Yesterday, in a show of some seriously Ivory-Tower Style, Draconian austerity measures, Britain's Parliament voted to raise the tuition required to attend university by a whopping 300%.
And, needless to say, the thousands (yes, Thousands) of protesters who had gathered at London's Parliament Square - after several hundred had taken it over earlier that day - were quite incensed when the vote results were announced.
Noteworthy: Only a few hundred police officers (in riot gear) stood in their way, as they valiantly struggled to hold back the teeming hordes - some of whom were itching for a fight (there's always a few party-crashers) and lobbing paint-filled, glass x-mas ornaments at the officers.
The on-the-scene & on-the-ground footage caught by ITN's camera crew is stunning: talk about being seriously outnumbered...
And, remember, this is Great Britain: As the police struggled, face-to-face, with these thousands of angry protesters (some violent), they carried no guns, fired no rubber bullets/beanbags, they tasered no one (bro!), didn't open one fire-hose and fired no tear gas cans.
What did they have? About a dozen of those super-sized European work-horses. The equines did well, too, especially considering what was going on around them. Oh, and they had and that stiff upper lip thing.
Wow. I live in the U.S. and here, the typical police reaction/response to pissed-off protesters - as well as to peaceful, anti-war protesters, for that matter - lacks the Brits' practiced restraint: Here, the dress code calls for head-to-toe, all-black Storm Trooper Gear and All the Party Favors (pepper-spray, tasers, tear gas and guns) that they can carry.
So, understandably, I find the self-control those U.K. officers showed whilst tackling the unenviable job of controlling that crowd Impressive, to say the least.
Check it out... Enjoy! L.
(From: TRMS and ITN)
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