Green Party condemns police

The Green Party? Are they the people in Scotland who still hang around student unions in their 50s, same tweed jackets, same brogues, same hairstyles.

Why is the press release from London Green Party 100s of miles away from the actual camp? Scotland does have a section of the Green party you know in Edinburgh.

Let’s look at a quote from the Scottish Greens website “The Scottish Greens are calling on the people of Scotland, and the world, to demonstrate their opposition to the G8 summit, by engaging in non-violent protest and building constructive alternatives”

Non-violent protest people. Now they wonder why the police are round the camp 24/7? Speak to the Stirling residents who live in one of the most highly unemployed, low income areas of the UK and who’s homes and property was destroyed Wenesday morning.

Perhaps the Scottish Greens can lift the phone, or more greener...send a note by carrier pidgeon to London HQ and let them know about the happenings residents of Stirling.

Prehaps they might stop flying by jet to there hoo ha annual conventions

The Green party of England and Wales and the Scottish Green Party are seperate, so that is
why this press release is not issued by the Scottish Party. They may well be working on
a press release of their own.

HOwever, just on a sidenote, wouldn't you agree that the police have to work within the
law in dealing with protestors? Or are you happy for them to do whatever they want,
regardless of what the protestor has done or what the situation is? Is keeping people
in the back of vans handcuffed for 12 hours when they have done nothing but 'look
suspicious' really the kind of policing you want in Scotland?

If so, fair enough, but don't complain if they start eroding your civil liberties too...

Hugo Charlton what kind of name is that anyway? Is it like Ziggy Stardust or Hunting Moonbeam?

It's a fact that the Green Party live in the past, want everyone in the UK to get around on bikes and wear garish 1970 style clothing, tank tops, brogues...

much like the "liberal democrats" they are numpties!

 http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2043

>>>>However, just on a sidenote, wouldn't you agree that the police have to work within the law in dealing with protestors? Or are you happy for them to do whatever they want, regardless of what the protestor has done or what the situation is? >>> Is keeping people in the back of vans handcuffed for 12 hours when they have done nothing but 'look suspicious' really the kind of policing you want in Scotland? >>>If so, fair enough, but don't complain if they start eroding your civil liberties too...<<<<

Who the Greens? lmao

Come on chaps at indymedia play fair...

You all know that wasn't my original response!

How can you babble on about "free speech" and moan about the "big media corporations having an agenda" yet slice and burn your way through the comments porteayed on your site.

Not wise!

>>

It's a fact that the Green Party live in the past, want everyone in the UK to get around on bikes and wear garish 1970 style clothing, tank tops, brogues...

<<

What difference does it make what they look like, you fool, and what is wrong with attempting to politicize students in our corporatized, dumbed down universities?

Absolutely nothing.

And why are you being so facetious about using aeroplanes, or cars when necessary, and advocating cycling. Progress towards environmental sustainability is an incremental process.


It sounds as if tabloid journalists troll this site in their lunchbreak!

The Scottish Green Party MSP's have been involved in the Demos in Scotland.
The Green party for England & Wales should comment on what is happening in there own part of the world and leave the Scottish Greens to comment about what is happening in their patch.

So everyone is having a good laugh at Hugo Charlton. However, it was Hugo and a handful of other Green Party members who actually figured out how to beat the Poll Tax in English magistrate’s courts long before the Scots figured it out. None of your Tommy "I will name names" Sheridan's sloganeering, but practical, boring and unpaid legal work that actually resulted in the collapse of the Poll Tax legislation. It took nearly a thousand cases in magistrates court before the anti-Poll Tax group in Bournemouth (like all the best anti-poll tax groups not part of the federation) finally got a result and successfully challenged the whole legal basis of that unjust tax.

All the various sad trots who thought that by behaving like a prat and shouting slogans at magistrates and as a result got slung in chokey as "martyrs" were not 10% as effective as Hugo. As Militant was told at the time "If you cannot figure how a magistrate’s court works you will never win". They couldn't figure it out and where are Militant now?

Hugo is middle-class and is in the Green party, I am neither, but I would rather have him on my side in campaign than all of Scotland. After all Scotland last fought the British state in 1745 and lost so badly that it has kissed English arse ever since. By contrast Hugo fought and won, no wonder various trolls feel the need to discredit him. So keep kissing that English arse McTavish/Stirling Lad/Grey Friars Bobby!

Well, even if we accept your geographical criteria, a number of English Greens (both elected
politicans and grassroots members) have been in Scotland - Caroline Lucas MEP, for example,
several members of the National Executive, the Co-Chair of Green party Regional Council,
and many local councillors.

However, your criteria are bizarre, because the G8 summit is taking place under the aegis
of the UK government, and the policing is being masterminded by the London Metropolitan
Police. Pretty strong grounds for a statement from an English political party, I would
have thought.

We're on the ground here in Scotland, we know what is going on, and we won't let it pass
without comment. Think what you like about that...

London Scot,

So the Greens had more success using the system against the authorities than the Militant "Smash the Tories" mob.

Anarchists please note. You achieved nothing.

To Dot dot dash and others,

I agree with Anon. Cut this piss-taking on grounds of hairstyle and dress.
I'm sure you warrior boys are the cutting edge of street fashion
- but who cares? Grow up, get a girlfriend or sommin.
R

Boab,

The deficiencies of Militant have nothing to do with anarchism. Militant was a centrally-organised authoritarian left movement within the Labour Party, and modern anarchists have nothing to learn from their failures.

As a Scottish Green, what's the problem here?

Representatives from the Green Party of England & Wales were in Scotland for the G8 - great to see them up here, along with Greens from throughout Europe - and they are perfectly within their rights to express indignation about what they witnessed.

As Matt pointed out - and is clear enough on our website - the Scottish Green Party is a separate party. So though we work closely with GPEW, we'd be rather offended at the thought of a London HQ. Also, we're not just an Edinburgh party: we have branches across Scotland, MSPs from most regions, and our best electoral performance this year was here in sunny Glasgow.

On the subject of police tactics, Mark Ballard MSP and Shiona Baird MSP have been all over the media because of their response to the policing of Monday in Edinburgh. That's to say: the Scottish media, as it probably won't have made it down South ;-) In their public statements, they've been critical of police tactics, just as they were of violence from some of the protestors.

I was at Faslane with a large number of the Greens on the Monday (Mark and Shiona got caught up in the Edinburgh events after getting back), which was a perfect example of non-violent protest. About the same number as were involved in Edinburgh managed to shut down the base all day. Of course this got almost no newspaper coverage, beyond the Evening Times in Glasgow, and even on places like Indymedia it got relatively little coverage, compared to that of idiots lobbing petunias at the polis.

Personally, I think it totally counter-productive that the media were given the headlines they were waiting for, even if it was hyped out of proportion on all sides. Thursday's events showed us what real political violence looks like.

To put Edinburgh, at least, into perspective, there were about the same numbers arrested during the last big Orange walk in Glasgow - headlines which flashed around the world no further than, er, here in Glasgow. .

The general remarks about the Scottish Greens are of course wide of the mark. I can't answer for GPEW, but here in the West of Scotland, we dress with grace, style and panache ;-) We tend to leave student unions to, er, students. The Scottish Young Greens were much in evidence throughout the G8 week. And anyone in Scotland could tell you that the distinguishing feature of prominent male Greens is not bad haircut but a lack of hair at all (Ruskell, Ballard and Harvie).

Curious that for one person Green fashion death is tweed/brogues and for another it's vibrant 1970s-style clothes and tank-tops. Surely both are wrong: everyone knows that the real Green fashion disgrace is sandals with socks ;-)

Ian