and bolt? Considering an officer ended up in hospital after getting stabbed I highly, highly doubt there was any viable alternative but to shoot with lethal munitions to end the threat to the public.
afaik non-lethal stuff like rubber bullets and tazers haven't got anything like the stopping power of proper guns. edit: im pretty sure even low calibre actual firearms can be remarkably shit at incapacitating somebody, for example

I would hazard a guess that in most knife crime incidents in Scotland that the perpetrator has long departed the scene by the time the police show up.

[welshbairn]

16 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

I mean, it's not, considering I know the person second hand. 

You know for sure who she is? In real life?

[Joey Jo Jo Junior Shabadoo]

The most harrowing part of the whole episode is the damage to my eyes and brain caused by the new worst portmanteau in history, “Refuweegees”.

Disgusting. Should be added to the banned word filter.

[Mark Connolly]

Just now, Joey Jo Jo Junior Shabadoo said:

The most harrowing part of the whole episode is the damage to my eyes and brain caused by the new worst portmanteau in history, “Refuweegees”.

Disgusting. Should be added to the banned word filter.

Refuweegee has been running as a charity for 5 years, based in various places on Byres Road (now in the old FOPP), and has done some tremendous work.

[SweeperDee]

You know for sure who she is? In real life?

Yes, ex of a friend.

[welshbairn]

Just now, SweeperDee said:

Yes, ex of a friend.

Fair enough.

[Joey Jo Jo Junior Shabadoo]

2 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

Refuweegee has been running as a charity for 5 years, based in various places on Byres Road (now in the old FOPP), and has done some tremendous work.

I’m sure they do, but they should get the name in the bin.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

I'd agree with you. Apparently a police officer was stabbed in Wishaw a couple of weeks prior, however that didn't merit an armed response team of that magnitude (This is according to someone on that thread btw, would be easy enough to search for it in the news). I think the response was justified; as you say, this was someone who was intending on killing a decent number of people, and not just attacking a police officer. 

Two were stabbed, however what happened there was a sporadic incident where the police came across the man with the knife whilst dealing with something else, no one phoned the police reporting ‘man with a knife’ which meant no consideration for sending firearms was made initially. No body actually knew the police officers needed help until a member of the public grabbed the injured officers radio and got them help. By that point it still wasnt clear what was happening so all available police in the division etc responded meaning the cops probably got the guy disarmed or he gave up when he saw how many police officers turned up.

Whereas this incident in Glasgow appears to be a call directly relating to the use of a deadly weapon which meant firearms officers were probably on their way to a set Rendezvous point awaiting ratification, meaning they were in a position to move in. From what i’ve read online a taser was used in the Glasgow incident yet had no impact (ive yet to have that 100% confirmed). Also bolstered by the fact its less than a mile from the main armoury.

But both the wishaw and glasgow incident or any incident involving a deadly weapon would justify the use of a firearm or the deployment of it.