UK PM: Human rights concerns "phoney"

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/193310.html

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has authorized the use of rubber bullets and water cannon by the Metropolitan Police to suppress the widespread protests.

As the fourth night of angry protests shook the northwestern cities of Manchester and Liverpool, as well as Nottingham, Birmingham, West Bromwich, and Wolverhapton, Cameron announced “a fight back is under way” and “phoney” human rights issues cannot prevent the British government from silencing the angry protesters.

Cameron lectured the Chinese authorities, in November 2010, on the importance of human rights and claimed that the British government raises the human rights issues “because the British people expect us to and because we have sincere and deeply-held concerns.”

Within just months from his lecture, Cameron describes concerns about human rights “phoney” as he orders the British police to deploy 16,000 officers only in London streets authrosing them to use rubber bullets and water cannon.

Britain has a bad track record on using rubber bullets against unarmed civilians which has created great concerns among human rights activists and organizations. Numerous groups, from European Parliament to Human Rights Watch, have called for a ban on rubber bullets.

These bullets are supposed to be shot at lower parts of the body; however there is evidence that about 19 people have been killed in Northern Ireland mostly because of rubber bullet injuries to their heads.

Moreover, the Independent Police Complaints Commission's revelation that no evidence of a handgun was found at the scene where Mark Duggan, the 29-year-old black, was shot by armed police officers was another setback in Britain's efforts to pose as a supporter of human rights.

All these come as Britain tries to present itself to the international community as a human rights defender taking the lead on setting a no fly zone on Libya or pushing for sanctions against Syria to end what it calls crackdown on protesters.