EDL leaders bully woman copper during arrest

Shocking new video footage of EDL leaders Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll being arrested on 29th June has emerged, giving a different view of events.

Original footage of the arrest circulating the internet was a simple 27 second video. This will have been the footage the EDL will want most of its members and potential supporters to concentrate on, as it appears to show police officers just picking the two EDL stalwarts up off the streets. The new, longer footage reveals that the earlier video is very much a sanitised account of what went on.

The new video shows that events began as a passer by tried to clobber Tommy Robinson as he was walking along the street.  That is understandable: there can be few reasonable people who have seen Tommy Robinson (and even fewer who have heard him) without feel a desire to punch him in the nose – but we are a civilised society with absolutely no place for any physical violence and that desire must be resisted.  We are human beings, not animals, and we can exercise our self control to behave reasonably.

Not so, it seems Tommy Robinson: who goes into one and unleashes a tirade of abuse at a woman police officer who is attempting to speak to him and is then arresting him. At no point does Robinson show any respect for the officer’s uniform, and he may well have had a similar rant had the police officer arresting him been male. His whole demeanour is that he is above the law, there to tell all the officers what he wants to see done – not to listen to them or pay any attention to their authority in the situation.

As the officer is female, however, Robinson’s hectoring takes on an additional undertone of violence. The police officer is being calm and politely waiting for him to finish ranting so she can get a word in. He doesn’t: he goes on and on, unstoppably.  On the rare occasions he takes a breath and she begins to speak, he starts up again. Look at the officer: she continues to be polite, but the effect of the violence of this verbal is clear on her face as she flinches in front of the verbal assault.

Having said all of this, it must be said that the behaviour of the police is rather strange too. They do have an authority in this situation, but they appear to hang back. As Robinson is ranting, why do they not insist on silence from him and regain control of the situation before they proceed to arrest him? They are probably being extremely cautious, but it allows Robinson to rant on and on and make it appear on video that he has the upper hand and the police are too defensive.  Most officers do not, despite Robinson’s best efforts, engage with him on the rights or wrongs of whether the initial assailant should be apprehended (save for an older, taller male copper who shows up at the end) – but allowing him to make the points ends up with it looking like Robinson is in control of the situation and the police have no answers to what he was saying.

There are many things to be said against the EDL, but here we say just one: this kind of verbal violence towards a woman police officer shows the misogyny embedded in the EDL and its leading members and it is no example to the young people the EDL seeks to influence.

How should women respond to such treatment? We are a newspaper, not a qualified advice agency and, of course, much of this kind of treatment, and worse, goes on behind closed doors. However, if you are a woman faced with such treatment on the streets, and if you are wondering whether to walk away or shout back, we do recommend that you consider singing “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” as loudly as possible.  It’s an easy tune, the lyrics are repetitive and easy to pick up and passers by can join in. And it’s very hard for a bloke to holler at a woman singing “The Wheels on the Bus” and look anything other than the arrogant, violent, racist low life that he is.

•Both the short and longer videos of the arrest referred to in this article are available to view on our home page.