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Comment by bearmode | Hacker News Reader

As typical, police wasting time investigating potential lefty protestors instead of doing something useful for society.

They do this for any perceived dissent from the current government opinion, like re-tweeting a joke about the latest official pride flag:

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/irishman-arrested...

Then why have the police, for decades spent overwhelmingly more resources investigating and infiltrating left-wing groups than far-right groups? When was the last left-wing terror attack in the UK?

I know right-wingers like to latch on to the handful of examples of police overreach when targeting right-wingers, but the reality doesn't match up. There is a huge discrepancy.

Maybe the broader issue is the sheer amount of government licensure in the UK and the cover that provides for civil servant and enforcer abuse, rather than defining cases as a right/left problem.

It's very clearly a right/left problem. The police exist as a force to protect capital interests. No threat to capital? Police aren't likely to be interested in you.

Left-wing groups are threats to capital, and that's exactly why they're targeted so much more than groups of neonazis.

Your whole thread here makes it clear that you are ideologically biased.

Oh no, not bias! How awful!

I never said I was unbiased. The truth is almost always biased.

'They are pro law and order. They want to be able to use the law to order you around'

The "pride flag as swastika" meme is extremely offensive, given the actual history of the Holocaust.

yep, distasteful jokes are worth being hauled off for

Someone's feelings might have got hurt. That's not a joke.

You're right, poking fun is serious business

Anyone that thinks that's a matter for police, let alone jail, needs to go outside more.

It's a Hakenkreuz, not a swastika.

In the English-speaking world it is a swastika.

I can understand the desire to reclaim the word swastika, but it might be an uphill battle.

One step at a time.

> current government opinion

The current government opinion is actually often at odds with the police over this matter; they have been chastised openly on twitter by Braverman.

The police force are seemingly acting as a force unto themselves, captured by special interest groups.

It seems odd then that nothing has changed. They've had 12 years governing (yes some in a coalition), likely for another 2 years.

I could buy not doing something for a year or two but at this point I'm more inclined to believe that it's deliberate. A nice way to stoke up a bit vote galvanising, "oh look at what the woke lefty is doing now, look over there and ignore the economy".

The UK stories that genuinely baffle me are the ones about police having children with activists they were sent to spy on:

* https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/22/fourth-offic...

* https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/20/undercover-police...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_undercover_policing_relatio...

What is going on here? Does this happen in any other country? What??

You've heard of speed dating, now try snitch dating!

While you are here, how about executing a random person in the London subway:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jean_Charles_de_Me...

That was horrific and so deeply tragic. Without diminishing that I would say this kind of event is extremely exceptional and there's an enormous bar to a police officer even carrying a weapon in the UK and that was an Mi5 failure.

Person who authorized that was promoted into becoming the (now former) head of the metropolitan police btw.

There are cases of American police sleeping with women they are supposed to be arresting. Arguably, they should not be able to have sex with someone they have power over, but some locales have affirmed their option to do so.

Happens in the US as well: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/female-fbi-informant-sl...

I'd argue a "Pride flag swastika" is a bit more than "current government opinion". JFC. I'm honestly not seeing the problem here..

The fact this is getting up votes is nuts

That's a sure way to torpedo any conversation, imply victims and mix with [political affiliation].

When in fact the whole police thing is based on order and control, anything out of the ordinary. ie. guy walking with winter gear on a hot summer day is subject for "investigation".

Not saying is good or bad ( perhaps both, but that's the police being the police )

> That's a sure way to torpedo any conversation, imply victims and mix with [political affiliation].

A sure way to torpedo your understanding is to assume that there's some natural law that things tend to be apolitical.

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