Demonstration St Pancras by Calais Migrant Solidarity

[thenorthern]

Just seen this ob BBC News from last night.

Police eject protesters from St Pancras Station

Protesters demonstrating in support of migrants and refugees have been ejected from St Pancras Station in London, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Disorder broke out after demonstrators broke through a police line and entered the Eurostar terminal at about 18:00 BST, a Met spokesman said.
Smoke bombs and other items were thrown before protestors were "swiftly ejected" from the building, he said.

There have been no injuries or arrests, he added.

A post on the website of a group called Calais Migrant Solidarity suggest it had organised the protest in "solidarity with the Calais migrants".

British Transport Police, which is jointly policing the protest with the Met, said its officers were facilitating a peaceful protest when "a number of other individuals arrived at the station causing disorder, and missiles, including smoke bombs were thrown at police officers".

"This group were dispersed by police," it said.

South Eastern Railway advised passengers to allow extra time for their journey, as the incident may result in delays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34629581

Regardless of what the people were protesting about I never understand why any group who thinks that disrupting rail travel will add support to their cause. I get really frustrated when these groups claim to be "peacefully protesting" before their protest turns into a riot.

Not heard of this group before although they seem to be blaming British Transport Police for stopping them as its obviously fine to riot and throw smoke bombs and missiles.

Well done to British Transport Police though in keeping under control the best way they could last night.

Did anyone else see this last night?

 

[kieron]

Not heard of this group before although they seem to be blaming British Transport Police for stopping them as its obviously fine to riot and throw smoke bombs and missiles.

Do you have a source for this? There are no quotes from members of the group or the like in the BBC article, so I'm wondering what this statement is based on.

 

[thenorthern]

Do you have a source for this? There are no quotes from members of the group or the like in the BBC article, so I'm wondering what this statement is based on.

Yep, here you go. The article is quite long though.

https://indyrikki.wordpress.com/201...t-solidarity-protests-at-st-pancras-eurostar/

 

[kieron]

Thanks. It does feel to me as though this person was at a different demonstration to the one the BBC's source experienced.

 

[ainsworth74]

Thanks. It does feel to me as though this person was at a different demonstration to the one the BBC's source experienced.

Well considering the footage attached to the BBC article is the same as the photographs used in the blog I'm not sure that is the case...

 

[Flying Snail]

A riot in search of a cause with most of these idiots.

 

[thenorthern]

I have been on the receiving end of smoke bombs several times however its much different on an army training field compared to an enclosed railway station where you have to protect both the protesters and passengers using the station. Well done though to the British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police last night though.

Apparently there were 2 arrests yesterday and a protest in Paris at the same time.

What are the general rules about protesting on railway property?

 

[CallySleeper]

Thanks. It does feel to me as though this person was at a different demonstration to the one the BBC's source experienced.

Possibly the same protest last Friday week?

 

[Murph]

I have been on the receiving end of smoke bombs several times however its much different on an army training field compared to an enclosed railway station where you have to protect both the protesters and passengers using the station. Well done though to the British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police last night though.

Apparently there were 2 arrests yesterday and a protest in Paris at the same time.

What are the general rules about protesting on railway property?

In general, it's private property which is usually open to the public (assuming that we're talking about the public side of stations, and not about track trespass or something like that). As I understand it, that means that there is absolutely zero right to protest on it (peacefully or otherwise).

Frankly, while I think the Police did do a good job in difficult circumstances, I'm a little disappointed that there were only 2 arrests coming from a protest which seems very likely to have had a large number of people clearly crossing the thresholds for a variety of public order offences. It just seems very unlikely to me that there were only 2 people who met the threshold, from the description of the protest.

I'm all for peaceful protests, and often think that the police have historically acted far too severely against some basically peaceful protesters, on some occasions, but this feels like it's at the opposite (and equally wrong) end of the spectrum when there's smoke bombs being lobbed and the protest is anything but peaceful (and was highly inappropriate before that point, by being on private business property, breaking past a police line, etc).

 

[DarloRich]

I was at St Pancras yesterday afternoon and it was swarming with old bill. I have never seen so many at police a station even during times of increased terrorist activity. Every BTP officer in London must have been there. There were also crush barriers up to stop you getting close to the edge of the balcony with the line starting at the top of the stairs. I Should have hung around to watch the fun

I had to walk the long way round to get to the pub. A terrible infringement of civil liberties.

