Panic on the streets of London

[Shadowmelded]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/l...n-live-updates

Thousands of protesters are expected to gather in Trafalgar Square tonight, with Westminster the focus for the now annual Million Mask March, a worldwide event on Bonfire night that is organised through the Anonymous hackers’ collective.

So far about 18,000 people indicated on Facebook that they plan to attend the demonstration, where protesters don Guy Fawkes masks in an effort to recreate the closing scenes of the cult comic book-cum-movie V For Vendetta.

Tonight’s demonstration is expected to focus on proposals to increase powers of the security services. It comes a day after the government published a new bill seen as a revived snooper’s charter. Under the plans, internet companies will be required to store details of every website visited by their customers for 12 months.

Previous years have seen fireworks fired at the Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster, as well as arrests and clashes with riot police. Tonight, Scotland Yard is to deploy thousands of extra police officers and impose tough public order restrictions over fears that the protest will again turn violent.

People posting to the page have so far given me a range of reasons why they intend to protest, ranging from alleged VIP paedophile rings in Westminster, to poverty, the environment and Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
(...)
I called out on the Million Mask March London Facebook page asking people for the reasons why they were attending. Setting aside the bunfight over mainstream media, the most articulate and complete response came from Keith Brady. He said:

"I won’t be attending, but you want reasons? Jobs are down, educational standards are down, industry is down, public and national services are down, everything’s being sold off, taxes are being increased or diverted elsewhere and investments in infrastructure are being reduced to practically nothing by the greedy ba*ds the people who attend are there to protest too. Even the poverty stricken unemployed, who are stuggling to live on benefits they are often sanctioned on, still pay taxes on products we buy to survive with, so why is it being claimed they’re such a massive drain? Answer the question why NOT march? It’s much tougher to answer"

While a number of the reasons given are entirely legitimate reasons to protest, this whole thing seems too incoherent and vague (shades of OWS). If anything it'll probably end up being counter-productive, giving the Government an excuse to crack down harder on protests, especially those organized online by beefing up the Snoopers Charter (and probably banning anonymous masks for good measure).

[Independent voter]

Interesting to see if a riot breaks out and there is looting.

[Revi]

Good on them for showing organized dissent. Hope it doesn't turn violent though.

[Fawkess]

Interesting to see if a riot breaks out and there is looting.

Should make for a interesting story if that happens

[Hooked]

So they are going to riot and perhaps a protest will break out. Get the water cannons ready and fill them with frozen water.

[Crissi]

cinfused in why Guy Fawkes for the masks though. I mean, he did try to overthrow to get a Catholic back in...(so not really pro freedom or anarchy or anything)

[PC2]

Are these protesters serious people who contribute a lot to society? Or are they more of the hooligan type?

[Fawkess]

confused in why Guy Fawkes for the masks though. I mean, he did try to overthrow to get a Catholic back in...(so not really pro freedom or anarchy or anything)

Its the symbol of anonymous
Thats why a lot of people wear it

[Revi]

cinfused in why Guy Fawkes for the masks though. I mean, he did try to overthrow to get a Catholic back in...(so not really pro freedom or anarchy or anything)

Yeah, doesn't really make much sense, but it's probably more about his legend.

"The only man ever to enter parliament with honest intentions"

[Crissi]

Its the symbol of anonymous
Thats why a lot of people wear it

But considering anon typical goals, why choose someone who wanted to put in his own tyrant?

[Deleted]

Are these protesters serious people who contribute a lot to society? Or are they more of the hooligan type?

Distaste for the current government is pretty widespread across a lot of demographics.

[Fawkess]

But considering anon typical goals, why choose someone who wanted to put in his own tyrant?

I dont really know too much about guy fawkes but wasn't he trying to fight oppression or something?

[Crissi]

I dont really know too much about guy fawkes but wasn't he trying to fight oppression or something?

What I read, he just wanted a Catholic back in power

[Deleted]

Are these protesters serious people who contribute a lot to society? Or are they more of the hooligan type?

People who have to get up early for work tomorrow are unlikely to be there, I will leave it at that.

- - - Updated - - -

I dont really know too much about guy fawkes but wasn't he trying to fight oppression or something?

No, he wanted to murder protestants to put catholics in power.

[Hyve]

Peaceful demonstrations are always welcome, but if we see a repeat of the London Riots the police need to get far more control then they did last time.

[Hemak]

Sound pretty nice to me.

Oops I read that as picnic. My bad.

[Shadowmelded]

So they are going to riot and perhaps a protest will break out. Get the water cannons ready and fill them with frozen water.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...-england-wales

Home secretary says police ‘will never’ deploy military-style equipment on the streets after rejecting request for use of water cannon

cinfused in why Guy Fawkes for the masks though. I mean, he did try to overthrow to get a Catholic back in...(so not really pro freedom or anarchy or anything)

Well, V for Vendetta is influencing it as well, since they broadened the idea to be mainly just 'Revolution' or overthrowing the established order. It's also kind of symbolic as it's seen as a threat to Parliament (to this day, Parliament still has a tradition of checking the cellars for Gunpowder, they love symbolism).

Peaceful demonstrations are always welcome, but if we see a repeat of the London Riots the police need to get far more control then they did last time.

I don't think there are enough people to replicate that.

[Kalis]

I dont really know too much about guy fawkes but wasn't he trying to fight oppression or something?

He was a religious terrorist, like a Catholic version of ISIS.

He even had a beard and funny hat, lacked the talent for beheading though.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I dont really know too much about guy fawkes but wasn't he trying to fight oppression or something?

If you consider a non-catholic king being on the throne "oppression" then yes.

He wanted to put a catholic king on the throne by force, and he wanted to murder about 400 people in what would probably still be the biggest terrorist attack on UK soil.

All these people praising somebody that was no better than anybody that is in the top brass of Al'Qaida or ISIS.

[TwoNineMarine]

Seems some windows have been smashed and a police car burned. Will be interesting to see where else they take it.