Heavy handed police action at Quaker Meeting House.

Allira

^The top photo of the meeting house doors doesn't look the same as the lower photos which I read were provided by the group.^
Completely different doors.
Perhaps the one with a broken lock is an inner sanctum.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Or perhaps it's just a random door not at that meeting house? Do the interior doors usually have that kind of lock? Surely the suggestion has been that the police smashed down the front doors to gain entry, not some interior room doors. As you say curioser and curioser.......

The top photo of the meeting house doors doesn't look the same as the lower photos which I read were provided by the group.
Completely different doors.
Perhaps the one with a broken lock is an inner sanctum.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Wyllow3

The building is in Westminster, central London, of course they have to keep the door locked and a system to check callers!

Yes the Meeting House in Central Brighton also seems to lock the door between meetings, but since the doorkeeper sits very close it is a system that obviously works for them.. of course you can always ring the bell..

Quote Allira Mon 31-Mar-25 13:34:18
Up till now their protests have been very peaceful, banners, ‘bloodstained ‘ baby vests and rows of children’s shoes outside Keir Starmer’s house.

That really is unacceptable and no way to protest, targeting a politician's home where he lives with his family.

No wonder the Services are keeping an eye on them.

And the children living in that house still in school !

The top photo of the meeting house doors doesn't look the same as the lower photos which I read were provided by the group.

Plans to shut London down day after day in April doesn't sound that peaceful to me, nor I suspect to other Londoners who will be affected.

There was at least one Quaker amongst those jailed for conspiracy last summer whose family bewailed the heartache that they'd miss a family wedding. Apparently other people missing hospital appointments, funerals etc was acceptable as collateral damage.

Nandalot

Here’s a link to The Sun which has pictures of the door.
www.thesun.co.uk/news/34143601/cops-smash-door-quaker-meeting-house/
Unfortunately, it seems this action has had the opposite of the desired effect as more young people are joining the group.
Up till now their protests have been very peaceful, banners, ‘bloodstained ‘ baby vests and rows of children’s shoes outside Keir Starmer’s house.

How strange!

One minute The Sun is calling them humus eating and peace-loving (a kind of 21st Century hippie group), the next they are reporting:

ECO yobs are plotting a month of commuter misery for April — and are looking to raise £40,000 to support their plans.

Left-wing fanatics Youth Demand have begun collecting cash to support what it calls its “action takers” to trigger a 30-day transport meltdown.

But after police chiefs said they would support protesters’ rights, MPs and lords last night demanded urgent action to stop disruption.

The group — campaigning over the climate and rights for Palestinians — is led by lefty students including Just Stop Oil ­activist Sam Holland, 22.


She said: “It is our strategy to shut down London every day in April to force action on the Palestinian and climate genocides.”

Youth Action, who last year sprayed the Ministry of Defence HQ with paint, says it needs to fund its “biggest civil disobedience campaign”, and expects to spend £75,000 in March and April.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/33260830/youth-demand-commuter-jso-london-april/

Thank you for photograph, yes a broken lock and window , the women aged , 18 to 38, mature students

Bloodstained baby vests outside someone’s house is peaceful !

Up till now their protests have been very peaceful, banners, ‘bloodstained ‘ baby vests and rows of children’s shoes outside Keir Starmer’s house.

That really is unacceptable and no way to protest, targeting a politician's home where he lives with his family.

No wonder the Services are keeping an eye on them.

Here’s a link to The Sun which has pictures of the door.
www.thesun.co.uk/news/34143601/cops-smash-door-quaker-meeting-house/
Unfortunately, it seems this action has had the opposite of the desired effect as more young people are joining the group.
Up till now their protests have been very peaceful, banners, ‘bloodstained ‘ baby vests and rows of children’s shoes outside Keir Starmer’s house.

Would. one Quaker judge a fellow Quaker ? Again I have not said a Quaker lied, why not show the door ?

Wyllow3

The building is in Westminster, central London, of course they have to keep the door locked and a system to check callers!

Churches in Westminster, central London, only lock their doors when there aren't people inside. All are welcome without going through a vetting system before admittance.

Anniebach

I don’t know if the Quakers are lying, there was a meeting behind locked doors, who was in the meeting ? Did they rent
from the Meeting House

Errrr .....#puzzled....it's been made clear already that they rented the use of the room from the Meeting House #puzzled....

