Mob of Yobs Roil Royal’s Rolls Royce

A student led protest against the British government trebling tuition rates degenerated into a series of anarchistic outrages that desecrated war memorials, vandalized governmental buildings and even physically threatened the members of the Royal Family.

Yesterday’s student rally was a last stand against the tuition hikes. But Tories along with a score of their Social Democrat partners narrowly passed the legislation by a 323 to 302 vote to raise university tuition fees to around £9,000 a year. This was the fourth wave of student protests in a month.  But much like the initial November 10th  protest, splinter groups broke off and  made mayhem.

British sensibilities were scandalized by crass students who swung from the Cenotaph at Whitehall, the center of British government.  The yob who was photographed playing on Britain’s empty tomb to war dead was the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmore.  Charlie Gilmore, a 21 year old history student, ironically did not know that the monument memorialized Britain’s glorious dead.  Other outrages included defacing and urinating on a Churchill statue, setting park benches ablaze at Parliament Square  and burning a Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square.  Police announced that 26 protestors had been detained on charges that ranged from arson, assaulting a police officer and public drunkenness.

Some students think that the escalation of protests are about their tuition hardships. The Independent quoted a sixth form student (akin to a senior in high school)  who asserted that violence is acceptable "if that's what it takes to make our mark".  Such a sophomoric student (sic) does not realize that anarchistic elements have co-opted the movement and now are employing violent and provocative challenges that threaten Britain’s democratic system.

Protestors who were thwarted in their efforts to storm the Houses of Parliament turned their anger onto the nearby Treasury and Supreme Court Buildings and threw volleys of fireworks, sticks and billiard balls.  Rioters were deliberating spooking officers on horseback. So much so, one officer has serious neck injuries after being thrown off his horse. In total, 12 officers were injured along with 43 protestors. Afterwards, a large group of protestors moved from the government district to intimidate Oxford and Regent Streets and damaged a store in London’s tony shopping district.

What was most concerning is the attack on a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.  The Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall were attending a charity event at the London Palladium when the royal Rolls Royce was surrounded by a score of anarchists shouting “Off with their heads” and “Tory scum” while throwing paint bombs and breaking car windows.  The Duchess of Cornwall tried to keep a stiff upper lip by dismissing the seriousness of the attack. But photography shows that she was visibly shaken by the attack and was poked by one of the sticks.

This attack should not be minimized. The lapse of Royal Security is mind boggling.  Why was this mob of masked anarchists allowed to approach the motorcade on the street? On the seen law enforcement were ready to use their sidearms to combat the dangerous situation. Had the paint bomb been a Molotov cocktail, it would have been a bloody mess. But Prince Charles is the first in line to the British throne.  A political assassination could spark a coup d’etat.

 Students need to come to terms with the reality that at a time when the government is impecunious, their free ride for tuition is over. But these educated individuals should also realize that they are being used as useful idiots to destabilize the government who’s largess largely provides for their education. Alas, instead of distancing themselves from the thugs, student leaders complain about police brutality.

British security needs to tighten up their coverage of their leaders.  The November 10th attack on Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank and this attack on the Prince of Wales highlights security holes that threaten the stability of the government.

The public should not dismiss this as another incident of the the irrational exuberance of youth.  Anarchistic activity is threatening Western free market oriented democracies.

Via: Skynews
Via BBC News
Via Telegraph
Via Daily Mail