 

[meridian2]

I think you need to thank the rioters for any infringement of civil liberties; they played with theirs, got their names onto social media, and caused misery for thousands.

Whenever you place 'rights' before 'responsibilities' and never the two conjoined, it's one step down the road to lawlessness.

 

[duncanp]

I wonder how many of the people taking part in the protest would be prepared to show "...solidarity with the Calais migrants....." by putting some of them up in their houses, and giving them financial support.

Not many I would suspect.

Viewing the footage on the BBC website, it is quite apparent that some of the people were only out to cause trouble, and couldn't care less about the refugees or migrants.

 

[DarloRich]

Viewing the footage on the BBC website, it is quite apparent that some of the people were only out to cause trouble, and couldn't care less about the refugees or migrants.

No! say it aint so :roll: They seem to be anarchists

 

[duncanp]

You don't need smoke bombs etc. if you intend to take part in a "..peaceful protest....."

Do these protesters think that we should be providing them with free transport on Eurostar from Calais Frethun to St Pancras?

And then what?

 

[DarloRich]

You don't need smoke bombs etc. if you intend to take part in a "..peaceful protest....."

Do these protesters think that we should be providing them with free transport on Eurostar from Calais Frethun to St Pancras?

And then what?

I think you might be missing my point................

 

[yorkie]

You don't need smoke bombs etc. if you intend to take part in a "..peaceful protest....."

You can try telling anarchists that, but they won't listen! They want to destroy our way of life. They do not want protests to be "peaceful", and they will hijack peaceful protests and turn them violent. They are not going to listen to reason.

 

[SteveHFC]

Saw some of this first hand having come out of the tube station at Kings Cross St Pancras about 18:20 and discovered that the exit from the Piccadilly/Victoria/Northern ticket hall to St Pancras was closed.

So we went up the adjacent stairs and it there was a huge crowd outside St Pancras, and it was obvious that to try and gain entry was a bad idea.

The protestors then moved off towards the Euston Road - before attempting another charge on the station, at which point we retreated back into the tube station and walked through, past the Met Line and were able to get into St Pancras that way.

Upon walking through St Pancras past the Eurostar terminal - there were barriers across the entrance to the terminal, with a heavy BTP presence. Outside were about 20 peaceful - and I mean that genuinely - protestors who were behaving as I'd expect peaceful protestors to do so.

We were able to get into the Thameslink station with no problems from there.

The atmosphere outside was not good, and as others have suggested, it was clear that some were just out to cause trouble - disrupting people's journeys as a consequence.

I have to say that the BTP, Met Police and station staff seemed to be doing an excellent job to keep passengers safe and to get them on their way as soon as possible.

 

[ExRes]

Do these protesters think that we should be providing them with free transport on Eurostar from Calais Frethun to St Pancras?

And then what?

How about free transport on Eurostar from St Pancras to Calais Frethun ?

 

[Murph]

How about free transport on Eurostar from St Pancras to Calais Frethun ?

+1

I suggest exchanging their passports for a one-way outbound ticket!

 

[philjo]

I walked through St Pancras around 4:30 yesterday afternoon.
There was a line of 5 police officers guarding the Eurostar arrival doors into the main mall. The eurostar departures area was fenced off so only Eurostar ticket holders could go through so it was not possible to walk through to Kings Cross as normal.
Upstairs there were police & dogs at the end of the EUrostar platforms inside the glass barriers and temporary railings had been put up outside this.

 

[TUC]

I have been on the receiving end of smoke bombs several times however its much different on an army training field compared to an enclosed railway station where you have to protect both the protesters and passengers using the station.

What's there to protect about the protesters? Passengers yes, but the protesters brought any harm from smoke bombs on themselves.

 

[thenorthern]

Apparently this isn't the first protest on Friday the 16th of October they were throwing fake blood around the station and covering themselves in it the stuff and young children were getting frightened.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34555076

I feel sorry for Eurostar as they don't control the immigration policy they just transport passengers and for East Midlands Trains/Thameslink they have to be caught up while people have a hissy fit.