Why would one of the Quakers lie? - especially an elder. It would not go down very well with other Quakers if one had lied officially on the Quakers behalf - as one of the basic tenets is integrity (which obviously includes telling the truth).

I can, however, well believe the comment of "They broke in - and so I wasnt going to make them a cup of tea after that behaviour" (or whatever phrasing the Elder used to denote disapproval and disagreement with them coming in.....

I don’t know if the Quakers are lying, there was a meeting behind locked doors, who was in the meeting ? Did they rent
from the Meeting House

Anniebach

Why was the door locked ! church halls don’t lock doors if hall in use

I am rather doubtful that the door was locked - and think it was probably just closed and could have easily just been (perfectly peacefully) opened.

I've been trying to remember ever since hearing of that episode as to just how likely it is that the door would have been locked. It is literally decades since I lived in the Quaker College for some months (a big old house) and, though it's in Birmingham (a major city etc etc) I don't actually recall even personal doors being locked and I've stayed in a Quaker boarding school briefly and a group of us slept overnight in another Quaker meeting house years back and I don't recall whether doors were actually locked there either. I have a feeling that doors on all of them weren't locked and none of us thought anything of that fact. I couldnt swear to it - and things may have changed since then (as all these things were years back now - ie when problems of any description were a lot less likely to happen than nowadays).

Hence I very much doubt the outside door was locked anyway - even though it was the middle of London - given that it was the middle of the day and the "safety" of 3 different groups meeting there at the time. I wouldnt be at all surprised if the police couldnt have just walked in. But we do know there was an Elder of the church there - because of his comments of how he deliberately didn't offer them a cup of tea (ie because they'd broken in...rather than walked in politely) and so we do know they could have come in without a problem and been perfectly polite and peaceful about it, rather than busting in like they did.

The building is in Westminster, central London, of course they have to keep the door locked and a system to check callers!

Why do you think the Quakers are lying?

Why was the door locked ! church halls don’t lock doors if hall in use

Quote Wyllow3 Mon 31-Mar-25 12:18:50
Allira
Grammaretto
Don't we all want to know that we can protest, peacefully, without being arrested and jailed?
Hence people on here worrying about the farmers etc.
Don't you want to feel relieved that so many terrorist plots have been discovered and thwarted by the Secret Services and police before they could cause devastation on our streets?
Yes I am glad if a terrorist plot has been uncovered. That is when we welcome protective laws.

Sorry if I got the number wrong Annie.

The police could have found out if the doorkeeper was there by ringing the bell.

Good grief, Unbelievable

We also lose our democracy if the majority are prevented from living peacefully, going about their everyday lives, by militant groups enforcing their own agenda.

For those who mentioned it upthread this was how the Nazi party began in the 1920s. Not with state police action in the 1939s as a poster said.

The protests in Germany grew into the Brown shirt movement who “protected” the protests against Jews and other groups when their intimidation was not prevented.

Allira

Grammaretto

Don't we all want to know that we can protest, peacefully, without being arrested and jailed?
Hence people on here worrying about the farmers etc.

Don't you want to feel relieved that so many terrorist plots have been discovered and thwarted by the Secret Services and police before they could cause devastation on our streets?

Yes I am glad if a terrorist plot has been uncovered. That is when we welcome protective laws.

Sorry if I got the number wrong Annie.

The police could have found out if the doorkeeper was there by ringing the bell.

The police knew there was a door keeper there? The meeting was for more than six, six were arrested, fact seems unimportant

Grammaretto

Don't we all want to know that we can protest, peacefully, without being arrested and jailed?
Hence people on here worrying about the farmers etc.

Don't you want to feel relieved that so many terrorist plots have been discovered and thwarted by the Secret Services and police before they could cause devastation on our streets?

The problems with the new police laws is that they can be used to both protect - and restrict.

The conversations on this thread have gone in all kinds of directions

But what it boils down to in this case imo is were the decisions about what the police were to do justified and proportional, especially with the "conspiracy" arrests. Being given permission to break down the doors without trying to ring or knock first, for a meeting of six, when there was a doorkeeper there?

Grammaretto

Don't we all want to know that we can protest, peacefully, without being arrested and jailed?
Hence people on here worrying about the farmers etc.

Assuming that was their intention.

Was it the right to protest peacefully or to caused disruption in London ?