British unrest excuse for repression

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194477.html

The British government is clamping down on the public and the civil liberties over a wave of unrest whose costs pales in comparison with the huge costs of what one may call better-justified thieveries.

During the troubles that gripped London and other cities over the past two weeks, officials were adamant that those involved are inflicting a financial burden on the country, which is intolerable as people face severe austerity measures.

There were no major incidents leading officials to sound a security alarm as there was wide agreement that the 'riots' were not pre-organized and were “spontaneous”.

"What we saw, fundamentally different in my assessment, was almost non-existent pre- intelligence, this was spontaneous rather than organised,” said president of the Association of Chief Police Officers sir Hugh Orde.

Yet police launched coordinated home invasions and arrests based on photographs and footage of those involved, courts were kept running through the night to mete out justice and harsh sentences were handed out for minor offenses.

That was beside the point Prime Minister David Cameron made about blocking access to public networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter during future unrests, withdrawing offenders' benefits and throwing them out of state-funded housing.

Now the question is how much the 'looting' and 'thuggery' - two favorite words used by the British media to described those involved in the unrest -- cost the nation that led the government to take such sweeping measures.

The government has not given an estimate of the costs but the media reported a £100-million bill.

Did that ruin people's lives, bring unemployment to a generation of young people or risk British national security? No.

Yet banking crisis that devoured £131 billion of taxpayer money and is still risking the entire British economy, tax avoidance by business giants like Vodafone, which critics say, has dodged £6 billion and the invasion of Libya that is heading to cost Britons £1 billion in a few months did leave lasting damage in the mentioned areas.

Now the question is who are the real people who are robbing the public of their money, the warmongers, tax-evaders, crisis-hit tycoons bailed out by taxpayers or a few looters whose robbing bill courted a few thousand pounds at maximum.

What's more the British government seems to be using the opportunity to blow the damage resulted from the past weeks' incidents out of proportions to implement a police state long of the politicians.