What's there to protect about the protesters? Passengers yes, but the protesters brought any harm from smoke bombs on themselves.

Smoke bombs have a nasty habit of setting fire alarms off, I wonder if the protesters could be fined for smoking in a public place. It looks like there were fires as well yesterday which are obviously a good thing to have in a railway station.

 

[DarloRich]

Apparently this isn't the first protest on Friday the 16th of October they were throwing fake blood around the station and covering themselves in it the stuff and young children were getting frightened.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34555076

My god wont someone think of the children!

 

[Spurs]

What's there to protect about the protesters? Passengers yes, but the protesters brought any harm from smoke bombs on themselves.

Not all the protesters necessarily bought smoke bombs, and in any case the police have a duty to protect everyone as much as reasonably possible, even criminals - hence why we don't have a shoot to kill policy on them.

 

[TUC]

My god wont someone think of the children!

Well in this case, absolutely. Why should children be frightened just for the sake of a few political obsessives?

 

[thenorthern]

There is a longer video on the Evening Standard website of the protest last night and the amount of smoke bombs thrown from inside the station is rather ridiculous. If I was writing the rules I would give anyone caught setting off smoke bombs a ban from any railway premises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Bxh3e3KZ0

I don't think the protesters realise though that Eurostar don't control immigration its the Government and the reason which they are tough on immigration is we have something called an election the public voted in a party to be tough on immigration and if they don't like that maybe they should have campaigned harder to get elected themselves.

My god wont someone think of the children!

I wonder if they cleaned the fake blood up after or if it was left to the railway staff.

Not all the protesters necessarily bought smoke bombs, and in any case the police have a duty to protect everyone as much as reasonably possible, even criminals - hence why we don't have a shoot to kill policy on them.

Its also very hard for the police to know who is a "good guy" peacefully pretesting and a "bad guy" who is there to cause trouble and many people will claim they were there to peacefully protest but there were a few people not them who who turned violent.

 

[dk1]

Attention seeking twits. Pity they don't work full time if at all. In such a wonderful station too

 

[Cletus]

This country seems to have protesters protesting in the wrong places. Dover gets left wingers, right wingers, pro and anti-immigration. We don't want them. I think they should be protesting at parliament or somewhere they're protest might be effective.

 

[DarloRich]

Well in this case, absolutely. Why should children be frightened just for the sake of a few political obsessives?

I am sure there response would be something along the lines of no matter how much terror the effete, cossetted capitalist dominated offspring of the oppresses and gentrifiers suffered would be naughty in comparison to the suffering meted out to the people fleeing war and persecution to seek a new life etc etc etc

Descending into a spiral of internet wibbeldry simply offers these clowns oxygen. Read that blog link further up the page and have a dig around that site to see the kind of people involved in these protests. Just ignore them and deny them publicity.

This country seems to have protesters protesting in the wrong places. Dover gets left wingers, right wingers, pro and anti-immigration. We don't want them. I think they should be protesting at parliament or somewhere they're protest might be effective.

luckily they were protesting a good 80 miles away from Dover!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I don't think the protesters realise though that Eurostar don't control immigration its the Government and the reason which they are tough on immigration is we have something called an election the public voted in a party to be tough on immigration and if they don't like that maybe they should have campaigned harder to get elected themselves.

I think they might know that :roll: What they are doing is using a well known facility with connections to the channel tunnel (and by extension all the immigration issues/Calais issues) as a target to ensure maximum publicity.

Anyway they seem to be anarchists so i doubt they care about electoral process!

[/QUOTE]

 

[thenorthern]

This country seems to have protesters protesting in the wrong places. Dover gets left wingers, right wingers, pro and anti-immigration. We don't want them. I think they should be protesting at parliament or somewhere they're protest might be effective.

I think its illegal to protest at near the Houses of Parliament without permission to avoid disruption or trouble. Shame that can't be extended to transport locations. :roll:

I think they might know that :roll: What they are doing is using a well known facility with connections to the channel tunnel (and by extension all the immigration issues/Calais issues) as a target to ensure maximum publicity.

Anyway they seem to be anarchists so i doubt they care about electoral process!

Funny that they are protesting about human rights but when democratic process elects a government they don't like then that government should go. :roll:

Considering this group has been to St Pancras before I wonder if we will see them again.