Water cannon for London

Good old British values!

I associate them with France and Northern Ireland...

Better than stun guns.

I wonder how Theresa May will respond. It feels a bit like the big beasts are setting their stalls out, doesn't it.

How come London always gets all the good stuff? I could really use a water cannon blasting away in my garden as it's so very dry, the garden hose is broken and I am struggling about the place with a watering can.

On a serious note, when there were riots the other year, we had no water cannon to break them up [all the looting and fires etc.]

As NanKate said, better than stun guns, and I'd add tasers or real bullets! What's so barbaric about a blast of water...?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/11/boris-johnson-water-cannon-blast-theresa-may

Who do you suggest gets blasted, Ana?
There's a No to Austerity demo on 21st June.
Or how about the Save the Independent Living Fund tea party at the DWP offices in London on 4th July? Lots of people in wheelchairs at that one for target practice.

The fact is, once such measures for crowd control are allowed, they will inevitably be used.

The use of tasers has increased enormously since they were first introduced and on many occasions they have been used totally inappropriately and against guidelines.

Perhaps the establishment is preparing for the social unrest that may well occur with the ratcheting up of their punish the poor/reward the greedy policies.

Boris Johnson has been cornered into being blasted by one to 'show they are safe'.

I don't think he was cornered into it, he offered didn't he? It's the type of daft thing he would do!

I do support the use of these water cannons - it's better than arming our police and they need something to control crowds. Granted - there is a risk they can escalate rioting if the police use them indiscrimately so, whether they prove to be effective is down to the police.

I also thought the report on tv (BBC) was a bit slanted by them saying 'they [water cannons] tend to be associated with totalitarian regimes.

^There's a No to Austerity demo on 21st June.
Or how about the Save the Independent Living Fund tea party at the DWP offices in London on 4th July? Lots of people in wheelchairs at that one for target practice.^

Are those people likely to riot and cause injury to others and damage property?

No he didn't offer ... he was challenged to by Nick Ferrari and reluctantly agreed.

If people don't riot or cause damage or injury during a demonstration, then they won't be used. The people who do cause problems are usually not genuine protesters - just people out to cause trouble.

The No To Austerity group may do? I wonder if without austerity measures we would be doing so well as a country economically?The last Labour government have a lot to answer for, and you do wonder if they had been in power right now, how well we would be doing [we know the answer to that.]Water cannon are effective, and of course they should be used properly, the people in London who had their homes and business looted in the 'fire riots' would have liked them to be used.As it was, the police were pretty helpless to do anything.

No doubt the last government would have used water cannon had they had the chance ..... they after all allowed illegal 'kettling' of peaceful crowds.

I have no political bias on this matter am just concerned, because once these are introduced what's next, rubber bullets?

Are we saying that when we see water cannons used in other countries it is always justifiable and the people who go out on the streets to protest are all violent troublemakers?

Or perhaps people think that the police in this country are all beyond reproach and would never behave provocatively or inappropriately. This is hard to believe when one considers the mounting number of scandals in which their behaviour has been reprehensible - Stephen Lawrence, Hillsbrough, Ian Tomlinson etc. etc.

Riverwalk

I was going by the footage shown on BBC news this morning. I have, however, just watched Sky footage of that interview and he does, indeed, seem reluctant but I do believe that Nick Ferrari was being very light-hearted about it. Boris does say that he wouldn't want to stand in front of one unless he'd done something to deserve to it.

news.sky.com/story/1280133/boris-johnson-blast-me-with-water-cannon

The force of the jets is, apparently, determined by the user and can be anything from a light spray (no worse than a hosepipe) to a jet that could do serious damage.

Or perhaps people think that the police in this country are all beyond reproach and would never behave provocatively or inappropriately. This is hard to believe when one considers the mounting number of scandals in which their behaviour has been reprehensible - Stephen Lawrence, Hillsbrough, Ian Tomlinson etc. etc.

I do think it's worth remembering that there are more police officers who are beyond reproach and it's a bit unfair to tar them all with the same brush.

Quite right Holly. If you take away powers from the police [ regards rioting] then what exactly do you expect them to do? There are not the numbers of police in Britain to control riots, they are not the army after all.
There has to be some method, in the face of uncontrollable rioting like we saw around London, to restore order.The police got flack for not doing enough, for not stepping in, but you know what, with such numbers of rioters and a few police, they could easily have been killed [with mob mentality anything can happen.]

rosesarered

with mob mentality anything can happen

That is so true. Many, many, many moons ago, I was dating a police officer (a motor bike cop). He and his partner heard a radio call for assistance at a football match where the fans were on the pitch rioting. As he and his partner were on motorbikes and not too far away, they responded knowing that they would get there quicker than the police cars. They parked their bikes and ran into the stadium; unfortunately, they ran in at the wrong end which meant they, just the two of them, were running into the approaching, rioting crowd. Needless to say, they turned and fled!

The police do need methods of control when the crowd has lost their own - and in sufficient numbers to deal with the crowd.

janthea - tasers have been inappropriately used - I'm sure water canons will be. And as for how they would have helped in the riots, there's general agreement that they wouldn't have been suitable ( see link). You need a certain type of crowd in a certain type of situation

I'd rather see rioters running away from water cannon than see police officers running away from rioters.

tasers have been inappropriately used

On another forum, a link was posted showing Australian police misusing tasers and I think those officers lost their jobs. It was quite distressing to watch that man being tasered so many times (there were several officers and one man involved).